Cheap Kissinger and Nixon (Video) (Daniel Petrie) Price

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Customer Reviews of Kissinger and Nixon

My guilty pleasure
Along with Oliver Stone's feature film "Nixon", this TNT made-for-TV flick is one of my most passionate guilty pleasures. This is not a great film by any standard. It lacks star power, the acting is mediocre, the script seems hackneyed, the history has been called into question by scholars all over the place, and the Vietnamese portions of the film are completely unbelievable. Still, this movie is one of my greatest joys. Why? I went to college during the Nixon presidency and Watergate. I was a college student during Nixon's invasion of Cambodia in 1970, which precipitated the riots that resulted in the killings at Kent State University. I was still in school when Spiro Agnew resigned the vice presidency and Nixon was forced to depart or be impeached. Never mind what kind of student I was! For I witnessed this history as a 20-something American trying desperately to avoid going to Vietnam and trying just as desperately to outlive the more Orwellian aspects of the Nixon presidency. What I like most about this movie and "Nixon" is the way they portray the vulgar political realist Richard Nixon became when in the White House. His family didn't like the opening scene where he calls Henry Kissinger "Jewboy". They didn't like all those scenes in "Nixon" where he called people (including the late FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, a known homosexual) some kind of "sucker" either. But these portrayals helped paint a portrait of this conflicted president as someone driven by history to fulfill a destiny only he envisioned. The rest of us saw the decline of democracy and a cheapening of the political system that wasn't as threatened until the days of Bill Clinton's sexual escapades and lying. For these reasons, I enjoy watching this movie over and over and re-living a part of my youth now long in the past. Even if this doesn't portray your youth, the movie reflects a time in American history when our future was uncertain and we had the most severe doubts about our national leadership. It is precisely this time in American history that laid the groundwork for an actor to take over the White House and, almost laughably, be considered in some quarters as deserving a place on Mount Rushmore. So watch this flick and you'll see not only why Nixon was a dolt, but why people thought Reagan was such a genius. Neither extreme is justified, of course, but you'll have fun watching Nixon choose to select the all-star baseball team over discussing the Paris peace talks with Kissinger. I think I'd have rather done that, too!

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When History you know becomes suspenseful.....
...then you know you're watching a great film. This film chronicles one slice of the Kissinger/Nixon relationship - the peace negotiations with Vietnam. The film moves at an excellent pace, never bogging down and throwing the next curve ball just in time. If Matt Frewer had spent one more frame on the film as Al Haig he would have stolen the movie, his portrayal is excellent. Ron Silver BECOMES Henry Kissinger and Beau Bridges is rather good as a shifty eyed Nixon, with more than one trick up his sleeve. The downside includes Ron White as H.R. Haldeman, his haircut should get some make-up dept. a "worst of the year" award and they forever have Nixon calling Charles Colson "Charlie", when hours of White House tapes show he never called him anything but "Chuck". Nitpicking perhaps but annoying. It also seems that the film can't quite decide whose point of view they are telling the story from, although it is fairly clear most of it is based on Kissinger's accounts, they could have done better but using that as a reference point rather than an occasional narrative. An excellent addition to any library.

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Kissinger and Nixon and the complexity of politics
I've never followed the history of Henry Kissinger until recently. Now I'm determined to learn as much as I can. Perhaps that's because he's so much in the news these days. Perhaps its because I just saw a documentary film about him that painted him as an evil war criminal. And perhaps its just because I just want to know everything.

This 1995 Turner Classic video focuses on the Paris peace talks in 1972 and the roles of Kissinger and Nixon to try to bring the Vietnam war to a conclusion. It stars Ron Silver as Kissinger and Beau Bridges as Nixon. Both look ridiculous in their mask-like makeup. And both try hard, and sometimes succeed, in stepping into the shoes of the characters they represent.

The Richard Nixon represented here is arrogant, rather stupid and yet politically savvy - his only feelings about the Vietnam War being how it affects his upcoming election. He's surrounded by his Wasp cronies with whom he drinks bourbon and makes secret plans, which are targeted to make Kissinger come out as the bad guy. The Henry Kissinger represented here noticeably winces at Nixon's constant anti-Semitic remarks, eats pastries instead of drinking hard liquor, and is lonely despite his dates with Hollywood actresses. He's the stereotyped Jewish intellectual who is left out of the real power decisions.

As in other made-for-TV movies, the script is over-acted, over-simplified and one-dimensional. They even depict the leaders of North and South Vietnam as speaking English with their own over-simplified political agendas. It did, however, teach me a bit about history and about the hard choices that had to be made which include the fact that everyone knew that when the Americans pulled out, there would be a bloodbath in South Vietnam. The script did hold my interest however. Also, as far it went, it was a small introduction about the hatred between Kissinger and Nixon and the complexity of politics.

What is the truth, however? A lot of questions surface in my mind. Nixon comes across as the villain in this film. But Kissinger is currently being vilified in the press. What really happened at the Paris peace talks? Surely, the answer lies somewhere outside the realm of these films. I plan on learning more, but sometimes there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to do it all.

Yes. I recommend this film. I recommend them all. Especially if you're interest has been raised in seeking the truth.