Film, Movie - The Assassination of Richard Nixon + trailer

Description: Sam Bicke (Penn), who is a salesman with a history of short-lived jobs, dreams of reuniting with his ex-wife Marie (Watts) and starting a business with a friend, Bonny Simmons (Cheadle).

When he begins working for a furniture company, his boss Jack Jones (Jack Thompson) encourages Bicke to become a better salesman by reading books such as Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking and listening to similar audio tapes. Jones also tells Bicke that he thinks Richard Nixon is the greatest salesman since he sold two election promises to the American people and reneged on them both yet remained in power.

Bicke has a business idea to start a mobile tire store, operating from a bus, with Simmons. During an interview for a small business loan, he begins to rant about how his brother's tire business was dishonest and how he couldn't tolerate that.

His unhappiness at his job grows, especially as Jones believes only in employing married men and Bicke is unable to convince Marie to pretend to be together for a company husbands-wives dinner. Bicke knows that his time at this company is running out and is relying on the small business loan being approved. He is unable to speed the process up when he arranges a meeting with the loans manager.

Watching the mailbox daily for a letter regarding the loan, he receives notification of the divorce from Marie and is upset that she didn't give them time to try to amend things. She has also moved in with another man.

He receives a letter from the loans company notifying him that they have turned down his application. He believes this is because they are racist, knowing that Bonny would be a partner.

Without the loan, he resorts to trying to deceive one of his brother's tire suppliers into giving him tires so he can start his business. It is unsuccessful and his brother (Michael Wincott) is waiting in Bicke's apartment to confront him and inform him that Bonny has been arrested for receiving stolen goods.

He descends into depression and insanity, blaming all his troubles on then-president Richard Nixon. Inspired by news reports of the February 17, 1974 actions of Robert K. Preston (who buzzed the White House with a stolen helicopter), Bicke plans to hijack an aircraft and to crash it into the White House. Stealing Bonny's pistol, he rushes upon an aircraft when he sees there are metal detectors and security. He shoots both of the pilots (one fatally) before demanding that a passenger fly the plane. A police officer shoots Bicke through the plane door window before Bicke decides to commit suicide.

The story of the hijacking eventually reaches the news, and the broadcast is seen on the televisions situated in the work places of Bonny and Marie his ex-wife. But as they pass the tv, they go about their business despite the fact that Sam's name is mentioned. The film ends with the image of Sam's forgotten ghost wandering and pacing his lonely apartment.

Some sources state that, in the course of making the film, the producers changed the spelling of Byck's last name to avoid offending any living relatives.

Genres: crime, drama, thriller

Starring: Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, Naomi Watts, Jack Thompson, Brad William Henke, Nick Searcy

Director: Niels Mueller

Producer: Alfonso Cuarón

Some useful comment: I saw this film at Cannes and thought it was fantastic. There is not a flawed moment in the entire film. The performances are amazing and any intelligent film fan will see Sean Penn's performance as one of his best if not his very best ever.

Additionally, Naomi Watts is outstanding. She disappears entirely in her role as Marie and is almost unrecognizable from anything she's ever done in the past. Jack Thompson, the great Australian actor of Breaker Morant and Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith fame is stunning. I can't believe he hasn't been used more in the United States. Not to mention the always great Don Cheadle and others...

The story itself is chilling. This is one relevant film that everyone should see. I don't want to give anything away but suffice it to say that this film discusses with great depth and insight issues that are burning in everyone's minds these days -- terrorism, 9-11, powerlessness as a voting public, etc., etc.

This film is gripping from start to finish. It is a carefully crafted character dissection that takes you inside the mind and heart of Penn's character. The film couldn't have succeeded without Penn's brilliance. The art direction and cinematography are stand out as well as the editing which keeps the film moving at a very assured pace.

This film is as good as they come. It's the kind of film they used to make and I was thrilled to see that some filmmakers and actors had the courage to tackle such complexities as are tackled here.

Roger Ebert calls "Nixon" one of the best films at this year's Cannes film festival...Le Monde in France called it a near masterpiece and in Rome's largest paper they wondered why this film instead of Fahrenheit 911 wasn;'t garnering all the attention. I agree with all of them. Amazing what the director and cast were able to pull off, simply amazing.

This film is an absolute gem and a must see for any intelligent film-goer....It will become a classic...guaranteed.