Commentary by director Ron Howard, deleted scenes, “Discovering Secret”, “The Nixon Library”, “The Real Interview”, “The Making of Frost/Nixon”

A fallen Quaker going to war perfectly characterized the late President Nixon. Richard Nixon was a crafty man. He honed his stagecraft in the political arena. When Television personality David Frost (Michael Sheen)cornered Nixon on national television in 1976 he had already failed a one-two knock-out punch that he had hoped for. The fact that Frost developed his skills as a TV interviewer not as a journalist undermined his credibility with everyone in the eyes of network television in the United States. So when the duo of “Frost/ Nixon” appeared on TV the fact that it even aired was a minor miracle; Nixon thought he could use the show to lift him from the muck of Watergate while Frost who was putting his own money into the project sinking deeper into despair because the show wasn’t going quite as planned. In many respects Frost and Nixon had more in common than they thought—both were fighting for respect and their careers at a key time in their lives. Frost became energized when he realized that it was no longer just a show—it was a boxing match between two equally talented performers each trying to prove their own worth to each other, themselves and those around them. ***

Ron Howard’s “Frost/ Nixon” captures these two champions throwing jabs at each other left and right with Frost finally drawing blood. Howard’s film not only focuses on a pivotal time in our nation’s history but also the final showdown between Richard M. Nixon and the world as represented by a British TV personality who suddenly remembered what drove him. It’s a pity that Frank Langella’s Oscar nominated performance didn’t pull down the gold guy—he deserved it. Langella embodies Nixon capturing the essence of the man something that has evaded a variety of talented actors including Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins. For those of us who remember Nixon’s election, his obstruction of justice and his fall from grace the TV shows that Frost taped with Nixon were important because it was the opportunity for the American people to hear Nixon admit guilt. Frost became the unlikely champion for democracy. ---

Image & Sound:

A superb looking transfer, “Frost and Nixon” features nicely defined detail, strong clarity and natural looking skin tones. ***

Audio sounds terrific but this IS a dialog driven film so the surround speakers although nicely use for ambiance throughout the film aren’t the real focus here. ---

“The Real Interview” features clips from the real interview session intercut with interviews from Frank Langella, director Ron Howard and others from the production crew. ***

“The Making of Frost/Nixon” begins with playwright Peter Morgan discussing what inspired him to write the play the way he did—he saw it almost like a boxing match of words. It features the usual talking heads but the nice thing about it is that we actually hear about everything from what inspired Morgan (“The Queen”) to put together the original play, how much he incorporated from the original interviews into the play and his speculations on what truly motivated both men to do the interviews. ***

Discovering Secrets: The People and Places Behind the Story interviews both the Smiths the Republican family that hosted the interviews along with Frost, Langella and others about discovering the "character" for Richard Nixon. ***

The U-Control feature allows viewers to watch picture-in-picture behind-the-scenes movie while watching the film. Rounding things out are a series of deleted scenes. ***

We also get a featurette on how the Nixon Library cooperated in the making of the film. Evidently those associated with the library felt that the play and film were very fair balanced at presenting Nixon the man. Nixon whatever his character flaws (and there were plenty) did accomplish many things while in office (both good and bad) that were overshadowed by Watergate. ---

Final Words: