White House Madness

I think 'White House Madness' is a great example of quality independent cinema which combines a madcap sense of humor with political satire. The movie gets a bit preachy towards the end (for example: "I don't know what year you're in but I declare it 1984" followed by Hitler salutes) but throughout, the film is very funny. Basically the Watergate scandal is explained as a mix-up involving Nixon attempting to recover a stuffed, mechanical dog, which contains all of his criminal admissions; this essentially leads to the Watergate Scandal. Many clever moments of Marx Bros. type humor ensues. However if you're not a fan of this of type humor mixed with political satire and a somewhat preachy edge - particularly towards the end, then you might not like this. Also, it's lack of budget is somewhat obvious since this was an independent project. But if you put those prejudices aside, you might enjoy it. It's also a great mid 70s time capsule.

I was interested in seeing this movie when I found about its existence, since it was an early effort by B movie maker Mark L. Lester, who has had quite a career. This is unlike any other movie he's been involved with, since it's a political comedy/satire. One thing the movie got right was its casting of Steve Friedman as Richard Nixon - while he does not really look like Tricky Dickie, his voice sounds similar, and he gives a pretty enthusiastic performance. Unfortunately, he is unable to save the movie. While supposedly a look at the last days of Nixon in the White House, the movie mostly ignores this in order to do its own thing. That might not have been bad had the movie been funny, but it mostly isn't. Most of the gags in the movie come across as dated or old hat, or have good ideas (such as making the Watergate burglars like The Three Stooges) but are botched in their execution. I guess this movie does have historical value, a document of reaction to the times, but I think even historians will be pressing the fast-forward button before the end.