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Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins ... see more see more... , E.G. Marshall , Julie Araskog , Brian Bedford , Tony Lo Bianco , Bill Bolender , Tom Bower , Larry Hagman , Corey Carrier , Michael Chiklis , Julie Condra , John Cunningham , John Diehl , Donna Dixon , Kevin Dunn , Richard Fancy , Fyvush Finkel , Annabeth Gish , Joanna Going , Tony Goldwyn , David Barry Gray , Charles Haugk , Dan Hedaya , Edward Herrmann , Madeline Kahn , James Karen , John Bedford Lloyd , Robert Marshall , John C. McGinley , David Paymer , James Pickens Jr. , David Hyde Pierce , Tony Plana , Howard Platt , George Plimpton , Victor Rivers , Marilyn Rockafellow , Saul Rubinek , Marley Shelton , Boris Sichkin , Drew Snyder , Paul Sorvino , Mary Steenburgen , Sean Stone , Jon Tenney , Ronald Von Klaussen , Jack Wallace , J.T. Walsh , Bridgette Wilson , Robert Beltran , John Stockwell , Oliver Stone , Clayton Townsend , James Woods , Ling Bai , Michael Herz & Llyod Kaufman , Harry Murphy , Fima Noveck , Chuck Preiffer , Lenny Vullo , Ric Young , O'Neal Compton , Wilson Cruz , Power Booth

Oliver Stone, the most outspokenly political American filmmaker of the 1980s and '90s, directs this epic-length biography of Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the U.S., who was re-elected by a land... read more read more...slide in 1972, only to resign in disgrace two years later. Taking a non-linear approach, Nixon jumps back and forth between many different periods and events, from Nixon's strict upbringing at the hands of his Quaker mother, through the many peaks and valleys of his political career, to his downfall in the wake of the Watergate scandal. The facts of his life are blended with supposition and speculation to create a portrait that is often critical of the man's policies but displays an unexpected compassion toward his failings as a human being. Anthony Hopkins stars as Nixon, Joan Allen plays his long-suffering wife Pat, Mary Steenburgen portrays his mother Hannah, Bob Hoskins is cast as J. Edgar Hoover, Powers Boothe plays Alexander Haig, Paul Sorvino portrays Henry Kisinger, and Ed Harris plays E. Howard Hunt. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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60 critics

R, 3 hr. 10 min.

Directed by: Oliver Stone

Release Date: December 22, 1995

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DVD Release Date: June 15, 1999

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Flixster Reviews (688)

  • pier007
    September 15, 2011
    pier007
    Hopkins is a monster. He does a truly larger than life performance, even if the megalomaniacal and mythomaniac Oliver Stone tries to pass his own paranoia to the Nixon character, Hopkins succeeds in retaining not only the madness but the candor and humanity only seen and heard fr... read moreom a Shakespeare monarch. Overlong and hallucinatory but dense and ultimately compelling approach to one of the most controversial figures who swam and almost drown in that stormy and treacherous shithole called politics.
  • kenstachnik
    April 1, 2011
    kenstachnik
    Amazing direction & editing along with Hopkins central performance makes Nixon a great film to watch. At a touch over 3 1/4 hours it's a little daunting to undertake, but well worth it.
  • imrealgod
    February 6, 2011
    imrealgod
    Besides being unnecessarily long, this dramatic interpretation of Nixon's life, mainly including his political career, suffered from an overdose of emotions and relatively poor performance by Anthony Hopkins. I didn't expect this (proportion of boredom) from an Oliver Stone film;... read more I am obviously very much disappointed and hence don't find it recommendable.
  • SirPant
    December 15, 2010
    SirPant
    An awesome and surprisingly sympathetic biopic of Richard Nixon, brilliantly portrayed by Hopkins and excellently directed by Stone. The supporting cast is an array of stars and everyone is on fine form, for me though it's Paul Sorvino's Henry Kissinger that steals the show and I... read more'm not sure why he wasn't swamped with awards but Hopkins was deservedly nominated. It may have been a bit fantastical but I thought it was brilliantly structured, well written and above all very entertaining.
  • kiriyamakazou
    March 28, 2009
    kiriyamakazou
    Surprisingly, Stone shows Nixon in a rather positive light. Nixon is a very emotional film, which certainly helps in relating to such a powerful and demonised figure. Hopkins gives a staggering performance. True, he hasn't got the voice down perfectly or, at some points, even clo... read morese. What he does capture is the essence, the more subtle mannerisms. 20 minutes in and all I saw was Nixon. The rest of the cast also give excellent turns, I can't pass judgment on how accurate they are, but they all serve their purpose and make an investment in their roles. The only minor fault of the movie is the uneven pace. It starts like JFK. Fast cuts, memorable dialogue and hints at conspiracy theories. As it progresses the film settles down into a much slower, character study of the man himself. It's a great summary of a complex man and how he was viewed by the world.
  • tsigur
    February 11, 2009
    tsigur
    I saw the director's cut of 3 hours and 32 minutes, so this is what my review is based on. I don't know how much different the theatrical version is, but I'm sure I would love that one, too. Anthony Hopkins is insanely good as Nixon. One of the best all around performances. The s... read morecenes with him and Joan Allen are heartbreaking. I am a big fan of JFK, but I think this is Oliver Stone's best. I know I have been going on and on about flashbacks, but this is one film that does it right. It jumps around a lot, but I never got confused or felt it was convoluted. I think all of the supporting cast are perfectly cast. There is the always reliable James Woods and Paul Sorvino is incredible. After watching this, I understand what Stone was trying to do with W. Maybe if he would have given it more time and focused on the mental and emotional aspects of the man as he did here, I think he would have had a better film. Robert Richardson does an amazing job (it's like Casino, but in Washington, DC) and the script is well written. Great, great movie.
  • matertenebraum
    December 21, 2008
    matertenebraum
    #13Nixon
    Anthony Hopkins gives a riveting and at times disturbing performance of an, at one time all powerful man. The film is more of a character study rather than about any of the scandals like Watergate and the cover up and things like that, although those events are a big par... read moret of the story, they are only liabilities to the film. And thats exactly what they become because you as a viewer of the film are mesmerized and stunned by the incomparable performance from Anthony Hopkins. Stone portrays Nixon as pitiful person, and Hopkins hits the nail on the head. I'll be honest towards the end of the film i teared up, but thats just me. The great thing about this film just like Stone's other masterpiece, JFK, you can make up your own mind.
    President speack:? ... because people have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I am not a crook.?
  • allan913
    February 1, 2008
    allan913
    Anthony Hopkins is unforgettable in the lead role of Richard Nixon. Another intriuging political thriller by Director, Oliver Stone.
  • crossbladezero
    March 23, 2012
    crossbladezero
    He's a perfectly competent actor, he's buddies with Oliver Stone and he looks so much like Nixon that it's completely unfathomable that no has ever gotten him to play the dude, so how in good Grace Kelly's name did they not get Tommy Lee Jones to play Nixon? Eh, well, even though... read more he doesn't have his natural voice or face... or eyes... or hair (I think that widow's peak is running a little too long), Hopkins is perfect to play Nixon, because he's alway been known as that kind of sly, clever dog, and now he's finally playing good ol' Tricky Dick. I'm sure some people would say that he's also great casting, because Nixon's about as evil as a serial killer, and to those people, I say shut up, you liberals, you probably don't even know a whole lot about his presidency... like me, but luckily, this film really clued me in, especially since I saw the extended version. Three-and-a-half hours, it better teach me some stuff, which is why it's releaving to see Stone attached to this project, because he managed to make a three hour to three-and-a-half hour - in the case of the director's cut - long, repetitive dialogue piece like "JFK" really work, because he packed it with so much info... plenty of which was inaccurate. Okay, maybe I should double-check my sources if I'm going to be praising this film for accuracy, because Stone already slipped up when he thought Hopkins could pass for Nixon. Well, I will give him this: He was right, because although Hopkins doesn't at all look the part, the guy knows how to transform into any role. Still, while that makes this film all the better, that doesn't completely drown out the misstep in the casting, let alone the missteps in the actual film.

    The film features a scene in which Nixon listens to the recordings of his famous slip-up, and then flashes back to the lengthy, career-destroying conversation in question, and that whole scene is absolutely brilliant and effective, or at least it would be, if the film didn't open with that. The story is rarely told in a non-linear fashion, but when it is, it really doesn't feel like it fits, as Nixon's story is one of building to major highs, only to descend into major lows, and I know that it sounds like a nitpick, especially when you consider that the non-linear storytelling is only occasional, but when you see the film, the non-linear storytelling lands a hard blow to the resonance of the hook and leaves the film to, for quite some time, retain that feel of a history lesson that's just covering facts, whether than flowing like the story that it is. To add insult to injury, this out-of-order storytelling is sloppy to begin with, transitioning back and forth through time with a major flashback feel, whether than story shift feel, which leaves you really thrown off when these shifts in story begin to well outstay their welcome as flashbacks. Now, if that's not enough inconsistency in storytelling for you, switch to linear storytelling is jarring; but don't get me wrong, that's the way this story should be told, so I should be glad that it's mostly told in that fashion, but even Oliver Stone's linear storytelling is a mess, changing focus too drastically at points while feeling somewhat thrown-together and repetitive to continue, if not intensify the history lesson feel of the film, for although there is meditation, there's too much substance and too many facts - some of which are superfluous - packed into one scene, alone, that meditation finds itself diluted, and the dramatic effectiveness of the substance with it. Richard Nixon's is a story well worth telling, but this film is as much a history lesson that we can hear anywhere as it is the dramatisation that Nixon deserves, and the final product comes out both too long and not long enough, falling just a little bit short on the meditation, resonance and consistency that, if orchestrated carefully enough, could have given us a powerful film. As it stands, well, it's still really good, through all of its missteps. Stone is not at all the greatest filmmaker, yet he's perfectly competent enough to keep a film this mammoth and messy going and largely through style.

    Now, Stone's random occasional cuts to black-and-white didn't work in "JFK" and don't work here almost as certainly as all of the transparent images, newsreel footage and flashback montages that were in a flashback-driven, investigative mystery-thriller like "JFK" don't work in this film, yet those moments of overstylizing come and go while the brilliantly effective style remains constant. Robert Richardson does it again, shooting the film a kind of subtle grit and grain in the color to lay down a broad tone that can still be isolated very quickly and very effectively to add a dash of tension to any subtley heavy situation, and where Richardson's cinematography supplements the resonance of the film visually, John Williams' score supplements it audibly. With all of the George Lucas', Richard Donners' and - woah boy - Steven Spielberg's, it's pretty overlooked that Oliver Stone is another director that knows how to get John Williams to put together some of his best work - which is saying a lot -, yet lo and behold the men have quite the taste in music between them, and sure enough, the score in this film is boastful and blasting with, at times, a powerful epic sweep to help greatly in pumping this film with the theatrics needed to both engage the audience and make up for whatever pieces of resonance collapse under the weight of messy storytelling. However, as spotty as Stone's storytelling gets, he carries this film and makes it as good as it is more than he squanders the potential behind this ambitious project. True, very often, he's overemphatic about the facts to the point of diluting dramatic aspects, but when he does give the film that human touch, he cuts deep, whether when he's meditating on the grit of rocky politics or simply telling the story of Richard Nixon, a human of great ambition, brilliance and struggles, yet a human nevertheless, being flawed and often overwhelmed by circumstance, both as a politician and a moral man. Stone paints an honest portrait of Nixon that we've rarely, if ever seen before, and while this massive defining of the legend stands to cut deeper, Stone still strikes a chord that gives us much insight into one of our most notorious leaders, yet Stone doesn't paint that portrait alone. Again, Anthony Hopkins, as far as appearances go, is so amazingly miscast, it's awe-inspiring and painfully glaring... for less than five minutes out of this well over 3 long hour study on this one person, and that's no exaggeration, because although he doesn't look the part, Hopkins becomes Nixon immediately, not only adopting all of his traits and mannerisms, but that kind of humanity and atmosphere that defined Nixon, and he does it all with an intense and layered lead presence comprised of charisma, emotion, anguish and authority that leaves any piece of pretending in his portrayal of someone he is most certainly not to just wash away as you find yourself hypnotised by Hopkins' haunting, effortless bypassing of not only the glare of the miscast, but of his own stardom that he very much deserves, an opinion supported greatly by this testament to his awesome acting abilities.

    Overall, the film's storytelling is inconsistent in focus, yet consistent in messiness, being overly matter-of-fact to the point of damaging the film's resonance and leaving it to get very repetitive very often, yet you're gripped through and through by, if nothing else, the dazzling cinematography by Robert Richardson and sweeping score by John Williams, as well as by many fine and sometimes glowing moments where Oliver Stone really delivers on the resonance and effectiveness this insightful and provocative dramatisation, though not quite as much as leading man Anthony Hopkins, who transcends the glaring miscast by effortlessly transforming into both the layered former leader of America and the compelling leader of this film, thus leaving "Nixon" to stand as a very entertaining and fascinating study on the highs and lows of President Richard Nixon.

    3/5 - Good
  • fb20312798
    September 25, 2011
    fb20312798
    Its essentially a fictional account of Nixon's presidency while examining Nixon the man. Like Stone's 'JFK' the plot lies in a sea of wild conspiracy theories that stretch from probable to outrageous but I think that's what makes it effective. Stone uses the burden of such terrib... read morele secrets to slowly strip away Nixon's defenses and leave him a broken and surprisingly sympathetic character at the end. Oh and Anthony Hopkins is goddamn fantastic in this.

View All Nixon Reviews

Critic Reviews

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

What it finally adds up to is a huge mixed bag of waxworks and daring, a film that is furiously ambitious even when it goes flat, and startling even when it settles for eerie, movie-of-the-week mimicry. Full Review

Hal Hinson
February 16, 2001
Hal Hinson, Washington Post

Without question, Nixon dwarfs everything in the American cinema since Schindler's List.

Kenneth Turan
February 13, 2001
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

Nixon starts, like a horror movie, on a dark and stormy night, with the president prowling around a room of the White House like Dracula in his lair. Full Review

Todd McCarthy
February 13, 2001
Todd McCarthy, Variety

Nixon far overstays its welcome with an increasingly tedious final hour devoted largely to slogging through the minutiae of Watergate. Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Factual or not, there's no denying that Nixon has moments when it is nothing short of compelling. Full Review

John Hartl
January 1, 2000
John Hartl, Film.com

There's no compelling structure or viewpoint to hold the picture together.

Mick LaSalle
January 1, 2000
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

The problem here isn't accuracy. It's absurdity. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Thoughts of Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear come to mind; here, again, is a ruler destroyed by his fatal flaws. There's something almost majestic about the process: As Nixon goes down in this film, ther... Full Review

Susan Stark
January 1, 2000
Susan Stark, Detroit News

Thoughtful, well-researched and carefully modulated, the film also marks director Oliver Stone's coming of age. Full Review

Desson Thomson
January 1, 2000
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

You will not be bored. Full Review

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