SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
The original Frost/Nixon was a hoary spectacle (please pardon my typo), an exclusive checkbook interview that provided the American people with proof of just one thing: Crime does pay.
It starred two quite different men in search of makeovers. David Frost, a floundering British talk show host, was out to remake his reputation, at all costs. Richard Nixon, a resigned and disgraced ex-president and a never-convicted lawbreaker, was out to remake his rock-bottom reputation -- and one thing more. He was out to enrich himself by selling the answers he owed the American people. So Frost agreed to pay Nixon $600,000 plus 10 percent of the profits for answering questions about the crimes he committed while on our payroll. It had been almost three years since he had resigned to avoid certain conviction and exiled himself to San Clemente, Calif.
The interview was broadcast May 4, 1977 to 155 television stations that bought into Frost's pre- and post-interview media hype. What America learned from it was: Nothing had changed in three years. Not Nixon and not his story.
Comes now "Frost/Nixon" the movie. It is well crafted and wonderfully acted. The Great Mentioners of Glitterati are mentioning it for multiple Academy Awards. Still, what you see on the silver screen is to accuracy what a fun house mirror is to true reflection. It distorts history. Magnifying some things, minimizing others. Also, inventing and omitting with dramatic license.
Mainly, in the film's climactic moment, the cinematic Frost (Michael Sheen) is seen rising to the occasion and nailing Nixon (Frank Langella) by getting him to admit his own criminal obstruction role in a " 'cover-up,' as you call it."
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