Frost/Nixon – Blu-ray Review

By Frankie Dees Apr 26, 2009, 19:48 GMT

From Academy Award-winning director, Ron Howard, comes the electrifying, untold story behind one of the most unforgettable moments in history. When disgraced President Richard Nixon agreed to an interview with jet-setting television personality, David Frost, he thought he’d found the key to saving his tarnished legacy. But, with a name to make and a reputation to overcome, Frost became one of Nixon’s most formidable adversaries and engaged the leader in ...more

Ron Howard, in between big-budget ‘Da Vinci’ pics, squeezed out an effective, no-frills cinematic adaptation of Peter Morgan’s stage play about the historic 1977 television interview that pitted British talk show host David Frost against Richard Nixon in what was a make-or-break for both of them. 

Securing a slew of Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Director and Actor for Frank Langella, the film was shut out as it’s comparatively less flashy when compared to ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ or ‘Milk.’ The pic is intelligent filmmaking regardless and more entertaining than its synopsis might suggest. 

Peter Morgan doesn’t set out to vilify Nixon as much as humanize him. Nixon made horrendous, sometimes illegal, mistakes that he may have genuinely believed was justified because he was president. When he lets this claim slip during the infamous last segment of the interview, you can tell that the air slips out of the room and a close-up of Nixon reveals that he may have finally succumbed to his own foibles. 

Carrying over his Tony-winning role as Nixon, it takes a few beats before Langella as Nixon starts to materialize. Obviously bearing little physical resemblance with a voice a bit more lumbering, by the time Langella sits down as Nixon to get interviewed, however, the many dense layers of the performance begin to come together and by the end of the film, you may forget what the real Nixon looks like.

Peter Morgan seems to be the go-to guy for smart and entertaining scripts about contemporary historical figures. With ‘The Queen’, ‘The Deal’ and ‘The Last King of Scotland’ under his belt, this screenplay is approximately the same as the 2006 play that provided insight into the circumstances involving Frost’s unlikely four-part interview with Nixon.

The film starts off with the chatty, affable Frost (Michael Sheen, also reprising his role from the play), more prone to interviewing celebs on his Australian and UK talk shows than prominent political figures, wanting to get back into the American market after a short-lived talk-show attempt.

Success in America was like a drug to him and an interview with Nixon would secure the national spotlight needed to propel his career there. 

Although, the proposed interview starts off on somewhat self-serving terms, Frost eventually realizes the weight of this undertaking - if Americans will be watching, they’ll be wanting to see a televised conviction that he never received after Ford pardoned him from all criminal activities, not a breezy, softball chat. 

When Nixon and his camp seem interested, a high $600,000 for Nixon brokered by Swifty Lazar (Toby Jones) being the prime motive, Frost puts his own money on the line to secure the interview when all major networks and advertisers aren’t biting.

This heightens the tension for Frost and the researchers and crew he assembled that includes his producer John Birt (Matthew Macfadyen), journalist Bob Zelnick (Oliver Platt) and the Nixon-abhorring James Reston (Sam Rockwell) to deliver an interview that will pique financial interest. 

Nixon gets support from a former Marine, Col. Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon) who acts as his voice establishing contractual limitations for the interview and mostly playing the part of the loyal bulldog.

Besides the considerable money which he wants to get himself back on the East Coast and back in the epicenter of politics (after settling down in a lonely California villa), Nixon also accepts the interview from Frost knowing that the interview should be mostly softballs and will be a good chance for him to rehabilitate his rapport with America without having to negotiate the truly tough questions. 

When the interviews finally start, set up a modest suburban house in California, the film seems to start proper. Filmed in four different parts, each with a different topic, and saving Watergate for the finale, Nixon dominates the first three parts of the interview almost effortlessly. Smooth, savvy and responding to questions in long answers to occupy the time, Frost isn’t given the opportunity to really go in with some body blows.

Frost is sidetracked by the financing or maybe a bit too sympathetic to Nixon’s slightly pathetic situation. He seems to be pulling some punches. A few days before the final interview, Nixon places a drunken call to Frost that stresses how he thinks their of similar fabric. Nixon did his research and spoke of their humble beginnings and their against-the-odds rise to the top. He then challenged him directly to be no-holds-barred; only one winner will walk away from this interview unscathed.

This lights a fire and Frost buckles down to do some research as this last interview will decide if the interviews are a success or a failure. To be fair, the outcome of this final interview isn’t exactly ‘Titanic’ so I won’t spoil anything but in its own way, it’s as rousing a climax as any action-orientated film. 

Ron Howard wisely just keeps out of the way and shoves the camera in on the performances with Langella and Sheen both offering up expert perfs with hundreds of play reenactments under their belt.

Established pros like Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell and Toby Jones fill out supporting characters nicely and Han Zimmer offers up a zippy score that perfectly complements the word-fueled action. 

The 1080p 2.35:1 AVC encode is impeccable. Obviously not effects heavy, the film is composed of a lot of tight shots and close ups where high-def detail comes in quite handy. The 70s era production and costume design had been toned down as to not be too distracting so you won’t find ‘Anchorman’-like vibrancy but this is a sharp-looking disc. The well-mixed English DTS-HD Master 5.1 Audio track does a great job capturing the slightest inflection of the dialogue (key for the interview segments). 

Special Features include a 23-minute making-of with the standard interviews and behind-the-scenes info – more comprehensive than your standard making-of though. ‘Discovering Secrets’ is a 13-minute look at the real people consisting of Frost’s research posse. ‘The Real Interview’ is seven minutes of interviews with the real Frost, Ron Howard and other cast members. ‘The Nixon Library’ is a quick look at the Nixon Presidential Library.

There’s a whopping 30 minutes of ‘Deleted Scenes’ that fill out a lot of small scenes – most were deservedly cut. Rounding things out is an informative audio commentary from Ron Howard and Universal’s cool ‘U-Control’ PiP feature which features a standard PiP with on-set footage and interviews and ‘The Nixon Chronicles’ which is a mostly text-based facts and trivia on the real events. 

It’s one of those films that may not scream ‘entertainment’ but if you’ve been avoiding it because of seemingly dull subject matter; you should definitely give it a rental. It’s well-scripted, acted and shot and sure, the climax of the film is just two people talking, but this real-life war of words is compelling stuff. The Blu-ray specs are excellent with spot-on video and audio and some cool special features. 

Frost/Nixon [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon. Visit the DVD database for more information.