Secret Honor

Sometime in the late 70's, the 37th President- Richard Nixon- decided to set the record straight. In his study, alone but for a bottle of Scotch and a loaded revolver, he sets the tape deck to record and starts to tell his tale. So begins a fascinating, illuminating and thoroughly candid monologue that explores what Nixon may have been feeling, what he was thinking; and why his presidency and very name became synonymous with scandal.

Robert Altman's 'Secret Honor'- based on the play 'Secret Honor: The Last Testament of Richard M. Nixon' by Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone- seamlessly weaves fact with fiction to create a thoroughly believable and strangely compelling portrait of a man too often in film and television resigned to the realm of caricature and cast in black and white. The real Nixon was a man of immeasurable greys, and Freed and Stone's powerful screenplay lays that fact bare.

It is neither an overly sympathetic work, nor is it a scathing summation of Nixon's legacy. It is balanced, unbiased- in fact, surprisingly so, considering Altman's noted and vocal political leanings. It shows Nixon to be one full of contradictions and divided loyalties, a deeply paranoid man not comfortable with people, but still one who craved attention and demanded respect. He is not the villain most films make him out to be, neither is he a saint. Through their barbed, witty monologues, Freed and Stone show us Nixon's character like few other films have succeeded - or even tried- in doing.

Freed and Stone's writing is remarkable because it is so vitriolic and yet so sympathetic you begin to see Nixon not as some political figurehead or legend, but simply as a man; one of fallibility, doubts and self-interest like us all. Oliver Stone would try to do something similar with his 'Nixon' in 1995, but 'Secret Honor' was much more successful at bringing a complete, well-rounded portrait of the man to life.

Of course, 'Secret Honor' also benefits from having the late, great Philip Baker Hall starring as Nixon, delivering a tour-de-force performance that justifiably jumpstarted his career in film. He showcases the self-pity and ego inherent to Nixon's character in a subtle manner, while also imbuing the man with a sympathetic, humane streak. So perfectly does he capture Nixon's mannerisms, his presence, his vocal eccentricities, that it is as if the real President had possessed Baker Hall for the ninety minutes of the film's runtime.

Ranting and raving into his tape recorder, racing through the study in his red-velvet smoking jacket; at times you feel that you're watching some kind of documentary that the 37th President drunkenly agreed to take part in. Baker Hall's is an intense, incredible piece of acting that is not just the finest Nixon we've ever had on screen, it is one of the greatest performances in any Altman film point blank. That is not even to mention the fact that the film is a one man show, and Baker Hall keeps us glued to the screen the whole time.

Filmed on campus at the University of Michigan, 'Secret Honor' is simply, stylishly shot. Pierre Mignot's cinematography is fluid, unobtrusive work that has room for symbolism and visual metaphor, but is never pretentious. Stephen Altman's production design is texturally rich, though in a minimalist fashion. Nixon's study- the only location in the film- is decorated convincingly, containing the staples one might assume the 37th President would have: a piano, photographs from his career, various CCTV cameras; copious amounts of Chivas Regal. Though adapting plays to film can often be difficult in terms of visuals and staging; Altman's crew on 'Secret Honor' did a masterful job.

'Secret Honor' is a masterpiece of cinema, a sharply written, witty character study of one of the most notorious Presidents in history. It is not a politically biased work, though that doesn't mean it doesn't contain criticism of Nixon's policies and time in office. It is a film that is always believable and never melodramatic- an honest examination of the man's character; and as Nixon himself once said "honesty may not be the best policy, but it is worth trying once in a while." 'Secret Honor' is well worth trying.

The best film ever made on Nixon, or any president. A film which is an entire monologue by Philip Baker Hall, one of the best character actors of our time. While, like Anthony Hopkins, he doesn't LOOK like Nixon, his performance helps you look beyond it. As he staggers around the oval office, cursing his enemies and talking to ghosts, staring into his monitors, you get the resonance of the real Nixon, and you even begin to feel sorry for him. It opens the myth of Nixon wide to reveal a man beneath the icon, and is a simultaneously thrilling and dramatic film. Altman's film has been out of print for at least a decade, but it far surpasses Oliver Stone's film and is worth watching for anyone who ever wanted to appreciate Nixon as anything other than a monster.

If you ever get a chance to see this film, grab it! Phillip Baker Hall doesn't simply portray Nixon, he inhabits him. The familiar hunched shoulders and odd poses employed by every Nixon impersonator, in Hall's hands seem less like imitation than brilliant artistic choices, revealing the inner struggles of a remarkable, tormented man. No disrespect to Anthony Hopkins, unquestionably a very talented actor, but his Nixon doesn't hold a candle to Hall's.

This is of course a work of fiction, but like the best fiction it lies in order to reveal a deeper truth. Nixon never made the tape we see him creating through the course of this film, but what is revealed through it is both psychologically and historically honest. The portrait that emerges is unsparing and sympathetic. Nixon emerges as a hero in a Greek tragedy with the same grandeur and the same tragic flaw.

Fans and critics both of Richard Nixon will find their judgements challenged by this complex, revealing portrait. Even someone who has never heard of Nixon couldn't help but be fascinated by this powerful, complex man.

Note to PT Anderson fans: According to Anderson, this was the performance that convinced him he had to work with Hall. It's no accident that Anderson's first full-length film, Sidney (or Hard Eight), was a showpiece for Hall's amazing talent.

(for the Laserdisc notes: aspect ratio is 4:3)

It's interesting to know some background of the film. First, Secret Honor began as a stage play written by Donald Freed. Altman toured it around the country. These notes are derived form the commentary tracks on the laserdisc.

The filming occurred while Altman was in residence at the University of Michigan. The set was constructed in a residence hall and video cameras were installed so that students could observe the production. Graduate students in the film program filled many of the technical positions.

The play was shot on 16mm film, which was then enlarged to make 35mm release prints. Consequently, the photographic quality is rather flat. There's no denying the power and accomplishment of Philip Baker Hall's performance, however.

"You, ladies and gentlemen of the American jury, shall look at the face that is under the mask!" - Philip Baker Hall (Richard Nixon)

It takes 12 minutes for Robert Altman's "Secret Honor" to really get going, the audience having to endure some terribly dated TV music and lots of theatrical posturing by Philip Baker Hall, but once the actor begins his meaty monologue, it's hard not to be transfixed.

Hall, of course, plays former president Richard Nixon. Recently disgraced by the Watergate fiasco, he prances about his private office with a loaded gun and a glass of whisky, spewing scorn at the Kennedy's, Helen Douglas, Henry Kissinger and a mysterious group called both "The Committee of 100" and "The Bohemian Grove".

Employing students from the University of Michigan, and a script that sticks religiously to a stage play by Donald Freed and Arnold Stone, "Secret Honor" is a fairly small scale project for Altman. Still, there are at least four interesting things being done.

The first is the film's location. Altman doesn't use his small set with the same gusto that Stone does in "Talk Radio", Hitchcock does in "Rear Window" or Lumet does in "12 Angry Men", but he does add his own little flourishes here and there. For example, Altman surrounds Nixon's room with wall-mounted pictures of past presidents and places a huge bank of security monitors to one side. The effect is such that Nixon, whose monologue takes the form of a courtroom plea of defence, is addressing a jury that is at once himself, we the audience and those political figures he both admirers and detests. There's therefore a sense of profound scrutiny, Nixon waging a war for his own innocence, politicians over his shoulders, a security camera in his face, a national audience behind his back and a bank of monitors recording his every move.

The second interesting thing is Hall's performance itself. Unlike Stone's "Nixon" or Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon", "Secret Honour" is categorically not an attempt to portray some "ultimate truth" of Nixon. Instead, Altman creates something more fragmented; a creature with different faces, facets and feelings. Altman demonizes as he humanises, deconstructs as he constructs, each of Hall's anecdotes serving only to further muddy the water. Altman's Nixon is both raging bull and wounded child, Altman content to create a portrait that is as baffling as it is complex.

The third interesting thing is Nixon's insistence that it was a mysterious group of powerful figures who orchestrated and mismanaged his career. He calls them "The Bohemian Grove", a cadre of economic power brokers to whom Nixon is nothing more than a paid lackey and perpetual outsider. Even as he damns them, Nixon mourns that he was never fully accepted by this group.

The fourth interesting thing is Nixon's insistence that he staged Watergate deliberately in an attempt to get himself out of office. This claim is filled with ridiculous reversals. The honourable president made himself guilty, he says, committed a deliberately obvious crime, not because he was a paranoid, power hungry mad man, but because he was too noble, too just and great, to associate further with the cartels, criminals and deplorable politicians who were pulling his strings.

Watergate thus shifts from becoming a criminal act, to an act of nobility. Nixon, the man so used and abused that he had to sacrifice his own career for the greater good. Poor boy.

7.9/10 – This is essentially filmed theatre. Still, Hall delivers a fascinating monologue that is both riveting and demented. Incidentally, Altman pretender Paul Thomas Anderson would use actor Philip Baker Hall extensively throughout his filmography, casting him in "Sydney", "Magnolia" and "Boogie Nights". Worth one viewing.