Nixon

NIXON 30th Anniversary screening with director Oliver Stone and author Tim Greiving in person December 21 at 5 pm at the Laemmle Royal

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 30th anniversary screening of NIXON (1995), an epic historical biopic of the life of Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president of the United States. The film’s producer-writer-director, three-time Oscar winner Oliver Stone, will appear in person in a post-film discussion and Q&A, joined by journalist-author Tim Greiving (biographer of the film’s composer, John Williams). The film will show one time only on Sunday, December 21 at 5 pm at the historic Laemmle Royal theatre in West Los Angeles.

The film covers Nixon’s life and political career, told mostly through flashbacks as he reflects on his life at the height of the Watergate crisis (1972-74) up to his resignation from the presidency, the only individual to do so thus far in American history. The screenplay, written by Stone with Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson, depicts Nixon as a complex, flawed personality, who achieved great heights only to suffer an ignominious downfall. Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of Nixon earned an Academy Award nomination as best actor, along with Stone for writing, and Joan Allen for best supporting actress as his wife, Pat Nixon. Five-time Oscar winner John Williams also received a nomination for his score, one of a record 54 nods in the music field. NIXON was his third collaboration with Stone, after Born on the Fourth of July and JFK. The all-star cast also includes Powers Boothe, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, Madeline Kahn, E. G. Marshall, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Sorvino, Mary Steenburgen, Sam Waterston, and James Woods.

The film received mixed to favorable notices, dividing critics of the day. Roger Ebert gave high praise in his 4-star review, “Nixon would be a great film even if there had been no Richard Nixon. In its control of mood and personality, in the way the president musters moments of brilliance even as the circle closes…it takes on the resonance of classic tragedy.” In a generally hostile review in Rolling Stone Peter Travers does eventually grant Stone some kudos, “But small, telling moments in the film---the best moments---reveal a new and welcome evenhandedness in Stone that offers Nixon compassion without absolution. It’s gripping psychodrama. Just don’t confuse Nixon with history.” Stone explained his approach as an attempt to afford “a fuller understanding of the life and career of Richard Nixon – the good and the bad, the triumphs and the tragedies, and the legacy he left his nation and the world.”

Oliver Stone is an eleven-time Academy Award nominee over the span of a six-decade career as a writer, director, and producer and one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of his generation. His three Oscar wins are for writing Midnight Express (1978), directing Platoon, Oscar’s Best Picture of 1986, and directing Born on the Fourth of July in 1989. Among his many other credits are Salvador, Wall Street, The Doors, JFK, Natural Born Killers, W, and South of the Border.

Tim Greiving is a journalist, author, and self-described film music evangelist. His comprehensive biography of the legendary maestro, John Williams: A Composer’s Life, was published in September to high critical regard. Regarding his choice to showcase this film among all of Williams’ scores, Greiving notes, “NIXON was the third collaboration between John Williams and Oliver Stone, the climax of a remarkable triptych about American tragedy and an anguished but romantic lament about the corruption of American ideals. I consider this film to be Stone’s masterpiece, a grand opera with echoes of Shakespeare and CITIZEN KANE, and the score one of Williams’ most darkly gorgeous, morally complex hidden gems.”

Book sale and signing with the author at 4:30, and after the post-screening discussion (time permitting).