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[Stone] It sets the proportions
of the film by a biblical standard,
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imposed by Richard Nixon's mother,
in a sense, a Quaker, and a strict one.
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the beauty of that statement,
one of my favorites in the Bible,
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is many of us surrender
our spiritual side as we go.
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I just don't understand it, Bob.
I've logged a lot of miles.
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I've followed
the sales textbook by the letter.
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I've applied myself diligently.
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I mean, I try and I try,
and I just cannot get in the door.
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- I mean... what am I doin' wrong?
- Earl, sit down.
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[Stone] this is John McGinley playing
a salesman in one of those remakes
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00:01:11,321 --> 00:01:14,907
of a 1950s training industrial film,
which we saw a lot of as kids.
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00:01:14,991 --> 00:01:19,828
Motivational films. I played with this
idea of a salesman because Dick Nixon
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was considered by many a car salesman
type. He was desperate to succeed.
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A little too sweaty in that arrangement.
this film embodies that.
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[man] Something's changed.
I don't want to pry,
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00:01:31,883 --> 00:01:35,302
but is everything all right at home,
with Margie?
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00:01:35,386 --> 00:01:38,514
- Will there be anything else?
- Leave it.
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- Just leave it.
- Yes, sir.
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- Thank you.
- Thanks.
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[Bob] I watched you walking in
front of my desk in an agitated manner,
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00:01:46,689 --> 00:01:51,693
smoking without having asked
if you could smoke in my presence.
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- [indistinct chatter]
- 0121, mark.
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00:01:56,825 --> 00:02:00,077
OK, listen up. Fire team
discipline in there at all times.
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00:02:00,161 --> 00:02:03,455
Keep your radios on at all times
during the entire penetration.
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Check yourselves. False IDs?
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00:02:06,167 --> 00:02:09,962
- Jim.
- No wallets, no keys?
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00:02:10,046 --> 00:02:13,632
We rendezvous where?
The Watergate, room 214. When?
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00:02:13,716 --> 00:02:17,010
- At 0300 hours.
- Jawohl, mein fartin' fuhrer.
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00:02:18,054 --> 00:02:20,639
I swear, Frank,
I'm gonna make you a new asshole.
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00:02:20,723 --> 00:02:22,391
Let's get the fuck out of here.
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00:02:22,475 --> 00:02:26,562
[Stone] that's Ed Harris, did me a favor
by jumping in there as Howard Hunt.
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00:02:26,646 --> 00:02:30,232
If anything goes wrong, sit tight.
You'll hear from me or Howard.
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00:02:30,316 --> 00:02:31,984
Personally, if anything goes wrong,
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I'll be calling the President
of the United States.
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[Earl] I'm notjust
gonna be a good salesman.
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00:02:37,490 --> 00:02:40,993
No, doggone it,
I'm gonna be a great salesman.
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- That's the spirit.
- Thanks.
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00:02:44,330 --> 00:02:48,584
And remember, Earl,
always look them in the eye.
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00:02:48,668 --> 00:02:51,003
Nothing sells like sincerity.
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00:02:51,087 --> 00:02:54,673
[Stone laughs] the American sort of
commercial of that period.
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00:02:54,757 --> 00:02:56,842
Very direct. Very hard sell.
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00:02:56,926 --> 00:02:59,928
[man] Five men wearing surgical gloves,
business suits,
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carrying camera and electronic
surveillance equipment
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00:03:03,057 --> 00:03:07,227
were arrested in the headquarters
of the Democratic National Committee
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00:03:07,312 --> 00:03:09,479
in Washington.
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00:03:09,564 --> 00:03:12,691
They were unarmed.
Nobody knows yet why they were there
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00:03:12,775 --> 00:03:15,861
or what they were looking for.
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00:03:19,908 --> 00:03:23,744
[Stone] It's a fast start to the
picture. I was conscious of the cutting.
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00:03:23,828 --> 00:03:27,456
this is a very,
perhaps my most encapsulated picture,
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00:03:27,540 --> 00:03:31,168
the most structured in the sense of
shooting back and forth through times
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00:03:31,252 --> 00:03:32,377
and layers of time.
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00:03:32,462 --> 00:03:35,255
By this point,
I felt very confident in doing this
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because we'd done it in various ways
before with JFK.
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Beautiful opening shot.
We built that set. the White House,
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00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:50,646
we ended up shooting as a matte.
I believe we took a shot
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00:03:50,730 --> 00:03:53,732
of approaching the fence
at the White House with permission.
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00:03:53,816 --> 00:03:57,736
If we didn't, we built our own fence.
I wanted to pay homage,
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00:03:57,820 --> 00:04:01,740
but not to slavishly imitate,
Citizen Kane with this shot.
59
00:04:01,824 --> 00:04:03,742
But it was fun to do.
It was a night shoot.
60
00:04:03,826 --> 00:04:07,329
And that was the man. He was austere,
lonely in that White House alone.
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00:04:07,413 --> 00:04:10,040
Mad, half-mad, despised,
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00:04:10,124 --> 00:04:11,959
drinking because of his phlebitis
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00:04:12,043 --> 00:04:13,418
in his knee, the pain.
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00:04:13,503 --> 00:04:17,381
Taking painkillers. Mixing them.
Not drinking a lot, but just...
65
00:04:17,465 --> 00:04:19,258
We didn't ever say he was a drunkard.
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00:04:19,342 --> 00:04:21,718
there was one scene
where you see Nixon drinking,
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00:04:21,803 --> 00:04:24,346
the scene that replays
through the movie as a chorus.
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00:04:24,430 --> 00:04:27,933
It's always him drinking in the same
place, so it could be the same drink.
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00:04:28,017 --> 00:04:31,478
It's not necessary for him to have more
than three drinks in this movie.
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[man] The White House continues
to deny any involvement.
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00:04:37,235 --> 00:04:39,278
[man 2] Presidential counsel, John Dean,
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00:04:39,362 --> 00:04:41,905
testified before
the Senate Watergate committee
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00:04:41,990 --> 00:04:45,450
that the scandal reaches
to the highest levels.
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00:04:47,662 --> 00:04:50,330
[woman] Presidential aides
Haldeman and Ehrlichman
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00:04:50,415 --> 00:04:52,249
were ordered to resign today.
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00:04:52,333 --> 00:04:56,336
In a stunning announcement, White
House aide Alexander Butterfield
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00:04:56,421 --> 00:04:58,588
revealed the existence
of a taping system.
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00:04:58,673 --> 00:05:01,258
[Stone] this is final stage
of Nixon's presidency.
79
00:05:01,342 --> 00:05:04,428
We started at the end, two years
before the Watergate break-in.
80
00:05:04,512 --> 00:05:07,973
But we didn't show the break-in
because it's been shown in other films.
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00:05:08,057 --> 00:05:10,642
I skipped it and went right to this,
two years later.
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00:05:10,727 --> 00:05:13,729
this is the end. We go from
the beginning of the crime to the end.
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00:05:13,813 --> 00:05:15,314
Here are the results.
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00:05:15,398 --> 00:05:18,150
[man] Eight resolutions
calling for the impeachment
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00:05:18,234 --> 00:05:21,987
of the president were referred
to thejudiciary committee by the House.
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00:05:22,071 --> 00:05:26,158
[woman] It was disclosed to Judge Sirica
there is an 18-and-a-half-minute gap
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00:05:26,242 --> 00:05:29,286
in a June 20th, 1972
taped conversation
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00:05:29,370 --> 00:05:31,413
between the president
and Bob Haldeman.
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00:05:31,497 --> 00:05:35,292
[Stone] Newspaper headlines
in The Times. John Williams is back.
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00:05:35,376 --> 00:05:38,086
[man] Sirica ordered the president
to turn over tapes
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00:05:38,171 --> 00:05:40,172
to special prosecutor Leon Jaworski.
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00:05:40,256 --> 00:05:43,842
[Stone] the montage of voices
and news is essentially
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00:05:43,926 --> 00:05:48,847
a condensation of two years of misery
that the country went through.
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00:05:48,931 --> 00:05:53,518
It's all jammed together for montage.
We will return to these things
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00:05:53,603 --> 00:05:55,896
as the film unfolds.
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00:05:59,776 --> 00:06:01,526
[knocking]
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00:06:02,028 --> 00:06:03,487
[Nixon] Yeah.
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00:06:04,947 --> 00:06:09,659
[Stone] Powers Boothe, who played
in U Turn, was Alexander Haig here
99
00:06:09,744 --> 00:06:12,746
and I thought, certainly,
gave Haig the benefit of the doubt.
100
00:06:12,830 --> 00:06:16,375
These are the tapes you requested,
Mr. President.
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00:06:16,459 --> 00:06:21,129
[Stone] Our first view of Nixon,
which is shocking, gets your attention.
102
00:06:24,467 --> 00:06:27,803
Air conditioner, fire, contradictions.
103
00:06:29,931 --> 00:06:31,932
Kind of shuffling around there.
104
00:06:39,982 --> 00:06:40,982
Cocksucker!
105
00:06:41,067 --> 00:06:43,735
[Stone] Nixon was notoriously clumsy
with his hands.
106
00:06:43,820 --> 00:06:46,571
Nixon's never been good
with these things, Al.
107
00:06:46,656 --> 00:06:50,325
[Stone] He was a very cerebral man,
a thinking man, a worrying man.
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00:06:50,410 --> 00:06:54,746
He thought too much.
that's our first view of Tony Hopkins,
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00:06:54,831 --> 00:06:58,750
who's Welsh, not English. Many people
were surprised at this choice.
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00:06:58,835 --> 00:07:02,462
But many people were
very pleased with it in the long run.
111
00:07:02,547 --> 00:07:05,215
You know, Al,
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00:07:05,299 --> 00:07:07,926
if Hoover were alive,
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00:07:08,010 --> 00:07:11,930
these tapes would never have gotten out.
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00:07:12,014 --> 00:07:13,682
I want the little shit back.
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00:07:15,309 --> 00:07:17,102
Mr. Hoover was a realist, sir.
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00:07:17,186 --> 00:07:19,938
[Stone] Tony had that
roughness, gruffness. Same time,
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00:07:20,022 --> 00:07:23,775
he had enough sensitivity
to really allow us in,
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00:07:23,860 --> 00:07:25,777
to see into his window, his eyes.
119
00:07:25,862 --> 00:07:29,364
We never got our side
of the story out, Al.
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00:07:29,449 --> 00:07:31,533
People have forgotten.
121
00:07:32,410 --> 00:07:34,828
Such violence.
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00:07:34,912 --> 00:07:37,539
The tear gassing, the riots,
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00:07:37,623 --> 00:07:39,958
burning the draft cards,
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00:07:40,042 --> 00:07:43,170
the Black Panthers.
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00:07:43,254 --> 00:07:46,298
We fixed it, Al,
and they hate me for it.
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00:07:46,382 --> 00:07:49,718
[Stone] I've seen Nixon movies
where they make him look like Nixon.
127
00:07:49,802 --> 00:07:52,762
I don't think that's the point.
You have to get to the spirit.
128
00:07:52,847 --> 00:07:57,225
What I did with people in the past.
You can't get the exact replica.
129
00:07:57,310 --> 00:08:00,479
Jim Garrison was six-foot-eight.
Kevin Costner was six feet.
130
00:08:00,563 --> 00:08:03,690
It was fine with me as long
as the spirit of the man comes across.
131
00:08:03,774 --> 00:08:07,819
Tony Hopkins, from the English stage,
works a lot with gesture and mannerisms,
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00:08:07,904 --> 00:08:11,656
studies pictures, film.
Works oFten from the outside in.
133
00:08:11,741 --> 00:08:15,660
qrom the outer mannerisms into the head.
We used quotes as much as we could
134
00:08:15,745 --> 00:08:18,288
unless we had to build
a bridge between them.
135
00:08:18,372 --> 00:08:22,209
Between lines there was missing things.
things are not shown up in documents
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00:08:22,293 --> 00:08:26,087
as dialogue, they're shown up as
a remembered line here or there.
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00:08:30,718 --> 00:08:32,844
[tape rewinding]
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00:08:32,929 --> 00:08:37,265
[Stone] Here, it gets lost in the tape,
which allows us to jump around in time.
139
00:08:37,350 --> 00:08:41,353
We go back now to the beginnings
following the Watergate break-in.
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00:08:44,190 --> 00:08:47,150
Start.
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00:08:47,235 --> 00:08:50,529
- [Nixon] They did what?
- [Haldeman] Bugs, photographs.
142
00:08:50,613 --> 00:08:54,157
It was a fishing expedition. It was
their fourth attempt at the DNC.
143
00:08:54,242 --> 00:08:56,034
[Nixon] O'Brien doesn't use that.
144
00:08:56,118 --> 00:08:59,162
[Haldeman] Looking for an illegal
Hughes donation to the Democrats,
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00:08:59,247 --> 00:09:01,540
so they couldn't make an issue
of your Hughes money.
146
00:09:01,624 --> 00:09:03,875
[Nixon] It was a legal contribution.
147
00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:07,128
[Ehrlichman] Not clear burglars
knew what they were looking for.
148
00:09:07,213 --> 00:09:10,549
They were headed for McGovern's
office later that same night.
149
00:09:10,633 --> 00:09:12,801
- Christ, Did Mitchell know?
- I don't know.
150
00:09:12,885 --> 00:09:16,680
Mitchell's out of his mind.
Martha put her head through a window.
151
00:09:16,764 --> 00:09:20,725
[Stone] this is first time leap. there's
gonna be more which are necessary
152
00:09:20,810 --> 00:09:23,311
to keeping the unfolding onion
of tension.
153
00:09:23,396 --> 00:09:27,232
this film is dictated by the mandates
of the mind, what you need to know next.
154
00:09:27,316 --> 00:09:30,318
If Mitchell had been minding the store
instead of Martha,
155
00:09:30,403 --> 00:09:33,863
we wouldn't have Magruder
running some third-rate burglary.
156
00:09:33,948 --> 00:09:36,491
We feel the bigger concern
is Gordon Liddy.
157
00:09:36,576 --> 00:09:40,954
- Liddy? That fruitcake? What about him?
- That's just it, sir. He is a nut.
158
00:09:41,038 --> 00:09:44,749
Used to work with the plumbers,
turns up running this Watergate caper.
159
00:09:44,834 --> 00:09:48,336
Remember his plan to firebomb Brookings
using Cubans as firemen?
160
00:09:48,421 --> 00:09:51,423
- What's Liddy got?
- He was using some campaign cash
161
00:09:51,507 --> 00:09:54,718
that was laundered for us
through Mexico, the FBI's onto it.
162
00:09:54,802 --> 00:09:57,762
- We could have a problem.
- [Stone] this is actual text.
163
00:09:57,847 --> 00:10:00,932
Mostly between Haldeman here,
played by Jimmy Woods, and Nixon.
164
00:10:01,017 --> 00:10:05,061
But at times with Ehrlichman, Dean.
All kinds of comings and goings.
165
00:10:05,146 --> 00:10:08,523
Actually, this is a very interesting
scene, especially if you know
166
00:10:08,608 --> 00:10:10,900
the actual dialogue and how long it was.
167
00:10:10,985 --> 00:10:16,906
We really did a good job of narrowing it
down to the basic emotions of the scene
168
00:10:16,991 --> 00:10:20,827
and keeping dialogue as it was and
letting actors play it realistically.
169
00:10:20,911 --> 00:10:26,374
Well, sir, one of the people implicated
is still on the White House payroll.
170
00:10:26,459 --> 00:10:28,585
Who? Not another goddamn Cuban.
171
00:10:28,669 --> 00:10:31,421
No, sir. A guy named Hunt.
172
00:10:31,505 --> 00:10:34,007
Howard Hunt, sir.
173
00:10:34,091 --> 00:10:37,218
Hunt? Howard Hunt?
174
00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:42,432
Left his White House
phone number in his hotel room.
175
00:10:42,516 --> 00:10:46,186
He works for Colson.
He used him on the Pentagon Papers.
176
00:10:46,270 --> 00:10:49,939
After arrest, he dumps his wiretapping
stuff into his White House safe.
177
00:10:50,024 --> 00:10:54,986
We're trying to figure out when he
stopped being a White House consultant.
178
00:10:55,071 --> 00:11:00,200
Howard Hunt is working
for the White House? Jesus Christ.
179
00:11:00,284 --> 00:11:02,577
This is goddamn Disneyland.
Since when?
180
00:11:02,662 --> 00:11:05,955
[Ehrlichman] Since Chappaquiddick.
He wanted dirt on Kennedy.
181
00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:08,917
- Colson brought him in.
- You know Hunt, sir?
182
00:11:09,001 --> 00:11:11,503
Yeah, on the list of horribles.
183
00:11:11,587 --> 00:11:15,590
I know what he is
and I know what he tracks back to.
184
00:11:15,675 --> 00:11:18,259
- He was involved in the plumbers?
- Definitely.
185
00:11:18,344 --> 00:11:21,888
Colson had him break into Bremer's
apartment after Bremer shot Wallace
186
00:11:21,972 --> 00:11:24,391
- to plant McGovern's literature.
- [screaming]
187
00:11:25,810 --> 00:11:28,311
I had nothing to do with that.
188
00:11:28,396 --> 00:11:31,272
- He was in this Ellsberg thing?
- Yes. You approved it.
189
00:11:32,441 --> 00:11:34,693
- I did?
- [Stone] What's emerging is Nixon
190
00:11:34,777 --> 00:11:40,281
approved a series of dirty tricks,
in a broad sense, against his enemies.
191
00:11:40,366 --> 00:11:44,786
It was his nature. At this time,
he was angry about many things.
192
00:11:45,788 --> 00:11:47,372
Fuck.
193
00:11:49,458 --> 00:11:50,959
[thunder rumbles]
194
00:11:53,879 --> 00:11:55,630
[camera shutter clicking]
195
00:11:55,715 --> 00:11:58,758
What the fuck?! You're not
supposed to take pictures of me!
196
00:11:58,843 --> 00:12:01,636
Take pictures of the files!
Give me the fuckin' film!
197
00:12:03,472 --> 00:12:05,598
Howard Hunt.
198
00:12:05,683 --> 00:12:10,478
Jesus Christ. You open up that scab,
you'll uncover a lot of pus.
199
00:12:10,563 --> 00:12:12,856
What do you mean?
200
00:12:14,525 --> 00:12:16,401
- Where's Hunt now?
- He's in hiding.
201
00:12:16,485 --> 00:12:20,655
- He sent Liddy in to talk to Dean.
- [Nixon] And?
202
00:12:20,740 --> 00:12:23,908
- He wants money.
- Pay him.
203
00:12:23,993 --> 00:12:27,245
Pay him? I told him get out
of the country. It's crazy to start...
204
00:12:27,329 --> 00:12:30,957
What the hell are you doing,
John, screwing with the CIA?
205
00:12:31,041 --> 00:12:33,084
I don't care how much he wants.
Pay him.
206
00:12:33,169 --> 00:12:36,838
- What are we paying him for, sir?
- [Stone] Nixon approved the bribe.
207
00:12:36,922 --> 00:12:38,423
Silence.
208
00:12:38,507 --> 00:12:41,342
But you're covered.
It's only this Ellsberg thing,
209
00:12:41,427 --> 00:12:44,679
and if that comes out,
it's national security.
210
00:12:46,265 --> 00:12:49,017
[Stone] I love this implication
of silence.
211
00:12:50,186 --> 00:12:52,479
And Woods rethinking this.
212
00:12:54,106 --> 00:12:57,942
Cut ourselves loose from these clowns,
and that's all there is to it.
213
00:12:58,027 --> 00:13:00,612
No, it's more than that.
I want Hunt paid.
214
00:13:00,696 --> 00:13:03,740
We've never done that before, sir.
How do we do it?
215
00:13:03,824 --> 00:13:08,870
We should set up a Cuban defense fund
on this and take care of all of 'em.
216
00:13:08,954 --> 00:13:12,081
- Should we talk to Trini about paying?
- [Nixon] Keep Trini out.
217
00:13:12,166 --> 00:13:15,043
And for God's sake, keep Colson out.
218
00:13:15,127 --> 00:13:18,546
It's time to baptize
our young counsel here, Mr. Dean.
219
00:13:18,631 --> 00:13:22,425
That means John can never talk about it.
Attorney-client privilege.
220
00:13:22,510 --> 00:13:26,346
[Stone laughs] Nixon,
of course, was a lawyer.
221
00:13:28,516 --> 00:13:31,684
[Stone laughs] I love that look.
222
00:13:32,895 --> 00:13:34,312
OK.
223
00:13:36,732 --> 00:13:40,151
- Did I approve the Ellsberg thing?
- [Stone] A rhetorical question
224
00:13:40,236 --> 00:13:42,153
because he doesn't
know the answer.
225
00:13:42,238 --> 00:13:45,573
You make so many decisions as president
that sometimes you do forget.
226
00:13:45,658 --> 00:13:49,327
I never approved
the break-in at the Ellsbergs'.
227
00:13:49,411 --> 00:13:52,956
- Maybe I approved it after the fact.
- [Stone] I love the way he let us in
228
00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:54,165
that he did remember it.
229
00:13:54,250 --> 00:13:57,001
Someday we gotta
start transcribing these tapes.
230
00:13:57,086 --> 00:14:01,422
You approved that before the fact
because I went over it with you. But...
231
00:14:01,507 --> 00:14:04,092
- No one's gonna see these tapes.
- [Stone laughs]
232
00:14:04,176 --> 00:14:08,346
It's more of a problem for Ehrlichman.
He fixed Hunt up with the phony CIA IDs.
233
00:14:08,430 --> 00:14:12,767
But... what else does Hunt have on us?
234
00:14:14,478 --> 00:14:17,730
We gotta turn off the FBI, Bob.
235
00:14:17,815 --> 00:14:22,402
You go to the CIA and tell Helms
that Hunt is blackmailing the president.
236
00:14:22,486 --> 00:14:26,823
[Stone] this is the smoking tape.
It's pretty much verbatim.
237
00:14:26,907 --> 00:14:29,325
...if he goes public,
if Hunt goes public,
238
00:14:29,410 --> 00:14:34,497
it will be a fiasco for the CIA.
He'll know what I'm talking about.
239
00:14:34,582 --> 00:14:36,374
- All right.
- Play it tough.
240
00:14:36,458 --> 00:14:39,669
That's the way they play it,
that's the way we're gonna play it.
241
00:14:39,753 --> 00:14:42,589
- [Stone laughs]
- Don't say there's no involvement.
242
00:14:42,673 --> 00:14:46,926
Just say this is
a sort of comedy of errors,
243
00:14:47,011 --> 00:14:49,554
- bizarre, without getting into it.
- [Stone laughs]
244
00:14:49,638 --> 00:14:51,264
Say the president believes
245
00:14:51,348 --> 00:14:54,851
it's gonna open up the whole
Bay of Pigs thing again.
246
00:14:54,935 --> 00:14:57,896
And tell Helms he should call
the FBI, call Pat Gray,
247
00:14:57,980 --> 00:15:00,523
and say that we wish,
for the sake of the country,
248
00:15:00,608 --> 00:15:04,652
don't go any further
into this... hanky-panky...
249
00:15:04,737 --> 00:15:09,365
[Stone laughs] I love
Hopkins' acting here.
250
00:15:09,450 --> 00:15:11,784
And Haldeman's an innocent.
251
00:15:11,869 --> 00:15:15,079
Whenever Haldeman would ask Nixon,
he would be stonewalled.
252
00:15:15,164 --> 00:15:17,206
[Haldeman] The problem with that, sir,
253
00:15:17,291 --> 00:15:22,003
- it gets us to obstruction ofjustice.
- [Nixon] Nothing to do with justice.
254
00:15:22,087 --> 00:15:25,256
- It's national security.
- [Haldeman] How is this security?
255
00:15:25,341 --> 00:15:27,508
[Nixon] The president says it is.
256
00:15:27,593 --> 00:15:30,178
Now, this isn't a moral issue, Bob.
257
00:15:30,262 --> 00:15:33,097
Myjob is to protect this country
from its enemies,
258
00:15:33,182 --> 00:15:36,351
- and its enemies are inside the walls.
- [Stone] then we jump back
259
00:15:36,435 --> 00:15:37,894
to the second time in the room.
260
00:15:37,978 --> 00:15:41,940
[Nixon] ...or our whole program
goes down the tubes.
261
00:15:42,024 --> 00:15:46,194
[Stone] He did have a problem
with awkwardness. He was taking pills
262
00:15:46,278 --> 00:15:49,322
for a blood clot in his leg
that got very serious with stress.
263
00:15:49,406 --> 00:15:51,157
Very serious. He almost died.
264
00:15:51,241 --> 00:15:54,953
Many people say that he was coming
undone the last few months under stress.
265
00:15:55,037 --> 00:15:59,248
You can imagine just a few glasses
of Scotch, two glasses with these pills,
266
00:15:59,333 --> 00:16:02,794
he's not a drinking man. Probably
had a low tolerance for alcohol.
267
00:16:02,878 --> 00:16:05,046
But was slurring
in much of the transcripts.
268
00:16:05,130 --> 00:16:09,759
In one transcript,
he even slurred an obscenity.
269
00:16:09,843 --> 00:16:12,887
- Expose me like this.
- [Haldeman] Why would that threaten us?
270
00:16:12,972 --> 00:16:15,515
- Why don't they fucking shoot me?
- [Stone laughs]
271
00:16:16,892 --> 00:16:20,478
I just love that image of a man
crawling on the floor.
272
00:16:20,562 --> 00:16:23,898
Talk about persecution. You gotta
admit there's a comedic element.
273
00:16:23,983 --> 00:16:26,609
In the election of 1960,
with the world around us,
274
00:16:26,694 --> 00:16:31,280
the question is whether the world
will exist half-slave or half-free.
275
00:16:31,365 --> 00:16:34,534
[Stone] And this cuts
right back again to 1960.
276
00:16:34,618 --> 00:16:39,330
the key moment, people feel, which
he lost the '60 election to Kennedy
277
00:16:39,415 --> 00:16:41,833
was the perception Kennedy
had won the debate.
278
00:16:41,917 --> 00:16:43,334
When it comes to experience,
279
00:16:43,419 --> 00:16:47,505
through the years I have sat
on the National Security Council,
280
00:16:47,589 --> 00:16:49,173
I have been in the cabinet...
281
00:16:49,258 --> 00:16:52,927
[Stone] Kennedy was handsome
and Nixon was sweaty and a little sick.
282
00:16:53,012 --> 00:16:57,015
It didn't play well on TV.
And he bored people with his statistics,
283
00:16:57,099 --> 00:16:59,976
which I tried to show here.
these are actual transcripts.
284
00:17:00,060 --> 00:17:03,813
- ...two emperors and the Shah of Iran.
- Jesus Christ.
285
00:17:03,897 --> 00:17:05,982
Has he told them
how many push-ups he can do?
286
00:17:06,066 --> 00:17:08,484
- [Stone laughs]
- ...hydroelectric power.
287
00:17:08,569 --> 00:17:11,154
- What happened?
- He just got out of the hospital.
288
00:17:11,238 --> 00:17:12,947
He hasn't taken one hour off.
289
00:17:13,032 --> 00:17:15,950
[Nixon] When we consider
the line-up of the world...
290
00:17:16,035 --> 00:17:20,830
[Stone] We used a very good stand-in
for Kennedy as well as stock footage.
291
00:17:20,914 --> 00:17:23,458
...800 million people
on the Communist side...
292
00:17:23,542 --> 00:17:26,627
- Shoulda slapped makeup on.
- It's not a beauty contest.
293
00:17:27,129 --> 00:17:31,632
- We'd better hope not.
- ...600 million people who are neutral.
294
00:17:31,717 --> 00:17:34,385
What are you doing to him, Murray?
He's not well.
295
00:17:34,470 --> 00:17:38,306
- He doesn't have to debate Kennedy.
- [Stone] Introduction of Joan Allen
296
00:17:38,390 --> 00:17:42,143
who I thought had a remarkable
resemblance to Pat Nixon,
297
00:17:42,227 --> 00:17:47,482
was a wonderful theater actress in
Chicago, who had been in a few movies.
298
00:17:47,566 --> 00:17:50,068
Oh, shit, he's gonna do it.
Here it comes.
299
00:17:50,152 --> 00:17:52,028
We've seen Cuba go
to the Communists.
300
00:17:52,112 --> 00:17:54,447
Eightjet minutes
from the coast of Florida.
301
00:17:54,531 --> 00:17:58,618
We must attempt to strengthen the
democratic anti-Castro forces in exile.
302
00:17:58,702 --> 00:18:01,746
These fighters have had
no support from our government.
303
00:18:01,830 --> 00:18:03,581
- Son of a bitch!
- What?
304
00:18:03,665 --> 00:18:06,918
Kennedy was briefed last week
by CIA. He's using it against us.
305
00:18:07,002 --> 00:18:08,920
We can't respond,
he welshed on a deal.
306
00:18:09,004 --> 00:18:12,548
[Stone] Of course, the debate
is still shrouded in mystery.
307
00:18:12,633 --> 00:18:15,426
Kennedy was briefed by the CIA.
308
00:18:15,511 --> 00:18:19,931
Nixon believes that he revealed
national security secrets here.
309
00:18:20,015 --> 00:18:23,643
the counterargument is that Kennedy
was ignorant of all this stuff.
310
00:18:23,727 --> 00:18:27,480
As he himself said, Eisenhower
barely briefed him on Vietnam.
311
00:18:27,773 --> 00:18:30,942
- [man] Mr. Nixon.
- Yeah.
312
00:18:31,026 --> 00:18:33,861
[Stone] the foreshadowing
that he would be a loser.
313
00:18:33,946 --> 00:18:37,573
I think that's the sort
of very dangerous
314
00:18:37,658 --> 00:18:40,451
- and irresponsible suggestion that...
- It's over.
315
00:18:40,536 --> 00:18:43,579
[Stone] Nixon could not play
the common man. He was too smart.
316
00:18:43,664 --> 00:18:46,958
Kennedy would come on as the prince,
Nixon as the common man.
317
00:18:47,042 --> 00:18:50,711
But he didn't have the empathy
of the common man.
318
00:18:52,214 --> 00:18:54,340
[man] It's still very close.
319
00:18:56,009 --> 00:19:00,263
Senator Kennedy's lead
is about 700,000.
320
00:19:00,347 --> 00:19:03,349
[Haldeman] Think Daley stuffed
the ballot boxes?
321
00:19:03,433 --> 00:19:07,145
[Stone] there was many strong
feelings the Kennedys barely scraped by
322
00:19:07,229 --> 00:19:11,566
and may have stolen the election
with Mob help.
323
00:19:11,650 --> 00:19:15,194
In Chicago, with Richard Daley
and maybe in West Virginia.
324
00:19:15,279 --> 00:19:18,865
If that were the case, there's
a theory that the Mob expected to be
325
00:19:18,949 --> 00:19:20,867
better treated by Robert Kennedy.
326
00:19:20,951 --> 00:19:24,954
All his following investigations against
Hoffa and teamsters. Quite a war.
327
00:19:25,038 --> 00:19:26,998
Some say it lead to the assassination,
328
00:19:27,082 --> 00:19:29,876
but I have reasons to doubt that.
329
00:19:30,961 --> 00:19:35,756
[man] Who's gonna do the counting?
The Democrats control Texas, Illinois.
330
00:19:35,841 --> 00:19:39,343
- We shift 25,000 votes in two states.
- And how long will that take?
331
00:19:39,428 --> 00:19:42,763
- Six months, a year?
- What happens to the country?
332
00:19:42,848 --> 00:19:45,766
If I'd called his shot on Cuba,
I'd have won.
333
00:19:45,851 --> 00:19:47,935
- That's what I say.
- Made me look soft.
334
00:19:48,020 --> 00:19:49,478
"I feel very sorry for Nixon
335
00:19:49,563 --> 00:19:52,398
because he does not know who he is."
You believe this?
336
00:19:52,482 --> 00:19:56,319
"At each stop he has to decide which
Nixon he's going to be at the moment,
337
00:19:56,403 --> 00:19:59,697
which must be very exhausting."
Jack Kennedy.
338
00:19:59,781 --> 00:20:03,034
[Stone] this is what Kennedy
actually said to him at the time.
339
00:20:03,118 --> 00:20:06,954
these are quotes from some
of Kennedy's campaign speeches.
340
00:20:07,039 --> 00:20:10,708
"If you vote for Nixon, then you
oughta go to hell." Harry S. Truman.
341
00:20:10,792 --> 00:20:13,044
That's what killed us, Dick, not Cuba.
342
00:20:13,128 --> 00:20:17,673
It's the personality problem. You gonna
let the Democrats get away with this?
343
00:20:19,301 --> 00:20:23,387
Goes to Harvard. His father hands him
everything on a silver platter.
344
00:20:23,472 --> 00:20:25,848
All my life,
they've been sticking it to me.
345
00:20:27,100 --> 00:20:32,021
Not the right clothes, not the right
schools, not the right family.
346
00:20:32,105 --> 00:20:34,232
And then he steals from me.
347
00:20:34,316 --> 00:20:38,736
[laughs] He says I have no class,
and they love him for it.
348
00:20:38,820 --> 00:20:41,405
Dick, you're only 47.
349
00:20:41,490 --> 00:20:44,408
If you contest this election,
you'll be finished.
350
00:20:44,493 --> 00:20:49,205
You gotta swallow this one.
They stole it fair and square.
351
00:20:50,332 --> 00:20:51,874
We'll get 'em next time, Dick.
352
00:20:55,462 --> 00:20:57,588
We'll get 'em next time.
353
00:21:00,008 --> 00:21:03,636
What makes you think there's
gonna be a next time, Murray?
354
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,181
Because if he's not this Nixon,
355
00:21:07,266 --> 00:21:08,933
he's nobody.
356
00:21:12,604 --> 00:21:14,939
- [man] Good morning, sir.
- Hi.
357
00:21:24,449 --> 00:21:27,535
- Hi.
- [Pat] Hi.
358
00:21:29,079 --> 00:21:30,705
We lost.
359
00:21:32,124 --> 00:21:33,749
I know.
360
00:21:35,043 --> 00:21:37,169
I hate to lose.
361
00:21:42,217 --> 00:21:44,427
It makes us human.
362
00:21:44,511 --> 00:21:46,429
It's not fair, Buddy.
363
00:21:48,432 --> 00:21:51,475
I can take the insults,
I can take the name-calling.
364
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:55,187
But I can't take the losing.
I hate it.
365
00:21:59,776 --> 00:22:03,279
We don't have to put ourselves
through this again, Dick.
366
00:22:04,698 --> 00:22:07,325
We worked for it. We earned it.
367
00:22:07,409 --> 00:22:11,245
- It's ours.
- [Pat] It is. We know that.
368
00:22:13,582 --> 00:22:15,833
And it's enough that we know.
369
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:25,343
[Stone] this is a very telling scene.
370
00:22:25,427 --> 00:22:29,722
As you may know, he almost quit politics
here. He definitely quit in '62,
371
00:22:29,806 --> 00:22:32,600
when he lost the governorship
of California to Ed Brown.
372
00:22:32,684 --> 00:22:36,062
that was a real shock to his system.
He couldn't even be a governor.
373
00:22:47,407 --> 00:22:51,243
Maybe I should get out of the game.
374
00:22:52,204 --> 00:22:54,538
What do you think, Buddy?
375
00:22:54,623 --> 00:22:57,875
And go back to being a lawyer.
376
00:22:57,959 --> 00:23:02,171
End up with something solid,
some money at the end of the line.
377
00:23:03,507 --> 00:23:05,091
You know, I, uh...
378
00:23:07,177 --> 00:23:10,596
I keep thinking of my old man tonight.
379
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,934
- He was a failure too.
- You're not a failure, Dick.
380
00:23:15,018 --> 00:23:18,521
You know how much money he
had in the bank when he died?
381
00:23:19,856 --> 00:23:22,066
Nothing.
382
00:23:22,150 --> 00:23:24,318
He was so damned honest.
383
00:23:26,029 --> 00:23:29,240
But I miss him.
384
00:23:29,324 --> 00:23:32,660
I miss him a hell of a lot.
385
00:23:32,744 --> 00:23:37,164
[Stone] Almost like he misses that
honesty that he long ago surrendered.
386
00:23:37,249 --> 00:23:41,544
I love this beginning with the orange
groves ofWhittier, where he grew up.
387
00:23:41,628 --> 00:23:46,507
We went to another feeling with Mary
Steenburgen, who has a classic face.
388
00:23:50,220 --> 00:23:52,263
Gas station.
389
00:23:54,015 --> 00:23:58,519
We shot it down in Orange County,
not too far from Whittier.
390
00:24:00,522 --> 00:24:03,983
Tony Goldwyn plays the older brother.
He was the charismatic one.
391
00:24:06,361 --> 00:24:08,070
And there's Dick.
392
00:24:10,490 --> 00:24:12,616
- How is thy son?
- Very well, thank you.
393
00:24:12,701 --> 00:24:17,246
- What'd he say?
- [Stone] qather's played by Tom Bower,
394
00:24:17,330 --> 00:24:22,626
one of the really underrated actors,
a very stern-faced qrank Nixon,
395
00:24:22,711 --> 00:24:25,379
who was as tough as they come,
apparently.
396
00:24:25,464 --> 00:24:27,631
One of those tough
Irish immigrant types.
397
00:24:27,716 --> 00:24:33,137
Drank, but serious,
strong and died broke.
398
00:24:33,221 --> 00:24:36,223
- Relax, Dick.
- [register rings]
399
00:24:39,186 --> 00:24:42,980
[Stone] Mary is an interesting actress
'cause she suggests both strength...
400
00:24:43,064 --> 00:24:45,983
that's my son there,
again, sneaks into the movie.
401
00:24:46,067 --> 00:24:48,694
I have to keep track of him
by diary. that's my diary.
402
00:24:48,778 --> 00:24:54,158
Mary has soFt beauty. At the same time,
I sense a will of steel underneath,
403
00:24:54,242 --> 00:24:57,578
which makes her perfect
for Hannah Nixon,
404
00:24:57,662 --> 00:25:01,832
who I think is one of the key elements
in the story, like Agnes Moorehead
405
00:25:01,917 --> 00:25:03,918
may have been in Kane.
406
00:25:05,962 --> 00:25:11,008
[Hannah] Let Harold's worldliness
be a warning to thee, not an example.
407
00:25:11,092 --> 00:25:14,428
[Stone] She talks to him
in the most soothing way,
408
00:25:14,513 --> 00:25:17,014
but she terrifies him.
409
00:25:17,098 --> 00:25:20,226
Harold may have lost touch
with his Bible,
410
00:25:20,310 --> 00:25:23,103
but thee must never lapse.
411
00:25:25,357 --> 00:25:26,982
Now, give it to me.
412
00:25:32,948 --> 00:25:36,450
[Stone] I think he was held
to a standard of tremendous pressure
413
00:25:36,535 --> 00:25:39,370
by his mother in her perfectionism.
414
00:25:39,454 --> 00:25:43,040
I think it affected his life because
he was unable to live up to that,
415
00:25:43,124 --> 00:25:47,503
as anybody would be. As a result,
allowed himself many black areas
416
00:25:47,587 --> 00:25:51,131
to develop in his soul
so that he could lie
417
00:25:51,216 --> 00:25:55,719
and escape his mother's
overwhelmingness.
418
00:25:57,013 --> 00:25:59,306
Mother, I'm sorry. It was...
419
00:25:59,391 --> 00:26:01,976
It was just one time.
420
00:26:02,060 --> 00:26:04,562
[Stone] the grandmother
spoke in Quaker dialogue.
421
00:26:04,646 --> 00:26:08,649
I transferred it to Hannah Nixon because
I wanted the audience to at least
422
00:26:08,733 --> 00:26:13,237
understand influences that surrounded
Nixon growing up, "thees" and "thous."
423
00:26:13,321 --> 00:26:15,322
No, please, don't...
424
00:26:15,407 --> 00:26:19,868
[Stone] And qrank Nixon would take the
kids behind the woodshed with a strap.
425
00:26:19,953 --> 00:26:23,247
She never laid a hand on them,
but it was enough to...
426
00:26:23,331 --> 00:26:25,958
What she could do
with her voice was enough.
427
00:26:28,169 --> 00:26:30,713
Then this shall be our little secret.
428
00:26:35,802 --> 00:26:38,637
Remember, I see into thy soul.
429
00:26:39,889 --> 00:26:43,559
Thee may fool the world,
even thy father,
430
00:26:43,643 --> 00:26:47,563
but not me, Richard. Never me.
431
00:26:50,108 --> 00:26:51,775
Mother...
432
00:26:52,777 --> 00:26:55,029
...think of me always
as thy faithful dog.
433
00:26:55,113 --> 00:26:58,073
[Stone] He actually wrote a letter
to his mother at that time
434
00:26:58,158 --> 00:27:03,078
when he was in the fourth grade, I
believe, signed it "your faithful dog."
435
00:27:11,004 --> 00:27:13,631
the mother, of course,
under the Quaker laws
436
00:27:13,715 --> 00:27:19,261
kept food for passing people
who were in need during the Depression.
437
00:27:23,224 --> 00:27:26,685
- Richard.
- Is it my turn?
438
00:27:30,690 --> 00:27:33,442
Oh, Heavenly Father,
we humbly thank you...
439
00:27:33,526 --> 00:27:36,612
I'll do it. There's a couple
of things I wanna say.
440
00:27:36,696 --> 00:27:40,407
[Stone laughs] that's Tom Bower
as the father, qrank.
441
00:27:40,492 --> 00:27:45,162
This blood pays the bills, Hannah.
I'm not ashamed of how I earn my money.
442
00:27:45,246 --> 00:27:47,206
[clears throat]
443
00:27:48,166 --> 00:27:50,167
Heavenly Father,
444
00:27:50,251 --> 00:27:53,504
you told Adam in the garden,
after that business with the snake,
445
00:27:53,588 --> 00:27:58,300
that man would have to earn his way
by the sweat of his face.
446
00:27:58,385 --> 00:28:00,552
Well, as far as I can tell, Father,
447
00:28:00,637 --> 00:28:04,515
what was true in Eden
is true in Whittier, California.
448
00:28:04,599 --> 00:28:08,686
So we ask you now to remind
certain of our young people
449
00:28:08,770 --> 00:28:12,648
the only way to get a new suit to go to
the promenade with Margaret O'Herlihy,
450
00:28:12,732 --> 00:28:15,484
who happens to be a Catholic,
by the way,
451
00:28:15,568 --> 00:28:19,947
- is to work for it. Amen.
- [Stone laughs]
452
00:28:20,031 --> 00:28:22,032
- Amen.
- Amen.
453
00:28:22,117 --> 00:28:25,869
- Amen.
- Are we gonna pray now, Daddy?
454
00:28:25,954 --> 00:28:29,289
- [Stone laughs]
- You think this is funny?
455
00:28:29,374 --> 00:28:32,835
Maybe a trip to the
woodshed'll straighten you out.
456
00:28:32,919 --> 00:28:36,255
Pretty soon you boys are gonna
have to get out there and scratch.
457
00:28:36,339 --> 00:28:39,216
'Cause you're not gonna
get anywhere on your good looks.
458
00:28:39,300 --> 00:28:41,468
- Just ask those fellas.
- [Stone laughs]
459
00:28:41,553 --> 00:28:44,012
Charity's only gonna get you so far,
460
00:28:44,097 --> 00:28:46,849
even with saints
like your mother around.
461
00:28:46,933 --> 00:28:49,977
Struggle's what gives life meaning.
Not victory, struggle.
462
00:28:50,061 --> 00:28:53,564
[Stone] My son's playing Donald,
turns out to be the crook in the family.
463
00:28:54,941 --> 00:28:58,068
And then you end up in the street
with your hand out.
464
00:28:58,153 --> 00:29:01,572
[Stone] Pretty scary vision
for young Richard,
465
00:29:01,656 --> 00:29:04,825
who's gonna lose two of these brothers
to early death.
466
00:29:05,910 --> 00:29:09,455
"My father struggled his whole life"
is true. He suffered and struggled.
467
00:29:09,539 --> 00:29:12,541
- He scratched.
- [Nixon] ...but they never beat him.
468
00:29:12,625 --> 00:29:18,046
I always tried to remember that,
when things didn't go my way.
469
00:29:18,131 --> 00:29:20,883
Let's really get fired up now!
470
00:29:20,967 --> 00:29:23,552
[Stone] Here's the middle Nixon.
471
00:29:23,636 --> 00:29:26,722
He was a punching bag
on the Whittier football team.
472
00:29:26,806 --> 00:29:28,807
Mostly a water boy.
473
00:29:30,143 --> 00:29:34,730
But we had fun shooting
these old football-style...
474
00:29:36,608 --> 00:29:39,359
- What's Nixon doing here?
- He thinks he can make it.
475
00:29:39,444 --> 00:29:41,945
Four years of being a tackling dummy.
Poor guy.
476
00:29:42,030 --> 00:29:44,948
- All right! Let's go, defense!
- Hike!
477
00:29:45,033 --> 00:29:47,659
[Stone] He did have grit.
He would stick out there
478
00:29:47,744 --> 00:29:49,286
and play until he was bleeding.
479
00:29:49,370 --> 00:29:54,082
Worst athlete I've ever seen.
But he's got guts.
480
00:29:57,128 --> 00:29:59,379
OK, let's go! Let's do it!
481
00:29:59,464 --> 00:30:01,632
[man] In California's
gubernatorial race,
482
00:30:01,716 --> 00:30:04,760
Richard Nixon has returned
to the political arena...
483
00:30:04,844 --> 00:30:07,971
[Stone] Again, we do another time shiFt.
It gets complicated.
484
00:30:08,056 --> 00:30:10,057
I don't even count the time shiFts.
485
00:30:10,141 --> 00:30:14,102
Brown's campaign has benefited greatly
from the support of President Kennedy,
486
00:30:14,187 --> 00:30:16,563
while Nixon has
had trouble convincing voters
487
00:30:16,648 --> 00:30:18,941
this is not another run
for the presidency.
488
00:30:19,025 --> 00:30:21,193
With only a few precincts
left unreported,
489
00:30:21,277 --> 00:30:23,153
indications are of another defeat...
490
00:30:23,238 --> 00:30:27,157
[Stone] Instead of going into newsreel
fashion to the vice presidency,
491
00:30:27,242 --> 00:30:32,454
we jump from Whittier back to '62,
the close of his political career,
492
00:30:32,539 --> 00:30:37,668
sort of paralleling the defeat
in 1960. We go from there
493
00:30:37,752 --> 00:30:41,004
back to the newsreel, March of Time,
494
00:30:41,089 --> 00:30:44,383
which will give us the fill-in
the rest of the Nixon background.
495
00:30:44,467 --> 00:30:47,052
It's very important
and I like the idea
496
00:30:47,136 --> 00:30:50,514
because in Citizen Kane they do
the March of Time at the beginning,
497
00:30:50,598 --> 00:30:52,766
tell you the whole prologue.
In this case,
498
00:30:52,851 --> 00:30:57,437
it was very clever
to put the documentary of his life
499
00:30:57,522 --> 00:31:00,649
in the first third of the movie,
but not the beginning.
500
00:31:00,733 --> 00:31:02,317
[Pat] I'm glad they don't, Dick.
501
00:31:02,402 --> 00:31:06,530
I'm glad they don't because life
is tough and it is unfair
502
00:31:06,614 --> 00:31:09,950
and sometimes you forget
that in your self pity.
503
00:31:11,870 --> 00:31:15,956
[Stone] In 1962, according
to our researchers, the closest
504
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:18,375
the Nixons came to divorce.
505
00:31:18,459 --> 00:31:20,252
- [bangs keys]
- Cocksucker!
506
00:31:23,923 --> 00:31:27,050
Don't you want to listen
to Governor Brown's victory speech?
507
00:31:27,135 --> 00:31:30,554
Nope. Not going to listen
to any more speeches ever again.
508
00:31:30,638 --> 00:31:32,598
Amen to that.
509
00:31:32,682 --> 00:31:33,807
It's over, Dick.
510
00:31:35,268 --> 00:31:37,978
- I'll concede in the morning.
- Not that.
511
00:31:38,062 --> 00:31:40,522
[playing classical piano]
512
00:31:47,822 --> 00:31:49,156
Buddy?
513
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:53,076
[Stone] I was criticized, but research
revealed that he called her Buddy
514
00:31:53,161 --> 00:31:55,787
early on in their relationship.
515
00:31:55,872 --> 00:31:59,333
this may not have been the case,
we could be wrong, but we went
516
00:31:59,417 --> 00:32:03,211
to Brodie's Richard Nixon
and Roger Morris' Richard Nixon
517
00:32:03,296 --> 00:32:08,634
and Pat's yearbook photograph file,
she was called Buddy.
518
00:32:08,718 --> 00:32:11,720
I concede that maybe later
in their life, as people get older,
519
00:32:11,804 --> 00:32:15,223
they drop the nicknames,
go back to a formal name. I don't know.
520
00:32:15,308 --> 00:32:19,227
But it's quite possible to me
that he called her Buddy at this time.
521
00:32:19,312 --> 00:32:23,982
But it's not a make-or-break point,
as critics tried to make it.
522
00:32:24,067 --> 00:32:27,152
"Stone's got it wrong again."
How can you get everything right?
523
00:32:27,236 --> 00:32:30,822
You're behind closed doors here.
We don't know that this scene happened.
524
00:32:30,907 --> 00:32:34,910
We imagined it from our research.
this is what we developed.
525
00:32:34,994 --> 00:32:39,790
We go behind closed doors.
this is the dramatist's license we have.
526
00:32:39,874 --> 00:32:44,378
I don't know that I have to always
defend myself, but I may have to.
527
00:32:47,924 --> 00:32:51,093
It's as if I, I don't know,
just went to sleep a long time ago
528
00:32:51,177 --> 00:32:53,387
and missed the years between.
529
00:32:55,890 --> 00:32:57,432
I've had enough.
530
00:33:00,103 --> 00:33:03,271
What are you saying?
What are you talking about?
531
00:33:05,358 --> 00:33:06,858
I want a divorce.
532
00:33:08,611 --> 00:33:12,948
My God. Divorce?
What about the girls?
533
00:33:15,076 --> 00:33:17,411
The girls'll grow up.
534
00:33:17,495 --> 00:33:21,957
[Stone] this is a powerful scene
for Joan. She establishes strength.
535
00:33:22,041 --> 00:33:25,335
She had been a political wife
up to this point. In '62,
536
00:33:25,420 --> 00:33:28,839
an age of liberation. Kennedys
are in office, Jackie Kennedy.
537
00:33:28,923 --> 00:33:33,301
Sexual liberation. I would imagine Pat
would, in several points of his life,
538
00:33:33,386 --> 00:33:38,974
been fed up with
the unromantic nature of Dick Nixon.
539
00:33:39,058 --> 00:33:42,561
She was a shy person, it seems.
Meeting so many political people
540
00:33:42,645 --> 00:33:47,024
and the public, as a politician's role,
it must have been exhausting to her.
541
00:33:47,108 --> 00:33:51,570
I love this scene, the way it's written.
And I love their acting.
542
00:33:51,654 --> 00:33:55,532
He's... He lies to her at the end.
543
00:33:55,616 --> 00:33:57,659
We've been through too much together.
544
00:33:57,744 --> 00:34:00,037
We belong together.
545
00:34:00,121 --> 00:34:03,290
That's what you said
the first time we met.
546
00:34:03,958 --> 00:34:06,126
You didn't even know me.
547
00:34:07,170 --> 00:34:08,920
Oh, yes, I did.
548
00:34:11,632 --> 00:34:15,385
[Stone] He approached her, courted her,
without really knowing her.
549
00:34:15,470 --> 00:34:19,890
He met her at a play rehearsal.
He was an actor, she was an actress.
550
00:34:19,974 --> 00:34:24,394
In fact, on their first dates, he drove
her to the date with another guy.
551
00:34:24,479 --> 00:34:26,813
He never even asked her himself.
552
00:34:27,607 --> 00:34:30,067
So strong.
553
00:34:30,151 --> 00:34:32,360
- So beautiful.
- Hi, I'm Pat Ryan.
554
00:34:32,737 --> 00:34:35,655
[Stone] I love
John Williams' music here.
555
00:34:35,740 --> 00:34:38,909
- [Pat] It's a pleasure to meet you.
- [Richard] Pleasure to meet you.
556
00:34:38,993 --> 00:34:42,079
- [trolley bell ringing]
- [Stone] A sense of Orange County,
557
00:34:42,163 --> 00:34:45,457
the beauty of the '30s.
558
00:34:47,502 --> 00:34:49,753
And here he is, driving the date.
559
00:34:49,837 --> 00:34:52,047
tyrue story. [laughs]
560
00:34:55,176 --> 00:34:57,010
[Richard] Well, in a way, yes.
561
00:34:57,095 --> 00:34:59,262
Don't tell me you've
been cutting my part.
562
00:34:59,347 --> 00:35:02,724
Of course, honey, you know I
would never deceive you. Don't you?
563
00:35:02,809 --> 00:35:04,851
[fireworks whistling]
564
00:35:09,107 --> 00:35:14,611
[Stone] then we use young actors
and we went to the beautiful church
565
00:35:14,695 --> 00:35:17,280
where they were actually married,
I believe,
566
00:35:17,365 --> 00:35:23,328
Uh, Escondido, down in Orange County.
We shot in a home-movie style.
567
00:35:23,412 --> 00:35:27,541
Dick went to the Navy,
played poker most of his four years.
568
00:35:27,625 --> 00:35:30,335
Made a lot of money playing poker
569
00:35:30,419 --> 00:35:34,714
and was involved in administration and
moving to cargo. Didn't see any combat.
570
00:35:36,676 --> 00:35:40,679
Became very knowledgeable
about bureaucracy's parts,
571
00:35:40,763 --> 00:35:43,974
moving things, one of the brightest
presidents we ever had.
572
00:35:44,058 --> 00:35:47,435
He actually could read a budget
and he could go over detail.
573
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:52,315
He was a very good administrative
officer, no question about it.
574
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,277
AFter the war, also selling tires,
all the used parts.
575
00:35:55,361 --> 00:35:58,989
there was a huge industry in America.
He was part of that, benefited from it.
576
00:35:59,073 --> 00:36:01,241
We can be happy.
577
00:36:02,535 --> 00:36:04,870
We really can.
578
00:36:04,954 --> 00:36:07,998
[Stone] Went to Congress
from California as a Republican
579
00:36:08,082 --> 00:36:12,043
in the first wave
of post-war enthusiasm,
580
00:36:12,128 --> 00:36:16,173
Republican can-doism, which is sort
of basically stripping the New Deal
581
00:36:16,257 --> 00:36:19,676
from Roosevelt, because the New Deal
still was bitterly resented
582
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:21,970
as government interference, socialism.
583
00:36:22,054 --> 00:36:26,933
So Nixon was part of that first wave
of Republicans in post-war years.
584
00:36:28,019 --> 00:36:31,771
I'll do it. No more.
585
00:36:31,856 --> 00:36:34,065
[Stone] that's a key moment.
586
00:36:34,150 --> 00:36:35,775
Are you serious?
587
00:36:37,153 --> 00:36:39,654
Yeah. I'm out.
588
00:36:41,157 --> 00:36:42,449
Is that the truth?
589
00:36:42,533 --> 00:36:45,911
[Stone] the acting of these two
is so phenomenal.
590
00:36:45,995 --> 00:36:49,497
the way they relate
to each other visually.
591
00:36:49,582 --> 00:36:52,375
they both read each other so well.
592
00:36:54,795 --> 00:36:56,963
His beard. We really worked his beard.
593
00:36:57,048 --> 00:37:00,217
I love you, Buddy.
594
00:37:00,301 --> 00:37:04,554
[Stone] We made this scene... Tender
as it is, this is our interpretation.
595
00:37:04,639 --> 00:37:08,558
We made this in motivation for
this following scene in which he quit.
596
00:37:08,643 --> 00:37:13,104
If you remember,
he said the wrongs things that night.
597
00:37:13,189 --> 00:37:18,485
the press hated him for it. "You don't
have Nixon to kick around anymore."
598
00:37:18,569 --> 00:37:22,656
But perhaps we're suggesting it was
motivated by this promise to his wife
599
00:37:22,740 --> 00:37:25,742
to get out of politics,
which he apparently made,
600
00:37:25,826 --> 00:37:29,246
and which he will do here. But he
doesn't wanna give up. He's a fighter.
601
00:37:29,330 --> 00:37:32,123
- It's against his very nature.
- Just a second!
602
00:37:32,208 --> 00:37:34,918
Some quiet, please. Quiet!
603
00:37:35,002 --> 00:37:37,420
- [reporters shouting]
- Thank you!
604
00:37:38,422 --> 00:37:40,590
- [man] Mr. Nixon!
- Uh... Ahem.
605
00:37:40,675 --> 00:37:45,178
I believe Governor Brown has a heart,
606
00:37:45,263 --> 00:37:47,847
even though he believes I do not.
607
00:37:47,932 --> 00:37:51,935
[Stone] He said these words.
We composited them.
608
00:37:52,019 --> 00:37:54,604
...even though he feels I am not.
609
00:37:54,689 --> 00:37:59,276
I'm proud of the fact that I
defended my opponent's patriotism.
610
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:02,445
[Stone] It was a very defensive speech,
perceived as such.
611
00:38:02,530 --> 00:38:06,116
We shot it in the style,
uh, to emphasize
612
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,536
the, uh, fragmentation of his nature.
613
00:38:10,997 --> 00:38:15,417
He had reasons to be angry.
He did get the shaFt from the media.
614
00:38:15,501 --> 00:38:19,337
No question about it. On the other hand,
he did a lot to deserve the shaFt.
615
00:38:19,422 --> 00:38:22,299
But recognize you have a responsibility,
616
00:38:22,383 --> 00:38:25,802
if you're against the candidate,
to give him the shaft.
617
00:38:25,886 --> 00:38:29,556
But if you do that, at least put
one lonely reporter on the campaign
618
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:34,144
who will report what
the candidate says now and then. Uh...
619
00:38:34,228 --> 00:38:39,190
I think, all in all,
I've given as good as I've taken.
620
00:38:39,275 --> 00:38:41,318
[Stone] this will be debated eternally.
621
00:38:41,402 --> 00:38:45,071
Nixon as anti-communist crusader
of the '40s and '50s,
622
00:38:45,156 --> 00:38:49,242
breaking Alger Hiss
is one perception of him by the right.
623
00:38:49,327 --> 00:38:52,579
the one from the leFt
is he broke any rules he could
624
00:38:52,663 --> 00:38:55,332
to persecute communism,
625
00:38:55,416 --> 00:38:58,835
which led to the Watergate problem.
Watergate was a culmination
626
00:38:58,919 --> 00:39:02,547
of a career of lying and dirty tricks.
627
00:39:02,631 --> 00:39:06,009
the irony is Watergate is about
nothing. they never found anything.
628
00:39:06,093 --> 00:39:09,054
So it's the silliest thing
that always traps you.
629
00:39:09,138 --> 00:39:12,349
If you have bad habits,
those habits continue through your life.
630
00:39:12,433 --> 00:39:14,809
those bad habits will undo you.
631
00:39:14,894 --> 00:39:19,022
And oFten will be
the most banal of the bad habits.
632
00:39:19,106 --> 00:39:21,983
Here's where we go into the past,
and I love the way we did it
633
00:39:22,068 --> 00:39:24,444
because his career is over.
634
00:39:26,113 --> 00:39:28,615
that was our original nose on Tony.
It was too big.
635
00:39:28,699 --> 00:39:31,409
But we were shooting early stills,
so we leFt it in.
636
00:39:31,494 --> 00:39:33,328
We didn't have money to re-shoot it.
637
00:39:33,412 --> 00:39:36,289
You'll see the nose
looks like a proboscis there.
638
00:39:36,874 --> 00:39:38,875
[man] Running
as a South Pacific veteran,
639
00:39:38,959 --> 00:39:41,127
victories over
Congressman Jerry Voorhis
640
00:39:41,212 --> 00:39:44,547
and Senator Helen Gahagan Douglas
made it clear that, to Nixon,
641
00:39:44,632 --> 00:39:48,551
politics was war. He didn't
have opponents, he had enemies.
642
00:39:48,636 --> 00:39:51,554
Why, she's pink,
right down to her underwear!
643
00:39:51,639 --> 00:39:55,558
[Stone] the March of Time
at the third-way point is surprising
644
00:39:55,643 --> 00:39:57,769
because where are you
gonna go from there?
645
00:39:57,853 --> 00:40:00,730
Where you gonna go?
His political obituary is written.
646
00:40:00,815 --> 00:40:05,110
In fact, five nights aFterward,
ABC TV ran a program titled
647
00:40:05,194 --> 00:40:08,196
The Political Obituary of Richard Nixon.
648
00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:10,657
[man] ...intimate of FDR
and Oliver Wendell Holmes,
649
00:40:10,741 --> 00:40:13,326
Alger Hiss was
a State Department diplomat
650
00:40:13,411 --> 00:40:16,996
accused by freelance journalist
Whittaker Chambers of passing...
651
00:40:17,081 --> 00:40:21,251
[Stone] this will always be in
contention. Chambers was the accuser,
652
00:40:21,335 --> 00:40:23,002
Hiss the defendant.
653
00:40:24,338 --> 00:40:28,049
Many of the neo-conservatives have come
forward with this attack on Hiss,
654
00:40:28,134 --> 00:40:31,636
which is based on supposed
deconstruction of the files.
655
00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:36,182
But this has not been examined enough.
It's hard to find the evidence
656
00:40:36,267 --> 00:40:40,770
that Hiss was this malevolent traitor.
He was not. He was very much...
657
00:40:40,855 --> 00:40:43,106
I met the man as an old man,
fascinated by him.
658
00:40:43,190 --> 00:40:46,985
I'm not saying I knew the answers,
but I certainly sensed in him
659
00:40:47,069 --> 00:40:50,280
a conviction of being an American
and proud of it,
660
00:40:50,364 --> 00:40:53,032
and a conviction he'd been wronged
by this man, Nixon,
661
00:40:53,117 --> 00:40:57,454
because he was a traveler, a fellow
traveler, with the Soviet Union,
662
00:40:57,538 --> 00:40:59,789
as were many intelligent people
in the '30s.
663
00:40:59,874 --> 00:41:02,292
Henry Wallace, our vice president, was.
664
00:41:02,376 --> 00:41:07,380
And Wallace was one of the great
visionaries. these people were really
665
00:41:07,465 --> 00:41:10,717
scalded by people
like Nixon and McCarthy.
666
00:41:10,801 --> 00:41:14,721
[man] His speeches, if more subtle
than those of his Republican ally...
667
00:41:14,805 --> 00:41:18,266
[Stone] Julius and Ethel Rosenberg,
when I was a child in New York,
668
00:41:18,350 --> 00:41:21,644
was a staggering event.
that's John Dean, by the way...
669
00:41:21,729 --> 00:41:23,730
[laughs] ...playing one of our extras.
670
00:41:25,107 --> 00:41:29,486
It's funny that Nixon made
a large reputation attacking Mao
671
00:41:29,570 --> 00:41:33,072
and, of course, reconciled
with him later, historically.
672
00:41:33,157 --> 00:41:36,910
that was Oppenheimer,
another suspected communist spy.
673
00:41:36,994 --> 00:41:39,329
He was the head
of our atomic energy program
674
00:41:39,413 --> 00:41:42,832
and who many people believe...
I don't think so,
675
00:41:42,917 --> 00:41:45,919
but was concerned about world peace
to the degree that he felt
676
00:41:46,003 --> 00:41:50,632
that if there was a mutual ability
to destroy, there would be no war
677
00:41:50,716 --> 00:41:53,801
which is what we pursued
for many years unofficially.
678
00:41:53,886 --> 00:41:58,181
It's called MADD. Mutual assured
destructive deterrence.
679
00:41:58,265 --> 00:42:02,018
...a complete financial history.
Everything I've earned...
680
00:42:02,102 --> 00:42:04,646
[man] The list included
their house, Oldsmobile,
681
00:42:04,730 --> 00:42:08,816
Pat's Republican cloth coat. And lastly,
in what was to become history,
682
00:42:08,901 --> 00:42:11,986
- a sentimental gift...
- [Stone] Checkers speech.
683
00:42:12,738 --> 00:42:17,700
Regarded by many as a new low
in political groveling.
684
00:42:17,785 --> 00:42:22,121
But it was, to Nixon, a highlight
of his life. In his Six Crises book,
685
00:42:22,206 --> 00:42:25,375
he considered that a major crisis,
which he resolved
686
00:42:25,459 --> 00:42:30,046
with his triumphant speech
about his little pet dog.
687
00:42:30,130 --> 00:42:32,507
It was one
of the first really event things
688
00:42:32,591 --> 00:42:34,926
that happened on national television
689
00:42:35,010 --> 00:42:36,803
in black and white back then.
690
00:42:36,887 --> 00:42:40,056
[man] He stayed on the scene,
serving two terms as vice president
691
00:42:40,140 --> 00:42:44,310
under Eisenhower, against Khrushchev
at the Kitchen Debate in Moscow
692
00:42:44,395 --> 00:42:50,191
and stoned by Latin mobs in Venezuela.
Nixon once again became a national hero.
693
00:42:50,276 --> 00:42:53,361
[Stone] Some nice digital work
is in here.
694
00:42:53,445 --> 00:42:57,031
[man] ...and Pat Brown
in California in '62.
695
00:42:59,118 --> 00:43:02,370
[Stone] the governorship of California
is what stunned him.
696
00:43:02,454 --> 00:43:07,417
He should not have lost it, he thought.
But he was out of touch with that time.
697
00:43:07,501 --> 00:43:11,629
We try to emphasize it here with
that moment, that stop-frame moment.
698
00:43:12,923 --> 00:43:15,550
We shoot forward in time
into the future.
699
00:43:17,344 --> 00:43:19,012
New York.
700
00:43:20,848 --> 00:43:23,433
that's Madeline Kahn,
the late Madeline Kahn,
701
00:43:23,517 --> 00:43:27,770
who I admired so much from many films,
including Mel Brooks',
702
00:43:27,855 --> 00:43:32,442
but we didn't have much for her to do.
the little I could, I tried to use.
703
00:43:32,526 --> 00:43:34,986
E.G. Marshall is John Mitchell.
704
00:43:35,070 --> 00:43:38,656
E.G. Marshall's another icon
I always died to work with.
705
00:43:38,741 --> 00:43:42,619
E.G. was a guy like Y.A. tyittle,
who looked the same age in the '50s
706
00:43:42,703 --> 00:43:46,080
as he did then. He never aged. [laughs]
707
00:43:46,165 --> 00:43:48,124
He had that great New England face
708
00:43:48,208 --> 00:43:53,921
and that flinty Americanism
that we find in short supply.
709
00:43:54,006 --> 00:43:56,549
Typical of the press,
they wouldn't correct it.
710
00:43:56,634 --> 00:43:59,302
I think we oughta catch Rocky
before he leaves.
711
00:44:00,721 --> 00:44:03,139
[Stone] Rocky was played
by Edward Herrmann.
712
00:44:03,223 --> 00:44:07,852
And I cut the scene too much, I think.
But I loved Herrmann's performance.
713
00:44:07,936 --> 00:44:10,355
Great theater actor
and a fine film actor.
714
00:44:10,439 --> 00:44:13,733
Dick Nixon is as misunderstood
as a fox in a henhouse.
715
00:44:13,817 --> 00:44:16,986
And do you know why?
Because, my darlin',
716
00:44:17,071 --> 00:44:19,322
they all think that
your smile and your face
717
00:44:19,406 --> 00:44:22,700
are never in the same place
at the same time. [chuckles]
718
00:44:22,785 --> 00:44:25,578
You and me, we're gonna
have to work on that, sweetie.
719
00:44:27,081 --> 00:44:30,708
[Stone] Now, Martha had a drinking
problem, according to many people,
720
00:44:30,793 --> 00:44:35,338
and her husband divorced her, put her in
an institution saying she was alcoholic,
721
00:44:35,422 --> 00:44:38,007
but she was the Cassandra
of that administration
722
00:44:38,092 --> 00:44:41,678
in that, in her wailing,
she was saying outrageous things,
723
00:44:41,762 --> 00:44:45,932
like, "there's a cancer" kind of thing,
"Madness at the heart of this."
724
00:44:46,016 --> 00:44:49,060
And she was right. [laughs]
there was an insanity.
725
00:44:49,144 --> 00:44:52,522
But she called it...
Like Rose Cheramie in JFK.
726
00:44:52,606 --> 00:44:54,982
I have my Rose Cheramie.
this is Madeline Kahn.
727
00:44:55,067 --> 00:44:58,486
Susan Kirkwood and then Madeline Kahn.
728
00:44:58,570 --> 00:45:00,863
And you came damn close, Dick.
How are you?
729
00:45:00,948 --> 00:45:03,533
Hi, John.
New York treating you all right?
730
00:45:03,617 --> 00:45:05,785
I'm sorry I haven't
been able to see you.
731
00:45:05,869 --> 00:45:09,038
- You're looking happy, Rocky.
- Happy. Happy, Dick Nixon.
732
00:45:09,123 --> 00:45:11,207
- You remember him.
- Nice to see you again.
733
00:45:11,291 --> 00:45:16,796
- You're obviously making him happy.
- Repartee, Dick! That's marvelous!
734
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:21,217
What you predicting? Your boy
Goldwater gonna split the party?
735
00:45:21,301 --> 00:45:23,970
- Some say you are, Rocky.
- Let me tell you something.
736
00:45:24,054 --> 00:45:28,725
Every time the Republican party is a
home to extremism, we lose the election.
737
00:45:28,809 --> 00:45:33,980
[Stone] Nelson Rockefeller was always
a great shaker, mover, shaker.
738
00:45:34,064 --> 00:45:37,984
He touched and feel you like Johnson
would. He was a big guy, confident.
739
00:45:38,068 --> 00:45:41,487
He had not had
the defeats of his life yet,
740
00:45:41,572 --> 00:45:43,698
until... he just had the divorce.
741
00:45:43,782 --> 00:45:46,242
they say that was
the end of his political career,
742
00:45:46,326 --> 00:45:48,161
but he was denying it in that scene.
743
00:45:48,245 --> 00:45:50,747
But I love the way he
kind of crept on top of Nixon.
744
00:45:50,831 --> 00:45:56,127
If you go to the outtakes,
you will find this scene elaborated on.
745
00:45:56,211 --> 00:46:00,590
I think it becomes more interesting if
you're into acting and see what happens.
746
00:46:00,674 --> 00:46:04,302
I miss making love to the people.
I miss entering a room.
747
00:46:04,386 --> 00:46:07,638
[Stone] this is a great little moment
between these two.
748
00:46:07,723 --> 00:46:09,974
this is self-realization
that is wonderful.
749
00:46:10,058 --> 00:46:11,934
I gotta get back in the arena.
750
00:46:12,019 --> 00:46:15,271
[Stone] that is a line that he said.
We tried to dramatize it.
751
00:46:15,689 --> 00:46:18,357
[man] Ladies and gentlemen,
it's showtime!
752
00:46:18,442 --> 00:46:22,445
Come on up.
Right this way, ladies and gentlemen.
753
00:46:22,529 --> 00:46:25,114
It's for you, it's for me.
754
00:46:25,199 --> 00:46:30,203
[Stone] Into the arena, he got back
as a lawyer for Coca-Cola, I believe.
755
00:46:32,164 --> 00:46:35,750
He did a lot of work all over
the country and other companies.
756
00:46:35,834 --> 00:46:39,712
He joined a top Wall Street firm,
which would give him access
757
00:46:39,797 --> 00:46:44,425
to the East Coast. He stayed
in the east, a house in New Jersey.
758
00:46:44,510 --> 00:46:46,219
Commuting to the city.
759
00:46:47,221 --> 00:46:51,349
I wanted Larry Hagman to play one
of these big, broad Texas types.
760
00:46:51,433 --> 00:46:54,769
Not because I liked Dallas.
I didn't really watch Dallas.
761
00:46:54,853 --> 00:46:57,605
I just believed him.
Something about him I like.
762
00:46:58,774 --> 00:47:01,692
I met a lot of powerful guys like that.
763
00:47:03,153 --> 00:47:06,155
I love this eight-millimeter
grain look here, home movie.
764
00:47:06,240 --> 00:47:08,741
Getting kissed by a girl.
So ironic in his life.
765
00:47:08,826 --> 00:47:11,160
He was never kissed.
766
00:47:11,245 --> 00:47:14,455
- [Jack] We'll see about that.
- Mr. Nixon, are you gonna run again?
767
00:47:14,540 --> 00:47:16,707
- I don't know.
- He will! I guarantee it!
768
00:47:18,752 --> 00:47:21,754
[jazz music playing]
769
00:47:22,256 --> 00:47:24,507
- Name it, baby.
- That little convertible?
770
00:47:24,591 --> 00:47:26,968
I'll buy you a diamond ring.
I'll buy you one.
771
00:47:27,052 --> 00:47:28,761
- [woman] Thank you.
- Hello, baby.
772
00:47:29,346 --> 00:47:33,850
[Stone] I love this interior.
I dreamed of going through that...
773
00:47:33,934 --> 00:47:39,355
...archway to introduce this
strange little kind of gathering
774
00:47:39,439 --> 00:47:42,108
at a big hacienda.
775
00:47:45,237 --> 00:47:48,865
that's Bridgitte Wilson,
who later went on to some success
776
00:47:48,949 --> 00:47:51,367
with the Mortal Kombatseries
and is still young.
777
00:47:51,451 --> 00:47:55,246
Very beautiful. this is her first
major role, with Anthony Hopkins.
778
00:47:55,330 --> 00:47:58,374
- She did a wonderful job.
- Well, I guess,
779
00:47:58,458 --> 00:48:03,004
for me, it also depends on
what I'm doin' to the music, Dick.
780
00:48:04,298 --> 00:48:07,550
- Yeah.
- So, what's it like bein' so famous?
781
00:48:07,634 --> 00:48:12,597
[Stone] It was very important
to show Nixon as...
782
00:48:12,681 --> 00:48:15,725
...immune to sexual approaches.
783
00:48:15,809 --> 00:48:20,021
there may have been a hint of an affair
with a Chinese woman in Taiwan,
784
00:48:20,105 --> 00:48:22,231
but there's very little talk of it.
785
00:48:22,316 --> 00:48:27,904
He seems to have been a very physically
neutered person, or repressed.
786
00:48:30,324 --> 00:48:34,160
- No, Trini, we're fine here.
- [Stone] I wanted to make this point
787
00:48:34,244 --> 00:48:36,078
here in this fictional scene.
788
00:48:36,163 --> 00:48:40,249
We do know Nixon was in Dallas
the day of and the day before.
789
00:48:40,334 --> 00:48:42,752
And he went to a couple of parties.
790
00:48:42,836 --> 00:48:46,255
- Hoover was in town too.
- ...especially for business.
791
00:48:46,340 --> 00:48:50,593
- Agreed.
- We know what you tried to do for Cuba.
792
00:48:50,677 --> 00:48:54,513
If you had been elected in '60,
Castro would be dead now.
793
00:48:58,644 --> 00:49:01,771
[Stone] I've been criticized
in this scene as overly dramatic,
794
00:49:01,855 --> 00:49:06,108
and it probably is
because, you know, perhaps too crude.
795
00:49:06,193 --> 00:49:08,653
this is the problem
when you make these movies,
796
00:49:08,737 --> 00:49:14,742
or this kind of scene, where you have
to get to the heart of an idea quickly.
797
00:49:14,826 --> 00:49:19,121
People will hint around something
forever and ever and ever.
798
00:49:19,206 --> 00:49:24,168
And, uh, they're hinting here,
but I did it broadly,
799
00:49:24,252 --> 00:49:28,965
in one room. It probably would have been
done in smaller meetings, phone calls.
800
00:49:29,049 --> 00:49:31,801
But I love the scene anyway.
It plays for me
801
00:49:31,885 --> 00:49:36,389
'cause Nixon is so smart,
and understands the veiled hint,
802
00:49:36,473 --> 00:49:39,100
and he doesn't want to know about it,
803
00:49:39,184 --> 00:49:41,644
which is smart.
I'm giving the benefit of the doubt
804
00:49:41,728 --> 00:49:44,939
in Dallas, when he was there.
Him and Howard Hunt
805
00:49:45,023 --> 00:49:48,651
were the only two people in the world,
they said, who forgot where they were
806
00:49:48,735 --> 00:49:52,238
when Kennedy was killed, because Nixon
has three different stories
807
00:49:52,322 --> 00:49:55,408
of where he was when Kennedy was killed.
It's very confusing.
808
00:49:59,454 --> 00:50:02,748
Love the way it's cut and canted,
these shots.
809
00:50:06,586 --> 00:50:09,422
I like the way he handles these people.
He's tough.
810
00:50:10,632 --> 00:50:15,011
that's the Nixon
that was powerful and dominating.
811
00:50:15,095 --> 00:50:16,095
I'm out of politics.
812
00:50:16,179 --> 00:50:20,141
[Stone] It was sufficient. He didn't
have to do more to scare people.
813
00:50:20,225 --> 00:50:21,976
that's my feeling.
814
00:50:25,939 --> 00:50:31,861
One criticism was, "Stone doesn't allow
Nixon to show his positive traits,
815
00:50:31,945 --> 00:50:34,196
his capacities to rule."
there's an example,
816
00:50:34,281 --> 00:50:37,992
perhaps in a negative capability.
But by saying no,
817
00:50:38,076 --> 00:50:42,663
he's saying something very important.
He's saying, "Leave me out of the loop."
818
00:50:42,748 --> 00:50:47,918
But he is saying, at the same time, "I
would be president if it were possible."
819
00:50:48,003 --> 00:50:51,005
It's a very veiled scene,
but I liked it.
820
00:50:51,089 --> 00:50:55,926
I love this shot. We did it in an
airport somewhere in Los Angeles.
821
00:51:02,225 --> 00:51:05,269
I just love dropping down from the sky.
822
00:51:10,817 --> 00:51:14,070
Watch this. Nixon's going by.
823
00:51:14,154 --> 00:51:18,657
Confederate flags, very anti-Kennedy
period in the South.
824
00:51:23,914 --> 00:51:27,083
And now we get down... wham.
825
00:51:27,167 --> 00:51:30,169
Dallas Love qield.
that's where it all comes to bear.
826
00:51:30,253 --> 00:51:34,882
that's where Kennedy lands
the next day, I believe.
827
00:51:36,259 --> 00:51:38,260
that's a beautiful shot.
828
00:51:43,308 --> 00:51:45,518
there is the retreat.
829
00:51:45,602 --> 00:51:48,938
I'm trying to say something here
that's sort of a...
830
00:51:49,022 --> 00:51:52,608
A fate that is gonna befall
the entire nation now.
831
00:51:52,692 --> 00:51:55,444
then we're back into his mind.
832
00:51:55,529 --> 00:51:58,197
Beautiful shot. Of course...
833
00:51:59,533 --> 00:52:03,911
...the end of that moment of time,
which was changed forever.
834
00:52:04,538 --> 00:52:05,830
History.
835
00:52:09,709 --> 00:52:12,545
those of us who don't know that
should know it.
836
00:52:13,338 --> 00:52:16,715
Look, Edgar, these...
these guys were really strange.
837
00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:19,927
- You know, extremists.
- What do you mean?
838
00:52:20,011 --> 00:52:22,012
- Right-wing stuff.
- Birchers?
839
00:52:22,097 --> 00:52:24,765
- Birchers, yeah.
- [Stone] Dialogue I read about,
840
00:52:24,850 --> 00:52:28,811
but the rest of the conversation is
more or less what Hoover told them.
841
00:52:28,895 --> 00:52:32,148
- To Castro?
- [man] ...maximum security facility.
842
00:52:32,232 --> 00:52:34,859
- Mrs. Kennedy...
- [Nixon] He's a real Communist.
843
00:52:34,943 --> 00:52:37,153
Well, that makes sense.
844
00:52:37,237 --> 00:52:39,947
OK, well, thank you, Edgar.
845
00:52:41,491 --> 00:52:46,245
Senator Ted Kennedy, arriving early
this morning with his mother and sister.
846
00:52:46,329 --> 00:52:52,084
Hoover says this Oswald
checks out as a beatnik...
847
00:52:52,169 --> 00:52:55,796
- [Stone] "Beatnik."
- Dick, you should call Bobby.
848
00:52:55,881 --> 00:52:58,841
[Stone] I love this scene
because I like Pat's reactions.
849
00:52:58,925 --> 00:53:02,094
- You don't have to go.
- De Gaulle's gonna be there.
850
00:53:02,179 --> 00:53:06,056
[Stone] She's emphasizing the human
response and he is mechanical.
851
00:53:06,141 --> 00:53:10,352
- He has to be invited to the funeral.
- Nixon can't not be there.
852
00:53:10,437 --> 00:53:15,316
[Stone] It's important to be seen.
"Nixon can't not be there."
853
00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:17,818
He's using the third person early.
854
00:53:18,278 --> 00:53:21,572
- Jesus.
- [man] ...to their fallen leader.
855
00:53:21,656 --> 00:53:23,866
It's awful.
856
00:53:23,950 --> 00:53:27,620
- It's an awful thing for this country.
- [Pat] Dick?
857
00:53:28,788 --> 00:53:31,624
[Stone] I give Nixon the benefit
of the doubt on this.
858
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:34,043
He hates me.
859
00:53:34,127 --> 00:53:36,712
He and Teddy.
860
00:53:36,796 --> 00:53:38,339
They always hated me.
861
00:53:38,423 --> 00:53:42,259
[Stone] Maybe Nixon was sentimental,
able to kill millions abroad,
862
00:53:42,344 --> 00:53:46,680
but not in this country.
Maybe I'm being... Hitler liked dogs.
863
00:53:46,765 --> 00:53:50,184
You don't know
if somebody knows the price of murder
864
00:53:50,268 --> 00:53:54,396
or lives it the way I might do
or you might do.
865
00:53:54,481 --> 00:53:55,606
[crying]
866
00:53:55,690 --> 00:53:58,025
[doctor] Hold him tighter.
Hold him tighter.
867
00:53:58,109 --> 00:53:59,068
[screaming]
868
00:53:59,152 --> 00:54:02,029
[Stone] this is his
youngest brother dying.
869
00:54:03,156 --> 00:54:05,407
Meningitis, I believe.
870
00:54:06,451 --> 00:54:08,369
Ugh!
871
00:54:08,453 --> 00:54:12,498
that's Dr. Chris Renna,
who helped us on many movies.
872
00:54:13,583 --> 00:54:17,419
To keep our crews going
with maintenance and health.
873
00:54:22,676 --> 00:54:27,096
Arthur was a beautiful little boy.
874
00:54:27,180 --> 00:54:29,765
Must have broken Nixon's heart.
875
00:54:29,849 --> 00:54:32,142
Whatever was leFt of his young heart.
876
00:54:32,227 --> 00:54:35,145
that's my son, Sean, sneaking in
as the evil Donald Nixon,
877
00:54:35,230 --> 00:54:37,940
who took the money later from Hughes.
878
00:54:42,404 --> 00:54:44,071
Arthur's getting sicker.
879
00:54:45,365 --> 00:54:49,118
And Mom is praying every day.
880
00:54:49,202 --> 00:54:51,245
"As I lay me down to sleep,
881
00:54:51,329 --> 00:54:54,707
Lord, now I ask for you
my soul to keep"
882
00:54:54,791 --> 00:54:57,167
was the last things he was heard to say.
883
00:55:08,471 --> 00:55:11,056
No. No, don't!
884
00:55:11,141 --> 00:55:13,142
[Stone] Apparently, that happened.
885
00:55:13,226 --> 00:55:16,812
In the moment, she was so shaken
that she couldn't succor him
886
00:55:16,896 --> 00:55:19,356
at a key moment there.
I think that was a mistake.
887
00:55:19,441 --> 00:55:22,318
If I'd been president,
they never would've killed me.
888
00:55:22,402 --> 00:55:25,988
[Stone] He felt unloved. that
connection, "Even if I'd been president,
889
00:55:26,072 --> 00:55:29,241
nobody would have loved me enough
to hate me enough to kill me,"
890
00:55:29,326 --> 00:55:32,244
which is an interesting allusion.
891
00:55:32,329 --> 00:55:36,832
And it ends, prophetically enough, on
Robert Kennedy, who's gonna be his foe
892
00:55:36,916 --> 00:55:39,209
in '68 and end up also dead.
893
00:55:47,135 --> 00:55:51,930
the riderless horse, which we'll see
at the racetrack with Nixon and Hoover.
894
00:55:54,559 --> 00:55:58,520
We saw it already
with Jack Lemmon in JFK.
895
00:56:01,232 --> 00:56:03,734
[Lyndon Johnson]
...to defend an honored cause...
896
00:56:03,818 --> 00:56:07,363
[Stone] Like the Garrison story,
it jumps ahead from November '63
897
00:56:07,447 --> 00:56:09,531
to years later.
898
00:56:09,616 --> 00:56:12,951
the Garrison story
moves from '63 to '67.
899
00:56:13,453 --> 00:56:18,665
Accordingly... I shall not seek...
900
00:56:20,168 --> 00:56:22,711
...and I will not accept...
901
00:56:22,796 --> 00:56:26,924
...the nomination of my party
for another term as your president.
902
00:56:28,885 --> 00:56:32,388
Good night, and God bless all of you.
903
00:56:32,472 --> 00:56:33,889
[Stone] He feels the call.
904
00:56:33,973 --> 00:56:38,102
this is his moment in time, his chance.
Churchill, his hero, De Gaulle,
905
00:56:38,186 --> 00:56:41,063
these people had come back
from political burial.
906
00:56:41,147 --> 00:56:44,400
[man] His mother, Hannah Nixon,
just before her death last year,
907
00:56:44,484 --> 00:56:47,152
commented on her son's chances.
908
00:56:47,237 --> 00:56:52,741
Mrs. Nixon, do you think your son
will ever return to politics?
909
00:56:52,826 --> 00:56:55,953
I don't think he has a choice.
910
00:56:56,037 --> 00:56:58,872
He has always been a leader.
911
00:56:58,957 --> 00:57:03,502
Do you think he'd make
a great president, Mrs. Nixon?
912
00:57:03,586 --> 00:57:07,339
If he's on God's side, yes.
913
00:57:07,424 --> 00:57:10,384
[Stone] Mary had prosthetics
for this scene. Tough scene.
914
00:57:10,468 --> 00:57:14,847
It was done improvisationally.
I'm asking questions off-camera.
915
00:57:16,307 --> 00:57:17,766
[indistinct chatter]
916
00:57:17,851 --> 00:57:20,102
[Hannah] No one can see into the future.
917
00:57:20,186 --> 00:57:22,438
We didn't know this day would come.
918
00:57:22,522 --> 00:57:25,023
- [man] Where'd he go?
- [man 2] In the side door.
919
00:57:25,108 --> 00:57:28,026
- Is that Mitchell?
- Shit! Missed him.
920
00:57:28,111 --> 00:57:29,445
[doorbell buzzes]
921
00:57:29,529 --> 00:57:32,698
I thought that guy was gonna
kiss your hand on the side of it.
922
00:57:32,782 --> 00:57:36,952
[Stone] I love that hat he wears.
My father wore that in that period.
923
00:57:37,036 --> 00:57:39,872
And always buttoned the jacket.
924
00:57:39,956 --> 00:57:42,374
qour guys coming home from Wall Street.
925
00:57:42,459 --> 00:57:45,794
this is a fun movie because it's
just white guys talking. It's great.
926
00:57:45,879 --> 00:57:51,008
It's like...
Very few movies like this get made.
927
00:57:51,092 --> 00:57:54,136
And she's so WASP-y, Joan.
928
00:57:54,220 --> 00:57:57,764
She's a perfect WASP wife, in a way.
I can see why Ang Lee cast her
929
00:57:57,849 --> 00:58:00,017
in Ice Storm right aFter this.
930
00:58:00,852 --> 00:58:03,061
Jesus. Pat?
931
00:58:05,523 --> 00:58:08,984
[Stone] She was also good
in The Crucible, Joan.
932
00:58:09,068 --> 00:58:12,654
You need her, Dick. In '60,
she was worth five, six million votes.
933
00:58:12,739 --> 00:58:16,283
- [Stone laughs]
- I'll use the old Nixon charm.
934
00:58:16,367 --> 00:58:19,912
[Stone laughs] that got a laugh
in the theaters.
935
00:58:20,955 --> 00:58:22,247
Who could resist that?
936
00:58:22,916 --> 00:58:25,876
[Stone] He's got a great expression.
He's a wonderful actor.
937
00:58:25,960 --> 00:58:29,129
He really inhabits the role
and makes you get involved with him.
938
00:58:29,214 --> 00:58:32,007
Look at his eyes.
He's always slightly psychotic.
939
00:58:32,091 --> 00:58:34,968
You should be going.
Primaries are soon, aren't they?
940
00:58:35,053 --> 00:58:37,513
[Stone] He broke her promise to her.
941
00:58:37,597 --> 00:58:39,973
He was secretly planning to go back in.
942
00:58:40,058 --> 00:58:44,436
Apparently, there was quite a bit
of a spat at this point.
943
00:58:44,521 --> 00:58:49,858
So we decided to dramatize it as best
we could behind these closed doors.
944
00:58:49,943 --> 00:58:52,528
I can win. We deserve it.
945
00:58:52,612 --> 00:58:54,488
[Stone] We built this set
946
00:58:54,572 --> 00:58:59,034
inside the old
AqI building above Sunset.
947
00:58:59,118 --> 00:59:01,119
Frank Nixon's boy.
948
00:59:01,204 --> 00:59:05,374
Do you remember what Mom said?
We're not like other people. We...
949
00:59:05,458 --> 00:59:07,584
We don't choose our way.
950
00:59:08,628 --> 00:59:10,879
We can really change things, Buddy.
951
00:59:10,964 --> 00:59:14,550
We got a chance to get it right.
We can change America.
952
00:59:14,634 --> 00:59:18,262
It was our dream, Buddy,
together, always.
953
00:59:20,223 --> 00:59:24,393
- Do you really want this, Dick?
- [Stone laughs]
954
00:59:24,477 --> 00:59:29,773
- And then you'll be happy?
- Yeah, you know I will. Yes! I will.
955
00:59:30,858 --> 00:59:32,943
Then I'll be there for you.
956
00:59:33,027 --> 00:59:35,904
And we are gonna win this time.
I can feel it.
957
00:59:35,989 --> 00:59:37,489
Yeah!
958
00:59:38,533 --> 00:59:41,410
You're the strongest woman
I ever met, Buddy.
959
00:59:41,494 --> 00:59:44,580
- Can I just ask for one thing?
- Anything.
960
00:59:44,664 --> 00:59:46,373
- Would you kiss me?
- Yeah!
961
00:59:46,457 --> 00:59:48,166
[Stone laughs]
962
00:59:48,251 --> 00:59:50,877
[big band jazz playing]
963
00:59:50,962 --> 00:59:53,338
[Stone] I find that scene charming.
964
00:59:53,423 --> 00:59:56,341
And I love Joan and Anthony.
965
00:59:58,511 --> 01:00:02,764
My thanks to all of you. It's on to
Chicago and let's win there. Thank you.
966
01:00:02,849 --> 01:00:05,767
I would never question
Senator Kennedy's patriotism.
967
01:00:05,852 --> 01:00:09,605
But going around the country,
promising peace at any price
968
01:00:09,689 --> 01:00:12,524
is, uh, exactly what the
North Vietnamese want to hear.
969
01:00:12,609 --> 01:00:15,902
- [man] Cue the crowd.
- [Stone] there's several stories
970
01:00:15,987 --> 01:00:18,447
of Nixon manipulating campaigns.
971
01:00:18,531 --> 01:00:21,575
Campaigning, it was just in his nature.
972
01:00:23,453 --> 01:00:27,289
He'd have stuffed audiences,
dummy audiences.
973
01:00:27,373 --> 01:00:31,877
In one of them, apparently, it was
an incident where one of these guys
974
01:00:31,961 --> 01:00:36,465
in the audience started to get a little
too tough on Nixon. You'll see this.
975
01:00:36,549 --> 01:00:39,176
That's why Nixon's always been useful.
976
01:00:39,260 --> 01:00:42,262
- [Tolson speaking Spanish]
- [man replies]
977
01:00:42,347 --> 01:00:44,056
Hold still.
978
01:00:44,140 --> 01:00:46,725
- OK, who's next?
- The Negro.
979
01:00:46,809 --> 01:00:49,436
No, we gotta have a Negro.
This guy right here.
980
01:00:49,520 --> 01:00:50,562
Negro, front row.
981
01:00:51,397 --> 01:00:55,651
[Stone] there's a third scene I put back
in the movie for this version in DVD.
982
01:00:55,735 --> 01:01:00,155
I hope you get a chance to look at it
'cause it establishes what Hoover's role
983
01:01:00,239 --> 01:01:02,824
was in the wiretapping concept.
984
01:01:02,909 --> 01:01:06,495
So there are now three scenes with
Bob Hoskins instead of two, and I felt
985
01:01:06,579 --> 01:01:09,915
- I made a mistake.
- ...turning people against each other.
986
01:01:09,999 --> 01:01:12,000
- Fuck's he doing? A speech!
- Cut him off.
987
01:01:12,085 --> 01:01:15,712
[Stone] I love Woods and this guy.
He has a very good argument.
988
01:01:15,797 --> 01:01:20,300
- Saying Negro things.
- [Stone] "Negro things." tyrue line
989
01:01:20,385 --> 01:01:24,471
- from one of Nixon's people.
- ...what you really stand for?
990
01:01:24,555 --> 01:01:26,181
- Go to commercial!
- There are no commercials.
991
01:01:26,265 --> 01:01:29,726
[Stone] that's Michael Chiklis,
who played Belushi in Wired,
992
01:01:29,811 --> 01:01:33,438
- who just cameo'ed for the day.
- ...who you really are?
993
01:01:33,523 --> 01:01:34,815
[man] Shut up and sit down!
994
01:01:34,899 --> 01:01:37,401
- [Nixon] OK. OK.
- It's a high hard one, chief.
995
01:01:37,485 --> 01:01:39,945
[Stone] Woods has such intensity.
996
01:01:40,029 --> 01:01:43,699
- That's because you created them.
- I did not. The Democrats did.
997
01:01:43,783 --> 01:01:46,493
If it's dialogue you want,
you're more likely to get it from me
998
01:01:46,577 --> 01:01:49,204
than from people burning down cities.
Just think about it.
999
01:01:49,288 --> 01:01:51,498
- Dr. King said the same thing.
- Oh, please.
1000
01:01:51,582 --> 01:01:54,543
You know, young man,
who a great hero is? Abraham Lincoln.
1001
01:01:54,627 --> 01:01:57,170
- Abraham Lincoln.
- Lincoln. Is he beautiful?
1002
01:01:57,255 --> 01:02:00,298
He believed in common ground.
He brought this country together.
1003
01:02:00,383 --> 01:02:02,426
- [applause]
- I love that man. I love him.
1004
01:02:02,510 --> 01:02:03,510
[Stone laughs]
1005
01:02:03,594 --> 01:02:06,972
I want the son of a bitch
who got that agitator in here fired!
1006
01:02:07,056 --> 01:02:10,392
- I have another question.
- There's a little girl sitting here.
1007
01:02:10,476 --> 01:02:13,770
- A little girl sitting with a sign.
- Bag the spook. Go to the girl.
1008
01:02:13,855 --> 01:02:16,565
- Can you see the girl?
- There are three simple words:
1009
01:02:16,649 --> 01:02:18,942
"Bring us together."
That is what I want,
1010
01:02:19,026 --> 01:02:22,446
and that is what the great
silent majority ofAmericans want.
1011
01:02:22,530 --> 01:02:27,075
And that is why I want to be president.
To bring us together.
1012
01:02:27,160 --> 01:02:30,662
- Give me a break, Mary.
- Now, you all know me. I'm one of you.
1013
01:02:30,747 --> 01:02:32,998
I grew up here,
a stone's throw from here,
1014
01:02:33,082 --> 01:02:37,753
- on a lemon ranch in Yorba Linda.
- Poorest lemon ranch in California.
1015
01:02:37,837 --> 01:02:41,339
- Poorest lemon ranch...
- [Stone] Speech he was famous for.
1016
01:02:41,424 --> 01:02:44,885
- My dad sold it before they found oil.
- My dad sold it before they found oil.
1017
01:02:44,969 --> 01:02:48,221
- But it was all we had.
- But it was all we had.
1018
01:02:48,306 --> 01:02:53,185
- My dad built the house with his hands.
- You're new here. What's your name?
1019
01:02:53,269 --> 01:02:55,228
Joaquin, Mr. Hoover.
1020
01:02:56,147 --> 01:02:58,315
Oh.
1021
01:02:58,399 --> 01:03:04,029
[Nixon] My father sacrificed everything
so that his sons could go to college.
1022
01:03:04,113 --> 01:03:08,742
- A gentle Quaker mother quietly wept...
- [Stone laughs]
1023
01:03:08,826 --> 01:03:11,453
- Getting back at him.
- Turn this crap off, Clyde.
1024
01:03:11,537 --> 01:03:14,039
- Giving me a headache.
- [Nixon] Great teacher.
1025
01:03:14,916 --> 01:03:19,544
- You may go, Joaquin.
- [Stone laughs] Bizarre scene.
1026
01:03:19,629 --> 01:03:24,800
- I want to see him, Clyde.
- [Stone] "Edgar."
1027
01:03:24,884 --> 01:03:28,512
- Not the boy, you idiot. Nixon.
- [Stone laughs]
1028
01:03:29,889 --> 01:03:32,682
As if Nixon is the flyboy.
1029
01:03:33,810 --> 01:03:37,020
It's between Nixon and a Kennedy again.
1030
01:03:37,104 --> 01:03:41,316
[Stone] Hoover reasserts his position
on Nixon. He had files on everybody.
1031
01:03:41,400 --> 01:03:42,400
Never.
1032
01:03:42,485 --> 01:03:46,321
[Stone] He knew a lot about Nixon
and the gangsters and Mafia.
1033
01:03:46,405 --> 01:03:48,240
He knew a lot about Cuba.
1034
01:03:48,324 --> 01:03:50,492
He knew about Rebozo.
1035
01:03:50,576 --> 01:03:55,997
...remind him that he needs us
a hell of a lot more than we need him.
1036
01:03:56,082 --> 01:03:57,833
[trumpet plays Call to the Post]
1037
01:03:57,917 --> 01:04:01,086
[Stone] Hoover felt superior,
Nixon would be in his pocket.
1038
01:04:01,170 --> 01:04:03,755
He was never upset with Nixon
1039
01:04:03,840 --> 01:04:07,175
as he was with Robert Kennedy
and the Kennedys when they came in.
1040
01:04:11,973 --> 01:04:15,851
they'd had a good relationship in
the '50s when Nixon was vice president.
1041
01:04:15,935 --> 01:04:20,856
Vice President Nixon also worked
Allen Dulles and John qoster Dulles,
1042
01:04:20,940 --> 01:04:23,692
having dinner in Georgetown,
getting to know them.
1043
01:04:23,776 --> 01:04:27,863
He was one of the young apprentice,
young Dan Quayle of his time,
1044
01:04:27,947 --> 01:04:29,906
learning the ropes.
1045
01:04:34,453 --> 01:04:36,079
He's folding, Johnny.
1046
01:04:39,792 --> 01:04:41,835
No, no, no.
You just wait a second.
1047
01:04:41,919 --> 01:04:44,838
[announcer] Olly's Boy on the inside!
1048
01:04:45,756 --> 01:04:47,507
Come on! Come on!
1049
01:04:47,592 --> 01:04:50,468
- [people gasping and shouting]
- [horses whinnying]
1050
01:04:53,806 --> 01:04:58,852
[announcer] And a tragedy! Olly's Boy
has fallen on the 16th pole.
1051
01:05:01,898 --> 01:05:05,567
[Stone] Different style,
but a repeat of the JFK horse race.
1052
01:05:05,651 --> 01:05:08,528
It's rigged by Hoover.
Never a level playing field.
1053
01:05:08,613 --> 01:05:12,866
Tony Lo Bianco, I love this character.
1054
01:05:15,536 --> 01:05:19,247
It was unbelievable, that stunt.
He got the horse to take a fall.
1055
01:05:19,332 --> 01:05:20,582
Broke its leg.
1056
01:05:20,666 --> 01:05:24,753
there was numerous allegations...
I can't get into it,
1057
01:05:24,837 --> 01:05:28,924
'cause it's proven or unproven,
but Hoover had a gambling thing
1058
01:05:29,008 --> 01:05:33,887
and particularly with horses.
1059
01:05:33,971 --> 01:05:37,057
He loved the Del Mar track
here in California.
1060
01:05:38,559 --> 01:05:41,227
But this scene is a fictional one.
1061
01:05:41,312 --> 01:05:45,440
Probably took place in different places.
I don't know. But it was a point
1062
01:05:45,524 --> 01:05:48,443
that I was trying to make,
which is coming up.
1063
01:05:48,527 --> 01:05:53,615
It's ironic. I wasn't thinking about
Garrison and Jack Lemmon years before.
1064
01:05:53,699 --> 01:05:57,702
Perhaps it's the same track.
No, it would have been in New Orleans.
1065
01:05:57,787 --> 01:06:00,622
- Bobby Kennedy.
- Yeah.
1066
01:06:00,706 --> 01:06:03,249
Would you walk with me
down to the paddock?
1067
01:06:04,001 --> 01:06:08,338
[Stone] that was a very malevolent thing
Hoover did at that racetrack.
1068
01:06:08,422 --> 01:06:09,965
He killed a horse.
1069
01:06:10,049 --> 01:06:12,968
I'm trying to spare you
an embarrassment.
1070
01:06:13,052 --> 01:06:17,389
That was Johnny Roselli you just
passed. He's on his way back.
1071
01:06:19,058 --> 01:06:21,559
Roselli? Johnny Roselli?
1072
01:06:21,644 --> 01:06:26,982
Yes. You know him, Richard? No?
From Cuba?
1073
01:06:27,692 --> 01:06:29,234
[mambo music playing]
1074
01:06:32,196 --> 01:06:36,032
- Hey, Johnny Roselli. How're you doin'?
- Dick Nixon.
1075
01:06:36,117 --> 01:06:37,450
How are you?
1076
01:06:37,535 --> 01:06:40,829
[Stone] It's most likely
that Nixon knew his share
1077
01:06:40,913 --> 01:06:45,417
of Mafioso from the Paradise Islands
and the Bahamas where he went
1078
01:06:45,501 --> 01:06:49,254
and Cuba over the years.
He was very oFten there.
1079
01:06:51,465 --> 01:06:52,507
OK.
1080
01:06:52,591 --> 01:06:55,802
- [bell rings]
- [announcer] They're off and running!
1081
01:06:58,848 --> 01:07:01,766
[Stone] Beautiful ghost footage. God!
1082
01:07:01,851 --> 01:07:06,396
So bold a concept.
In a sense, we're saying,
1083
01:07:06,480 --> 01:07:09,858
"It's all gone, it's all dream."
1084
01:07:09,942 --> 01:07:13,403
And Bobby's got the magic
like a goddamn rock star.
1085
01:07:13,487 --> 01:07:19,117
[Stone] We hypostulate this scene that
Nixon feels he's losing, which he did.
1086
01:07:19,201 --> 01:07:21,244
At times, he did.
1087
01:07:21,328 --> 01:07:24,539
He preferred to have taken on Humphrey.
1088
01:07:24,623 --> 01:07:27,417
He's got the anti-war vote.
1089
01:07:27,501 --> 01:07:29,002
Or he'll steal it...
1090
01:07:29,086 --> 01:07:31,880
[Stone] What Kennedy had
was sudden fire and momentum.
1091
01:07:31,964 --> 01:07:34,716
Who knows if he would have won
because, ultimately,
1092
01:07:34,800 --> 01:07:38,553
there could have been some trick?
Momentum might have petered off.
1093
01:07:38,637 --> 01:07:42,348
But by all signs,
from people who you talk to,
1094
01:07:42,433 --> 01:07:46,686
not everybody will agree, but many say
Kennedy was on his way, on a roll.
1095
01:07:46,771 --> 01:07:49,105
He was going in.
1096
01:07:52,109 --> 01:07:54,652
Any information you have.
1097
01:07:54,737 --> 01:07:57,530
The son of a bitch is not
gonna steal from me again.
1098
01:07:57,615 --> 01:08:01,034
Can you back me up on this?
Can I count on your support?
1099
01:08:02,161 --> 01:08:07,248
I look at it from the point of view that
the system can only take so much abuse.
1100
01:08:07,333 --> 01:08:09,918
- It adjusts itself eventually.
- Yeah.
1101
01:08:10,002 --> 01:08:13,463
[Stone] Two English actors
playing two American icons.
1102
01:08:15,049 --> 01:08:17,842
Stanley White in the background
from Year of the Dragon.
1103
01:08:17,927 --> 01:08:21,763
- [whinnies]
- Screwing women like a tomcat...
1104
01:08:21,847 --> 01:08:26,851
[Stone laughs] these are lines
Hoover used about King.
1105
01:08:26,936 --> 01:08:30,605
"Tomcat. Degenerate tomcat."
1106
01:08:30,689 --> 01:08:33,608
the lines about cracking are our lines.
1107
01:08:33,692 --> 01:08:37,028
the riderless horse is,
again, featured in JFK.
1108
01:08:37,113 --> 01:08:39,906
I don't believe we
could survive another.
1109
01:08:45,204 --> 01:08:47,956
- Well, like I said, Edgar...
- You ask...
1110
01:08:48,040 --> 01:08:50,583
...if you can count on my support.
1111
01:08:52,878 --> 01:08:55,213
As long as I can count on yours.
1112
01:08:57,716 --> 01:09:01,219
[Stone] It might be melodramatic,
but I love Hoskins. [laughs]
1113
01:09:01,303 --> 01:09:04,139
I'm sure Hoover was more deadpan,
but that's the movies.
1114
01:09:04,223 --> 01:09:06,224
No, he wasn't protecting me.
1115
01:09:06,308 --> 01:09:10,770
- He was just putting me on notice.
- [Stone] It's great. You jump ahead
1116
01:09:10,855 --> 01:09:13,481
- four years.
- Hoover knew a lot of gangsters.
1117
01:09:14,150 --> 01:09:18,111
[Stone] One of the endless Watergate
discussions he would have
1118
01:09:18,195 --> 01:09:22,740
with Haldeman
in the executive office building.
1119
01:09:22,825 --> 01:09:25,285
Oh, well, I know all about that.
1120
01:09:25,369 --> 01:09:28,163
I don't understand it.
Track Two is Chile.
1121
01:09:28,247 --> 01:09:32,834
[Nixon] Yeah, Chile, Congo,
Guadalajara, Iran, Cuba.
1122
01:09:32,918 --> 01:09:37,881
Wherever there was need
for an executive action capability,
1123
01:09:37,965 --> 01:09:40,091
there's Track Two.
1124
01:09:40,176 --> 01:09:43,720
[Stone] Shoot ahead to '74,
where that's the same night again.
1125
01:09:43,804 --> 01:09:47,849
the same night he's listening.
Always the same night, in a way.
1126
01:09:47,933 --> 01:09:51,769
[Nixon] We thought the invasion wouldn't
work unless we got rid of Castro.
1127
01:09:52,771 --> 01:09:57,192
[Stone] this is important to understand
that it was Eisenhower, Nixon,
1128
01:09:57,276 --> 01:10:02,572
who wanted Castro removed. the invasion
was approved on their watch
1129
01:10:02,656 --> 01:10:04,532
in 1960.
1130
01:10:04,617 --> 01:10:08,203
they also approved the murder,
whether they deny it or not,
1131
01:10:08,287 --> 01:10:11,122
of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo in '59.
1132
01:10:11,207 --> 01:10:13,875
He was killed, finally,
in January '60, January 17th,
1133
01:10:13,959 --> 01:10:17,212
three days before Kennedy
was inaugurated.
1134
01:10:19,715 --> 01:10:23,551
Don't forget that the moment Nixon
became president again, he instituted
1135
01:10:23,636 --> 01:10:27,305
a major coup d'etat in Chile,
killing the president,
1136
01:10:27,389 --> 01:10:31,476
the general staff of Rene Schneider,
the general who was against
1137
01:10:31,560 --> 01:10:34,145
the concept of a coup.
Avery important murder.
1138
01:10:34,230 --> 01:10:38,066
Shortly thereaFter, the coup occurred
with full American backing.
1139
01:10:38,150 --> 01:10:43,446
And President Allende committed suicide.
So Nixon was an old-time butcher.
1140
01:10:43,530 --> 01:10:45,990
He was coming up from the '50s.
1141
01:10:46,075 --> 01:10:50,245
And his coup d'etat in Chile
was a ruthless, ruthless story.
1142
01:10:50,329 --> 01:10:53,748
But no... it got so much attention
because the world changed
1143
01:10:53,832 --> 01:10:57,168
and Nixon hadn't.
He was still dealing in the 1950s.
1144
01:11:02,508 --> 01:11:06,386
Yeah, Hunt reported to my military aide.
1145
01:11:06,470 --> 01:11:10,306
I don't know how much Hunt knows
or the Cubans, but...
1146
01:11:11,725 --> 01:11:14,352
- ...you never know.
- [Stone] He threatened Helms...
1147
01:11:14,436 --> 01:11:18,523
I'm not so sure he was saying to Helms,
"Look, Kennedy's death will come out
1148
01:11:18,607 --> 01:11:22,443
that it was a CIA plot." Maybe he was.
But that's the extreme version of it.
1149
01:11:22,528 --> 01:11:26,739
the other version is he's saying to
Helms, "this shit's gonna come out
1150
01:11:26,824 --> 01:11:31,035
about the Kennedys and us.
Nixon and Eisenhower
1151
01:11:31,120 --> 01:11:33,121
trying to get the Cubans.
1152
01:11:33,205 --> 01:11:36,291
that'll lead to Lumumba,
and it's gonna be a mess for everybody
1153
01:11:36,375 --> 01:11:39,043
and the CIA, who's gonna take
a major hit here."
1154
01:11:39,128 --> 01:11:42,714
Because Helms was counterintelligence.
He was covert operations.
1155
01:11:42,798 --> 01:11:45,425
Sorry, by this time,
Helms was head of the CIA.
1156
01:11:45,509 --> 01:11:48,636
But back then,
he was head of covert ops.
1157
01:11:48,721 --> 01:11:50,722
'Cause he didn't even know about it.
1158
01:11:52,641 --> 01:11:56,561
The CIA, uh, never told him.
Theyjust kept it going.
1159
01:11:57,396 --> 01:11:59,731
It had a life of its own
like it was some...
1160
01:11:59,815 --> 01:12:01,983
[Stone] this is what I think
is new and key.
1161
01:12:02,067 --> 01:12:06,529
Some people agree on this or not,
but "a life of its own" is important.
1162
01:12:06,613 --> 01:12:10,491
Itjust eats people
when it doesn't need 'em anymore.
1163
01:12:10,576 --> 01:12:14,120
[Nixon] Two days after the Bay of Pigs,
1164
01:12:14,204 --> 01:12:18,499
Kennedy called me
and he reamed me out.
1165
01:12:18,584 --> 01:12:22,503
- He just found out about Track Two.
- [Haldeman] You never told him?
1166
01:12:22,588 --> 01:12:25,423
I didn't want him to get the credit.
1167
01:12:26,550 --> 01:12:28,384
He said I'd stabbed him in the back
1168
01:12:28,469 --> 01:12:31,637
and called me a two-bit
grocery clerk from Whittier.
1169
01:12:31,722 --> 01:12:33,681
[ Peggy Lee: Fever]
1170
01:12:40,856 --> 01:12:43,232
That's the last time I ever saw him.
1171
01:12:47,613 --> 01:12:52,825
See, when I saw Bobby
lying there on the floor,
1172
01:12:52,910 --> 01:12:56,662
arms stretched out like that,
his eyes staring...
1173
01:12:59,458 --> 01:13:02,043
...I knew then I'd be president.
1174
01:13:03,212 --> 01:13:05,421
His death paved the way, didn't it?
1175
01:13:05,506 --> 01:13:09,384
[Stone] this scene, uh,
we invented out of whole cloth
1176
01:13:09,468 --> 01:13:14,305
because it was important to me
to get across the idea of...
1177
01:13:15,474 --> 01:13:21,479
...Nixon, in a way, saw himself as a
Lincoln ruling over a divided country.
1178
01:13:21,563 --> 01:13:24,899
the question was what
was the means necessary,
1179
01:13:24,983 --> 01:13:26,818
how many bodies could be spared?
1180
01:13:26,902 --> 01:13:31,781
Lincoln underwent the greatest sacrifice
of any U.S. president.
1181
01:13:32,908 --> 01:13:36,452
And must have had
many a horrible night.
1182
01:13:36,537 --> 01:13:38,121
Four.
1183
01:13:39,706 --> 01:13:44,377
[Stone] As a survivor, Nixon,
of course, is ridden with guilt.
1184
01:13:44,461 --> 01:13:49,257
the need to do it at all costs,
to lie in order to succeed
1185
01:13:49,341 --> 01:13:52,927
and survivor guilt drives that.
1186
01:13:53,011 --> 01:13:55,430
Hundreds of thousands?
1187
01:13:55,514 --> 01:13:58,599
[Stone] All of a sudden, he's alone,
drinking the same drink.
1188
01:13:58,684 --> 01:14:00,977
It's not another drink, by the way.
1189
01:14:02,062 --> 01:14:05,690
Spent more time alone
in the Lincoln Room than ever before
1190
01:14:05,774 --> 01:14:08,776
during these last few months,
according to witnesses.
1191
01:14:11,864 --> 01:14:14,282
Who's helping us?
1192
01:14:14,366 --> 01:14:16,451
[Stone] "What's helping us?"
1193
01:14:16,535 --> 01:14:19,328
- God, or is it...
- [Stone] "Is it God...
1194
01:14:19,413 --> 01:14:21,414
- ...death?
- [Stone] ...or is it death?"
1195
01:14:25,752 --> 01:14:28,921
He had to wonder because death
had helped him all the way.
1196
01:14:34,052 --> 01:14:37,722
And the microbe that killed his brother.
1197
01:14:44,897 --> 01:14:46,856
[coughing and retching]
1198
01:14:51,695 --> 01:14:56,240
And this is based on Nixon's time
1199
01:14:56,325 --> 01:14:59,494
spent with his brother,
the last few months
1200
01:14:59,578 --> 01:15:01,913
at the recuperation home in Arizona.
1201
01:15:07,878 --> 01:15:11,839
Tony Goldwyn, who is now
directing some very nice films,
1202
01:15:11,924 --> 01:15:14,884
is a wonderful actor.
I enjoyed working with him enormously.
1203
01:15:14,968 --> 01:15:16,385
Harold.
1204
01:15:17,763 --> 01:15:19,805
Harold, why don't you sit down, huh?
1205
01:15:19,890 --> 01:15:22,558
[wheezing]
1206
01:15:22,643 --> 01:15:24,018
Here.
1207
01:15:25,771 --> 01:15:29,607
[Stone] He lost a lot of weight
to play this role. He was dedicated.
1208
01:15:30,400 --> 01:15:32,777
God, couldn't recognize him.
1209
01:15:36,031 --> 01:15:38,157
You'll be able to do it now.
1210
01:15:39,535 --> 01:15:42,370
- What?
- Go to law school.
1211
01:15:42,454 --> 01:15:45,623
- Mom and Dad'll be able to afford it.
- Harold.
1212
01:15:46,708 --> 01:15:49,126
Mama expects great things from you.
1213
01:15:50,254 --> 01:15:53,130
Can I... Can I get you anything?
1214
01:15:56,260 --> 01:15:57,843
Relax, Dick.
1215
01:15:59,054 --> 01:16:01,138
It's just me, all right?
1216
01:16:02,140 --> 01:16:05,142
[Stone] Show how hard it was
for Nixon to relax.
1217
01:16:07,104 --> 01:16:09,063
The desert's so beautiful...
1218
01:16:09,147 --> 01:16:12,733
[Stone] Nixon had a hard time
just being who he was.
1219
01:16:14,570 --> 01:16:17,488
David Barry Gray played Nixon.
1220
01:16:18,782 --> 01:16:23,411
And I thought did a very good job
conveying the anguish in his face
1221
01:16:23,495 --> 01:16:25,705
and the discomfort with himself.
1222
01:16:30,711 --> 01:16:35,256
Harold was the magnetic older brother,
much like Joe Kennedy might have been
1223
01:16:35,340 --> 01:16:39,927
to John, really the flamboyant one,
as we saw earlier at the dinner table
1224
01:16:40,012 --> 01:16:43,055
when his death
really rocked the family.
1225
01:16:43,140 --> 01:16:47,184
Rocked Nixon. He lost his
youngest brother and his oldest.
1226
01:16:47,269 --> 01:16:50,354
Only Donald survived,
the middle one.
1227
01:16:52,190 --> 01:16:54,025
Tom Bower.
1228
01:16:55,944 --> 01:16:58,863
[singing The Itsy-Bitsy Spider]
1229
01:16:58,947 --> 01:17:00,823
that's my other son, Mikey.
1230
01:17:00,907 --> 01:17:04,952
A great moment, succeeded
beyond my wildest dreams to convey
1231
01:17:05,037 --> 01:17:08,372
the kind of halfway point
I wanted in his life,
1232
01:17:08,457 --> 01:17:11,208
from the very lows of his life,
his brother's death,
1233
01:17:11,293 --> 01:17:15,504
to the highs coming up, to me,
symbolize Nixon highs and lows.
1234
01:17:15,589 --> 01:17:19,634
It's like a mad junkie who needs
that intensity of lows and highs.
1235
01:17:19,718 --> 01:17:23,804
Who cannot live quite in the middle.
He needs the drama to recreate himself,
1236
01:17:23,889 --> 01:17:29,185
reenergize himself. Watch this scene.
It's one of my favorite scenes.
1237
01:17:29,269 --> 01:17:32,438
And the way it dissolves
into the convention.
1238
01:17:34,066 --> 01:17:36,817
Something has to come of this.
1239
01:17:38,362 --> 01:17:40,321
It's meant to make us stronger.
1240
01:17:40,405 --> 01:17:46,077
[Stone] His mom said
something like this at that time.
1241
01:17:46,161 --> 01:17:48,412
But I can't vouch for these words.
1242
01:17:49,206 --> 01:17:53,459
- What about happiness, Mother?
- [Stone] that was a line.
1243
01:17:53,543 --> 01:17:57,505
Thee will find thy peace
at the center, Richard.
1244
01:17:57,589 --> 01:18:01,258
Strength in this life,
happiness in the next.
1245
01:18:01,343 --> 01:18:05,096
[Stone] "Happiness, mother"
is a line that actually I read.
1246
01:18:05,180 --> 01:18:09,350
It was a dialogue line, but I don't
know if it was in this context.
1247
01:18:09,434 --> 01:18:12,186
Now, watch this.
1248
01:18:12,270 --> 01:18:14,355
"Strength in this life.
1249
01:18:14,439 --> 01:18:18,109
Happiness in the next." I keep thinking
of that moment when I see that face.
1250
01:18:18,193 --> 01:18:21,570
I wanted that pause
before it all kicked in.
1251
01:18:21,655 --> 01:18:24,281
It was great, like with Kovic
at The Fourth of July.
1252
01:18:24,366 --> 01:18:26,367
Now he sort of knows where he is.
1253
01:18:26,451 --> 01:18:29,245
And look at that.
the transformation is great.
1254
01:18:29,329 --> 01:18:33,833
One of those moments
where you just remember the past.
1255
01:18:33,917 --> 01:18:36,252
And it's another past.
1256
01:18:36,336 --> 01:18:39,797
We're mixing digital shots here,
obviously, with the real man.
1257
01:18:41,216 --> 01:18:44,677
Ironically, this is the convention
where Ron Kovic was thrown out of
1258
01:18:44,761 --> 01:18:47,054
in Born on the Fourth of July.
1259
01:18:47,139 --> 01:18:49,181
Removed from.
1260
01:18:49,266 --> 01:18:52,101
So there's a slight overlap
in all these films.
1261
01:18:53,937 --> 01:18:57,648
this is a great moment for them.
"Don't tell me you didn't want this."
1262
01:18:58,525 --> 01:19:01,527
I don't know if he said that,
but God, it was great.
1263
01:19:01,611 --> 01:19:04,321
that was their moment.
'68, they got it.
1264
01:19:06,074 --> 01:19:11,537
Nixon's long quest, since 1946, '48
1265
01:19:11,621 --> 01:19:14,582
had come true 20 years later.
1266
01:19:14,666 --> 01:19:16,959
It goes fast when it goes.
1267
01:19:18,879 --> 01:19:22,381
Within seven years,
he had destroyed himself again.
1268
01:19:22,466 --> 01:19:25,926
When the strongest nation
in the world can be tied down
1269
01:19:26,011 --> 01:19:30,347
for four years in a war in Vietnam
with no end in sight...
1270
01:19:31,308 --> 01:19:36,604
[Stone] I believe these are remarks
from his exact speech, condensed.
1271
01:19:37,773 --> 01:19:41,609
Also, I believe we took
from other speeches and combined.
1272
01:19:41,693 --> 01:19:45,821
...when a nation that has been known for
a century for equality of opportunity
1273
01:19:45,906 --> 01:19:49,408
is torn by unprecedented
racial violence,
1274
01:19:49,493 --> 01:19:53,037
when the president of the United States
cannot travel abroad
1275
01:19:53,121 --> 01:19:57,583
or to any major city at home without
fear of a hostile demonstration,
1276
01:19:57,667 --> 01:20:02,713
then it is time for new leadership
for the United States ofAmerica.
1277
01:20:02,798 --> 01:20:04,715
[cheering]
1278
01:20:05,550 --> 01:20:09,637
As we look at America, we see cities
enveloped in smoke and flame,
1279
01:20:09,721 --> 01:20:12,264
millions ofAmericans
crying out in anguish,
1280
01:20:12,349 --> 01:20:17,770
"Did we come all the way for this?
Did American boys die in Normandy
1281
01:20:17,854 --> 01:20:21,148
- and Valley Forge for this?"
- [Stone] Clark Clifford, McNamara.
1282
01:20:21,233 --> 01:20:24,109
I pledge to you
that the current wave ofviolence
1283
01:20:24,194 --> 01:20:26,278
will not be the wave of the future.
1284
01:20:28,907 --> 01:20:31,408
Now let us begin
by committing ourselves...
1285
01:20:31,493 --> 01:20:35,496
[Stone] the speech was ambivalent.
He had many fine things, many concepts.
1286
01:20:35,580 --> 01:20:38,207
He was a brilliant man, domestically.
1287
01:20:38,291 --> 01:20:40,376
In some ways, he was brilliant.
1288
01:20:40,460 --> 01:20:43,212
It is not the voice
of the protesters or the shouters.
1289
01:20:43,296 --> 01:20:47,007
It is the quiet voice of the majority
ofAmericans who've been forgotten...
1290
01:20:47,092 --> 01:20:51,428
[Stone] Some people say without George
Wallace, Humphrey would've beat him.
1291
01:20:51,513 --> 01:20:56,058
They're the good people. They work hard
and they save and they pay their taxes.
1292
01:20:56,142 --> 01:20:58,561
Now, who are they?
Let me tell you who they are.
1293
01:20:58,645 --> 01:21:00,855
They're in this audience
by the thousands.
1294
01:21:00,939 --> 01:21:03,482
They're the white Americans
and black Americans,
1295
01:21:03,567 --> 01:21:06,193
Mexican Americans
and Italian Americans.
1296
01:21:06,278 --> 01:21:09,363
- The great silent majority...
- [Stone] these are actual words
1297
01:21:09,447 --> 01:21:12,116
- from the Silent Majority speech.
- Angry, not with hate,
1298
01:21:12,200 --> 01:21:14,577
but angry, my friends,
because they love America
1299
01:21:14,661 --> 01:21:17,496
and don't like what's happened
to America these last four years.
1300
01:21:17,581 --> 01:21:20,291
[Stone] A form of polarization
Nixon was famous for.
1301
01:21:20,375 --> 01:21:22,668
Us against they. We, them.
1302
01:21:22,752 --> 01:21:26,630
He was the first one to say the
Republicans had a Southern strategy.
1303
01:21:26,715 --> 01:21:29,800
In other words, they could divide
countries, classes, people.
1304
01:21:29,885 --> 01:21:33,929
Southerners were real Americans
as opposed to ninnies in college
1305
01:21:34,014 --> 01:21:37,349
who protested.
It was an ugly rhetoric, frankly.
1306
01:21:37,434 --> 01:21:41,437
qar worse, in many ways, than anything
Johnson said about these people.
1307
01:21:41,521 --> 01:21:45,482
Johnson may have expressed disgust
for these people in private,
1308
01:21:45,567 --> 01:21:48,986
by my God, he never
went publicly as far as Nixon
1309
01:21:49,070 --> 01:21:53,741
in condemning and describing
these people, polarization at its worst.
1310
01:21:53,825 --> 01:21:58,078
this is hate speech. At the same time,
it's filled with idealism.
1311
01:21:58,163 --> 01:22:01,332
We can improve health care,
make it more available to all people.
1312
01:22:01,416 --> 01:22:04,919
And yes, we can have a complete reform
of this government.
1313
01:22:05,003 --> 01:22:08,255
We can have a new American revolution!
1314
01:22:08,340 --> 01:22:10,716
[cheering]
1315
01:22:15,430 --> 01:22:19,058
[Stone] Always the
lurking inner image there.
1316
01:22:21,645 --> 01:22:24,897
- Here comes the opposition.
- [chant] The whole world is watching!
1317
01:22:24,981 --> 01:22:27,316
the secret air bombings
got worse and worse.
1318
01:22:27,400 --> 01:22:30,861
the most devastating bombings
ofAmerican history.
1319
01:22:30,946 --> 01:22:32,613
It was just a disaster.
1320
01:22:32,697 --> 01:22:37,534
Doing this Cambodian bombing decision
scene was very difficult for me.
1321
01:22:37,619 --> 01:22:39,995
I was going around for days on it,
how to shoot it.
1322
01:22:40,080 --> 01:22:44,458
I couldn't find the right angle because
the meeting is highly dramatized,
1323
01:22:44,542 --> 01:22:49,213
where a huge amount of information and
time is condensed among phone calls,
1324
01:22:49,297 --> 01:22:54,218
many meetings. And United States
interests in Cambodia preceded this.
1325
01:22:54,302 --> 01:22:58,263
It wasn't like it came up as
one decision. We deposed King Sihanouk
1326
01:22:58,348 --> 01:23:03,352
in favor of the corrupt general
working for us, Lon Nol,
1327
01:23:03,436 --> 01:23:07,398
who lost Cambodia within a few years
to the Khmer Rouge.
1328
01:23:07,482 --> 01:23:11,860
What aggravated the situation even
further than disrupting leadership
1329
01:23:11,945 --> 01:23:15,823
was bombing and invading Cambodia.
Especially bombing it
1330
01:23:15,907 --> 01:23:20,244
for many, many... for several years.
We bombed it ferociously.
1331
01:23:20,328 --> 01:23:22,287
As bad as Laos, if not worse.
1332
01:23:22,372 --> 01:23:26,834
the eastern borders, trying to get at
the Vietnamese on the Ho Chi Minh tyrail.
1333
01:23:26,918 --> 01:23:29,920
So we invaded and bombed
and were at war with another country.
1334
01:23:30,005 --> 01:23:34,466
Devastated Cambodia. And it is
from the east that the Cambodian...
1335
01:23:34,551 --> 01:23:39,388
the Pol Pot, Khmer Rouge,
got its initial burst of strength
1336
01:23:39,472 --> 01:23:42,182
and confidence,
then united with the west.
1337
01:23:42,267 --> 01:23:45,602
Cambodia would never be the same
because Pol Pot turned out to be
1338
01:23:45,687 --> 01:23:48,772
the strangest human being,
like Hitler, and slaughtered...
1339
01:23:48,857 --> 01:23:52,609
A genocide occurred in Cambodia.
1340
01:23:52,694 --> 01:23:57,698
And it was really Pol Pot's
responsibility as well as his leaders'.
1341
01:23:57,782 --> 01:24:02,036
But there's no question that the
situation was heavily licensed
1342
01:24:02,120 --> 01:24:06,749
and encouraged
by Nixon's bombing of Cambodia
1343
01:24:06,833 --> 01:24:10,461
and destruction of King Sihanouk's rule.
1344
01:24:10,545 --> 01:24:13,881
So that's Kissinger's war politics.
Paul Sorvino plays Kissinger.
1345
01:24:13,965 --> 01:24:16,550
that's his politics of balance of power.
1346
01:24:16,634 --> 01:24:19,845
It's a dirty game.
Someone wins, someone loses.
1347
01:24:19,929 --> 01:24:21,722
I call it the win-lose theory.
1348
01:24:21,806 --> 01:24:25,350
You can't have two winners.
You can only have a winner and a loser.
1349
01:24:25,435 --> 01:24:28,854
But the point is that
Cambodia didn't go away.
1350
01:24:28,938 --> 01:24:33,233
You must remember this, just to
show you how corrupt our policy was,
1351
01:24:33,318 --> 01:24:38,572
even aFter we... aFter the Vietnamese
ended the genocide in Cambodia
1352
01:24:38,656 --> 01:24:41,575
and occupied the country for ten years,
1353
01:24:41,659 --> 01:24:45,370
the U.S. continued to support
the Khmer Rouge against Vietnamese.
1354
01:24:45,455 --> 01:24:49,875
So dedicated were we to the...
So much was our anger to Vietnam
1355
01:24:49,959 --> 01:24:53,879
that we ignored the genocides
caused by Pol Pot
1356
01:24:53,963 --> 01:24:58,467
in favor of being against
the Vietnamese. that's how...
1357
01:24:58,551 --> 01:25:02,262
...miserable and hypocritical a policy
we had. It's like saying
1358
01:25:02,347 --> 01:25:07,434
we're allies with Hitler now
against qrance or England, basically.
1359
01:25:07,519 --> 01:25:10,771
Or Russia. It's really like...
1360
01:25:10,855 --> 01:25:14,983
What ifAmerica had suddenly allied
with Germany in 1943
1361
01:25:15,068 --> 01:25:17,236
and said,
"Let's attack Russia together."
1362
01:25:17,320 --> 01:25:21,698
How would you feel about it? Half
the population would say, "Yeah."
1363
01:25:21,783 --> 01:25:26,745
But anyway, I came up with a solution
at the last second.
1364
01:25:26,830 --> 01:25:31,416
We shot this in half a day. It followed
something very energy-exhausting.
1365
01:25:31,501 --> 01:25:37,297
We shot it fast and it worked out
very nicely because
1366
01:25:37,382 --> 01:25:41,718
we decided to cant the camera
as much as we could through the scene
1367
01:25:41,803 --> 01:25:45,639
and shoot low angle.
Portraits of men in power.
1368
01:25:45,723 --> 01:25:48,142
Eisensteinian. By canting it,
1369
01:25:48,226 --> 01:25:53,021
we got a sense of the distortion
ofjudgment going on in Nixon.
1370
01:25:55,733 --> 01:26:00,529
that judgment was clouded by the fact
that he had seen Patton 11 times,
1371
01:26:00,613 --> 01:26:05,325
the movie. the movie is
a very jingoistic portrayal
1372
01:26:05,410 --> 01:26:08,453
by George C. Scott,
won Academy Awards and all that.
1373
01:26:08,538 --> 01:26:10,289
One of the most damaging movies
1374
01:26:10,373 --> 01:26:13,417
in the sense that it was probably
inspired by that movie.
1375
01:26:13,501 --> 01:26:18,255
Nixon was very inspired by it, as by the
Washington Redskins' George Allen.
1376
01:26:18,339 --> 01:26:23,343
He went to war in Cambodia
with the resolve of General Patton.
1377
01:26:23,428 --> 01:26:27,598
And it was the stupidest war,
and he hurt many people.
1378
01:26:28,558 --> 01:26:31,268
But that's what he says in the scene.
the big event.
1379
01:26:31,352 --> 01:26:36,190
Go for the big, big play.
that's how you get the...
1380
01:26:36,274 --> 01:26:40,319
that's how you get the attention,
how presidents get famous.
1381
01:26:40,403 --> 01:26:43,488
Bold moves. T.R. Lincoln.
1382
01:26:43,573 --> 01:26:46,366
this is the way he talked.
"Bold moves."
1383
01:26:46,451 --> 01:26:49,494
the madman theory
always interested him.
1384
01:26:49,579 --> 01:26:51,246
He believed in the madman theory.
1385
01:26:51,331 --> 01:26:55,709
Kissinger would be his, uh...
1386
01:26:55,793 --> 01:26:57,419
His diplomat,
1387
01:26:57,503 --> 01:27:00,797
and say, "Nixon, you don't
know what that guy's gonna do.
1388
01:27:00,882 --> 01:27:04,635
He may just blow your country away.
He just...
1389
01:27:04,719 --> 01:27:08,180
Dick Nixon is not necessarily
Dwight Eisenhower."
1390
01:27:08,264 --> 01:27:13,143
Whatever the talk, the idea was Nixon
liked the idea of being a madman.
1391
01:27:13,228 --> 01:27:16,939
And I think that brinksmanship
contributed to Watergate,
1392
01:27:17,023 --> 01:27:22,069
in terms of bold moves.
His Pentagon Papers, seeing his anger
1393
01:27:22,153 --> 01:27:26,907
at Ellsberg, leading to the break-in,
was part of that brinksmanship.
1394
01:27:26,991 --> 01:27:31,745
But I think that self of skating close
to the edge, as I said earlier,
1395
01:27:31,829 --> 01:27:36,124
creating crises, perhaps some
artificially, that might destroy you.
1396
01:27:36,209 --> 01:27:39,419
It's a sort of suicidal kind of nature,
I'd say.
1397
01:27:39,504 --> 01:27:44,424
By the way, uh, big events,
big, bold move was China.
1398
01:27:44,509 --> 01:27:48,095
that is his boldest move,
for which he's given much credit.
1399
01:27:48,179 --> 01:27:50,389
At the same time,
the other side of the coin
1400
01:27:50,473 --> 01:27:53,725
is, in order to engage China,
he destroyed Cambodia.
1401
01:27:53,810 --> 01:27:57,771
And that is a very important idea
that mustn't be lost on historians.
1402
01:27:57,855 --> 01:28:00,399
the genocide that went on
in Cambodia is almost
1403
01:28:00,483 --> 01:28:03,819
the flip side
of our open-to-China approach.
1404
01:28:03,903 --> 01:28:07,739
So we supported China
in the post-war years
1405
01:28:07,824 --> 01:28:10,784
in the '70s and the '80s.
1406
01:28:10,868 --> 01:28:13,120
Until the Vietnamese leFt in '89.
1407
01:28:13,204 --> 01:28:16,623
We supported China in Cambodia.
We were allies.
1408
01:28:16,708 --> 01:28:19,293
We were both rooting
for Pol Pot to come back.
1409
01:28:19,377 --> 01:28:23,046
It's an amazing piece of diplomacy.
You could look to Nixon for that.
1410
01:28:23,131 --> 01:28:25,382
But that's what he meant
by "bold moves."
1411
01:28:27,510 --> 01:28:30,429
Henry's getting strong signals
from the Chinese.
1412
01:28:30,513 --> 01:28:33,098
They fear the Vietnamese
more than the Russians,
1413
01:28:33,182 --> 01:28:36,101
and they're worried
about a united Vietnam.
1414
01:28:36,185 --> 01:28:39,354
Now, ifwe stick it out,
we'll end up negotiating separately
1415
01:28:39,439 --> 01:28:42,149
with both the Chinese and the Soviets.
1416
01:28:42,233 --> 01:28:45,485
And we'll get better deals
than we ever dreamed offrom both.
1417
01:28:45,570 --> 01:28:49,114
That is triangular diplomacy.
1418
01:28:49,198 --> 01:28:52,701
[Stone] We must know that the Cambodian
decision came about as a result
1419
01:28:52,785 --> 01:28:57,164
of dozens of phone calls, several
meetings. this was not a decision made
1420
01:28:57,248 --> 01:29:00,751
like in the scene you just saw. that
is the nature of this kind of movie.
1421
01:29:00,835 --> 01:29:04,379
You have to condense a huge amount
of material. So this is typical.
1422
01:29:04,464 --> 01:29:07,507
It's dramatic. If you're gonna
go that way, as I said earlier,
1423
01:29:07,592 --> 01:29:11,136
you go for it. You don't wimp it out
and make it phony
1424
01:29:11,220 --> 01:29:14,348
and flat and boring.
You go for it and make it exciting
1425
01:29:14,432 --> 01:29:18,810
because people wanna see exciting
movies. Same time, you make it real.
1426
01:29:18,895 --> 01:29:22,272
the essence of those 40 meetings
have to be in that meeting.
1427
01:29:22,357 --> 01:29:25,359
that's where you have to know
your stuff, know what happened
1428
01:29:25,443 --> 01:29:27,069
to tell where it went.
1429
01:29:27,153 --> 01:29:30,197
Something always pops up.
there's always some odd little bit.
1430
01:29:30,281 --> 01:29:32,240
Why don't we wait until the second term?
1431
01:29:32,325 --> 01:29:35,535
- This will get us a second term.
- This will get me a second term.
1432
01:29:35,620 --> 01:29:39,414
Damn it, without risk, there's
no heroism, there's no history.
1433
01:29:39,499 --> 01:29:42,209
Nixon was born to do this.
Give history a nudge.
1434
01:29:42,293 --> 01:29:43,835
- Come on!
- Hear, hear.
1435
01:29:43,920 --> 01:29:48,131
If Cambodia doesn't work,
we'll bomb Hanoi ifwe have to.
1436
01:29:48,216 --> 01:29:51,718
- That's right. And if necessary...
- [Stone] Drop the big one.
1437
01:29:51,803 --> 01:29:55,514
that's a very heavy statement.
It was said by Nixon.
1438
01:29:55,598 --> 01:29:58,141
And the same thing
was said by Kissinger.
1439
01:29:58,226 --> 01:30:00,185
"We must entertain that thought."
1440
01:30:00,269 --> 01:30:05,232
the context is not here on the Sequoia,
but it was a quote I found
1441
01:30:05,316 --> 01:30:08,485
that I put in the movie
for that reason.
1442
01:30:09,362 --> 01:30:10,987
I'm sorry, sir.
1443
01:30:23,876 --> 01:30:25,544
You all right?
1444
01:30:26,671 --> 01:30:28,171
Yeah.
1445
01:30:29,549 --> 01:30:33,552
My brother, Harold,
was the same age as those kids, John.
1446
01:30:33,636 --> 01:30:38,098
- Tuberculosis got him.
- It wasn't your fault.
1447
01:30:38,182 --> 01:30:42,102
The soldiers were kids too.
Theyjust panicked.
1448
01:30:42,186 --> 01:30:43,353
Yeah.
1449
01:30:44,772 --> 01:30:48,108
They were throwing rocks,
John, just rocks.
1450
01:30:51,028 --> 01:30:53,029
They don't think I feel,
1451
01:30:53,114 --> 01:30:56,116
but I feel too much sometimes.
1452
01:30:57,118 --> 01:31:01,163
I just can't let a whole policy
be dominated by our sentimentality.
1453
01:31:01,247 --> 01:31:05,125
You're doing the right thing.
Don't let 'em shake you.
1454
01:31:07,211 --> 01:31:10,380
You know, it broke my heart
when Harold died.
1455
01:31:10,465 --> 01:31:13,258
That was a long time ago.
1456
01:31:14,552 --> 01:31:16,261
Yeah.
1457
01:31:16,345 --> 01:31:19,473
I think that's when it starts,
when you're a kid.
1458
01:31:19,557 --> 01:31:23,393
The laughs and snubs
and slights you get
1459
01:31:23,478 --> 01:31:26,813
because you're poor or Irish
1460
01:31:26,898 --> 01:31:29,900
or Jewish orjust ugly.
1461
01:31:29,984 --> 01:31:32,194
[Stone] It's great
in a scene with Mitchell
1462
01:31:32,278 --> 01:31:34,863
that Nixon is able to show
a more tender side.
1463
01:31:34,947 --> 01:31:37,866
I love the way we cut through
because men like my father
1464
01:31:37,950 --> 01:31:40,243
would do that too.
He was an intelligent man
1465
01:31:40,328 --> 01:31:43,663
and was certainly ambivalent
and understood the other feeling
1466
01:31:43,748 --> 01:31:47,709
of the kids. It wasn't that Nixon
was out of touch, necessarily,
1467
01:31:47,793 --> 01:31:50,712
with all his feelings.
He could feel and perhaps empathize.
1468
01:31:50,796 --> 01:31:55,342
But he had learned, also,
the ability to cut those feelings off,
1469
01:31:55,426 --> 01:31:56,927
to restrain them.
1470
01:31:57,011 --> 01:31:59,262
that was a very important part
of his makeup.
1471
01:32:04,936 --> 01:32:08,021
You're going back to the daytime,
this very funny limo scene
1472
01:32:08,105 --> 01:32:11,900
where very strong reminders of the
protest that continued for two years
1473
01:32:11,984 --> 01:32:15,820
- against Nixon. this thing was serious.
- [man] ...until the Vietnam War ends.
1474
01:32:15,905 --> 01:32:18,490
[Nixon] This is nothing
compared to Venezuela.
1475
01:32:18,574 --> 01:32:22,452
When I was vice president, Ike sent me
down there like a blocking tackle.
1476
01:32:22,537 --> 01:32:24,871
They threw rocks, broke out windows.
1477
01:32:24,956 --> 01:32:27,541
[Stone] When I look at this montage
aFter many years,
1478
01:32:27,625 --> 01:32:30,502
I love it. It goes back from Nixon
to the kids to the grain
1479
01:32:30,586 --> 01:32:33,713
to the different looks.
It's tied together by this music.
1480
01:32:33,798 --> 01:32:36,216
Very Kubrickian to me.
It has a symmetry,
1481
01:32:36,300 --> 01:32:38,718
which I just realized, watching it.
1482
01:32:38,803 --> 01:32:42,264
there's a lot of montage work in this
film. You saw it at the convention.
1483
01:32:42,348 --> 01:32:45,559
Now you're seeing it again.
Montage work is a way for me
1484
01:32:45,643 --> 01:32:49,854
to put more material in less time
as possible. March of Time effect
1485
01:32:49,939 --> 01:32:53,233
is a montage. there's probably more
montages in this movie
1486
01:32:53,317 --> 01:32:56,820
- than any single movie I've done.
- Reminds me of my days at Whittier.
1487
01:32:56,904 --> 01:32:59,573
- These kids are useless.
- Probably flunking.
1488
01:32:59,657 --> 01:33:02,367
Nothing to do except come here
and chase girls.
1489
01:33:03,160 --> 01:33:06,913
Their parents' fault.
They're poisoning the upper class, Bob.
1490
01:33:06,998 --> 01:33:10,083
- Too soft, too many cars, color TVs.
- [Stone] Nixon was quoted
1491
01:33:10,167 --> 01:33:12,752
as talking of the protestors
as spoiled rotten.
1492
01:33:12,837 --> 01:33:16,423
Dialogue you'll see in the limousine
was based on observations he made.
1493
01:33:16,507 --> 01:33:20,385
Maybe not in that setting, but made
about protestors at this time.
1494
01:33:20,469 --> 01:33:23,305
I put the limousine scene back in
to texture it,
1495
01:33:23,389 --> 01:33:26,683
but I believe there was a time
when protestors got close to his car.
1496
01:33:26,767 --> 01:33:30,520
there was a Nixon mask thrown up in
front of him, which I thought was funny.
1497
01:33:32,565 --> 01:33:35,609
- Mr. President.
- [Stone] He meets General Cushman,
1498
01:33:35,693 --> 01:33:37,652
an important figure in Nixon's life.
1499
01:33:37,737 --> 01:33:41,031
Soon as we learned from the Secret
Service that you were en route,
1500
01:33:41,115 --> 01:33:43,533
the director was notified.
He should be here.
1501
01:33:43,618 --> 01:33:47,912
- So where the hell is he?
- Rushing back from his tennis game.
1502
01:33:49,040 --> 01:33:50,874
- So let's go.
- Told me to take you
1503
01:33:50,958 --> 01:33:53,168
- to his conference room.
- No, his office.
1504
01:33:53,252 --> 01:33:56,546
I want a private conversation with him.
I don't wanna be bugged.
1505
01:33:56,631 --> 01:33:58,423
- Then his office will be fine.
- OK.
1506
01:33:59,216 --> 01:34:01,718
[Stone] Walking down the corridor.
We pre-cut to flowers
1507
01:34:01,802 --> 01:34:06,014
being sprayed. It's an interesting
forewarning of what's going to happen
1508
01:34:06,098 --> 01:34:08,475
in this scene. A bit of tension.
1509
01:34:10,561 --> 01:34:14,230
- How's the job going, Bob?
- Frankly, it stinks, sir.
1510
01:34:14,315 --> 01:34:16,608
I have no access.
1511
01:34:16,692 --> 01:34:19,861
[Stone] Helms thought that Nixon
was horning in on his territory,
1512
01:34:19,945 --> 01:34:23,406
that Nixon was gonna be very dangerous
to the CIA. It does lead to
1513
01:34:23,491 --> 01:34:27,369
the corroborating theory that the CIA
had a lot to do with removing Nixon
1514
01:34:27,453 --> 01:34:30,664
- from office.
- He's the epitome of sang-froid.
1515
01:34:30,748 --> 01:34:32,666
A world-class poker player.
1516
01:34:32,750 --> 01:34:35,460
Yeah? Well, I own the fucking casino.
1517
01:34:35,544 --> 01:34:40,090
[Stone] My favorite line is Nixon's
gruff "I own the fucking casino."
1518
01:34:42,218 --> 01:34:46,388
I'm honored, Dick,
that you've come all the way out here
1519
01:34:46,472 --> 01:34:49,099
to Virginia to visit us at last.
1520
01:34:51,394 --> 01:34:54,187
- My friends call me Mr. President.
- Then so shall I.
1521
01:34:54,271 --> 01:34:57,732
[Stone] Sam Waterston, who plays
Helms, head of CIA at that time,
1522
01:34:57,817 --> 01:35:01,903
appointed and fired by Nixon,
or promoted, however you choose...
1523
01:35:01,987 --> 01:35:04,489
All the action with Helms, to me,
are ambiguous.
1524
01:35:04,573 --> 01:35:07,992
It goes to the heart of Nixon.
Nixon-Helms, Nixon-Hoover,
1525
01:35:08,077 --> 01:35:11,955
Nixon-Kissinger. there's this incredible
duality in every situation.
1526
01:35:12,039 --> 01:35:14,791
It could mean one thing.
there was no scene like this
1527
01:35:14,875 --> 01:35:17,544
where Nixon, to my knowledge,
went to Helms' office,
1528
01:35:17,628 --> 01:35:21,381
which was not something normally done.
But I did it because it was important
1529
01:35:21,465 --> 01:35:25,552
that it be the flower place,
where he cultivated his flowers
1530
01:35:25,636 --> 01:35:27,971
like treacherous spiders.
1531
01:35:28,055 --> 01:35:31,558
I understand why you keep
your budgets classified.
1532
01:35:32,852 --> 01:35:35,729
I suppose you're unhappy...
1533
01:35:37,189 --> 01:35:41,651
...because I haven't implemented
your domestic intelligence plan.
1534
01:35:41,736 --> 01:35:43,319
Yeah, you're correct.
1535
01:35:44,363 --> 01:35:48,867
[Stone] Waterston's a true aristocrat,
as an actor, also as a man too.
1536
01:35:48,951 --> 01:35:52,412
And a wonderful man. Very nice man.
It broke my heart to cut this scene
1537
01:35:52,496 --> 01:35:55,999
from the movie. I put it back
in this DVD because I love it,
1538
01:35:56,083 --> 01:36:00,086
and it belongs in the movie. Judging it
like a theatrical seat in the theater
1539
01:36:00,171 --> 01:36:03,173
where you have to spend so many
minutes, you can turn off the DVD
1540
01:36:03,257 --> 01:36:06,593
and go back. It's important
because it shows obstacles surrounding
1541
01:36:06,677 --> 01:36:10,096
the man, the sense
of increasingly being crushed.
1542
01:36:10,181 --> 01:36:14,058
- ...Congressional oversight committee.
- Screw congressional oversight.
1543
01:36:14,143 --> 01:36:17,896
[Stone] When Nixon says, "Screw
congressional oversight," he means it.
1544
01:36:17,980 --> 01:36:19,439
I mean, they're jokes.
1545
01:36:19,523 --> 01:36:23,318
A lot of them are jokes.
they just are rubber-stamp committees
1546
01:36:23,402 --> 01:36:27,655
that pass these insane budgets.
Nobody knows the budget of the CIA
1547
01:36:27,740 --> 01:36:30,241
or the National Security Agency.
1548
01:36:30,326 --> 01:36:33,036
And the Pentagon's budget
swallows everything.
1549
01:36:33,120 --> 01:36:36,122
It's astounding what goes on
and I don't know,
1550
01:36:36,207 --> 01:36:39,667
the congressmen make this occasional
effort to say there are oversight
1551
01:36:39,752 --> 01:36:44,130
committees, but they don't work. As
Nixon finds out, it's out of control.
1552
01:36:44,715 --> 01:36:47,300
His relationship to Helms,
difficult to pin down.
1553
01:36:47,384 --> 01:36:51,304
Starts, for the purposes of this movie,
with the Watergate incident.
1554
01:36:51,388 --> 01:36:54,557
He tells Haldeman,
as you know earlier, to tell Helms
1555
01:36:54,642 --> 01:36:58,645
to call off the qBI, saying
it's a national domestic matter.
1556
01:36:58,729 --> 01:37:02,357
By the way, a national domestic matter
for the CIA is illegal
1557
01:37:02,441 --> 01:37:06,319
because the CIA is not really supposed
to be operating here domestically,
1558
01:37:06,403 --> 01:37:10,114
which is what Waterston raises
as a key point.
1559
01:37:10,199 --> 01:37:13,993
I'm clarifying this for the audience
because these guys probably didn't talk.
1560
01:37:14,078 --> 01:37:17,831
If so, they didn't clarify it.
I had to because I'm writing it
1561
01:37:17,915 --> 01:37:21,292
with my partners for an audience
that doesn't understand this lingo.
1562
01:37:21,377 --> 01:37:23,795
So it's a hard mix between the two.
1563
01:37:24,421 --> 01:37:27,090
[gunfire]
1564
01:37:27,174 --> 01:37:30,343
[Stone] this scene was,
for the record, the hardest to write.
1565
01:37:30,427 --> 01:37:33,596
We labored and labored over it.
I'm very pleased with the amount
1566
01:37:33,681 --> 01:37:37,100
of information. When you really know
what we had to deal with
1567
01:37:37,184 --> 01:37:40,186
and the tons of research
and all these relationships
1568
01:37:40,271 --> 01:37:42,939
were very thick and deep,
Cushman, Helms, Nixon,
1569
01:37:43,023 --> 01:37:45,775
you're not gonna be able to capture it
in a quick movie.
1570
01:37:47,152 --> 01:37:50,572
It's a shame you didn't
take similar precautions, Dick.
1571
01:37:50,656 --> 01:37:54,033
[Stone] Cat and mouse, corkscrews.
they walk around and around
1572
01:37:54,118 --> 01:37:57,912
each other, as you can see.
Nixon tries to stand firm and fades.
1573
01:37:57,997 --> 01:38:01,374
I like the way Waterston fights
in this scene, in the staging.
1574
01:38:01,458 --> 01:38:03,793
He comes at him
and keeps him off-balance.
1575
01:38:03,878 --> 01:38:06,629
Nixon keeps him off-balance too.
1576
01:38:06,714 --> 01:38:09,382
the dialogue is corkscrewing
to another subject.
1577
01:38:09,466 --> 01:38:14,053
qinally, Russia, China.
It's revealed that Waterston
1578
01:38:14,138 --> 01:38:17,056
knows that Kissinger and Nixon
are working a China deal
1579
01:38:17,141 --> 01:38:20,226
because when they did it
Nixon and Kissinger were so paranoid
1580
01:38:20,311 --> 01:38:24,063
they didn't want anybody in the State
Department or anywhere to know.
1581
01:38:24,148 --> 01:38:27,066
they kept the lowest level
contacts they could.
1582
01:38:27,151 --> 01:38:30,987
And Kissinger did it privately
wherever he was traveling.
1583
01:38:31,071 --> 01:38:33,489
So it was a very secret negotiation
1584
01:38:33,574 --> 01:38:37,660
being carried on by Nixon and Kissinger.
Nixon wanted to make the bold move,
1585
01:38:37,745 --> 01:38:43,583
to spring it on the world.
But I'm predicating Helms did know
1586
01:38:43,667 --> 01:38:45,293
and were against it.
1587
01:38:45,377 --> 01:38:49,297
Helms was a firm anti-communist,
old-school, a true believer
1588
01:38:49,381 --> 01:38:52,884
and very patrician man. What he knows
about the Kennedy murder,
1589
01:38:52,968 --> 01:38:54,677
about the history of this country,
1590
01:38:54,762 --> 01:38:58,056
he is the true keeper of the secrets.
If there were one man,
1591
01:38:58,140 --> 01:39:02,060
a political philosopher,
I would love to interview in depth,
1592
01:39:02,144 --> 01:39:05,855
and I could have torture techniques
standing by so he would talk
1593
01:39:05,940 --> 01:39:08,232
and tell the truth,
it would be Richard Helms,
1594
01:39:08,317 --> 01:39:09,984
who is still alive.
1595
01:39:10,069 --> 01:39:15,198
And I want you to know that
I serve only one president at a time.
1596
01:39:15,282 --> 01:39:20,370
Yes. And you'll
give General Cushman full access.
1597
01:39:20,454 --> 01:39:25,208
[Stone] General Robert Cushman is a
key shadow player in this whole affair.
1598
01:39:25,292 --> 01:39:28,544
Cushman was very tight
with Nixon back in the '50s,
1599
01:39:28,629 --> 01:39:31,714
one of his military liaisons
in the vice presidents office
1600
01:39:31,799 --> 01:39:34,300
to the CIA and various places.
1601
01:39:34,385 --> 01:39:38,304
And would've known about the gamblers,
about Maheu,
1602
01:39:38,389 --> 01:39:44,268
about the Mafia contracts
we took out to kill Castro.
1603
01:39:44,353 --> 01:39:48,648
Nixon did too. Cushman
was his military cum fixer, enforcer.
1604
01:39:48,732 --> 01:39:50,817
He was his guy.
1605
01:39:50,901 --> 01:39:54,946
What's interesting is, aFter Kennedy
is killed, Cushman shows up again
1606
01:39:55,030 --> 01:39:57,991
in LBJ's White House
as one of his guys,
1607
01:39:58,075 --> 01:39:59,909
doing the liaison with the war.
1608
01:39:59,994 --> 01:40:04,914
then he shows up again with Nixon.
AFter Johnson gets kicked out,
1609
01:40:04,999 --> 01:40:07,250
Nixon comes in and uses the same guy!
1610
01:40:07,334 --> 01:40:10,253
So who is Robert Cushman?
that's another guy, aFter Helms,
1611
01:40:10,337 --> 01:40:14,215
I'd like to put
in a sodium pentothal mode, hypnosis,
1612
01:40:14,299 --> 01:40:18,469
and maybe I'd have to do
a major groin torture.
1613
01:40:18,554 --> 01:40:20,304
But it would take it. He deserves it.
1614
01:40:20,389 --> 01:40:24,308
the guy knows too much,
and he really fucked overAmerica.
1615
01:40:24,393 --> 01:40:27,603
And he calls himself a patriot.
this guy's a scoundrel.
1616
01:40:27,688 --> 01:40:31,733
Cushman was a longtime Nixon crony,
military advisor,
1617
01:40:31,817 --> 01:40:35,987
and Nixon paid him off by appointing
him what? Deputy chief of the CIA.
1618
01:40:36,071 --> 01:40:39,991
that's the number-two spot.
CIA deputy director.
1619
01:40:40,075 --> 01:40:42,035
It's one of the top spots.
1620
01:40:42,119 --> 01:40:45,747
What happened was Helms completely
stonewalled Cushman
1621
01:40:45,831 --> 01:40:47,331
for a long period of time.
1622
01:40:47,416 --> 01:40:53,379
And Haldeman's trying to get the papers
and the Bay of Pigs out from Helms.
1623
01:40:53,464 --> 01:40:58,051
Nothing's coming. Helms is not doing
anything. He's not cooperating.
1624
01:40:58,135 --> 01:41:02,013
Helms is sitting doing nothing. that's
always the best reaction when you don't
1625
01:41:02,097 --> 01:41:04,557
know what to do, do nothing.
I try that myself.
1626
01:41:04,641 --> 01:41:07,852
When in doubt, hesitate.
I tried to build a scene around the idea
1627
01:41:07,936 --> 01:41:10,855
that Nixon is hungry and going over
there to get something.
1628
01:41:10,939 --> 01:41:13,816
Cushman is one of the guys
who will tell you Howard Hunt
1629
01:41:13,901 --> 01:41:18,321
was involved in the Cuba operation
and later in the Bay of Pigs.
1630
01:41:18,405 --> 01:41:21,324
Knows about people like Maheu
who worked for Howard Hughes.
1631
01:41:21,408 --> 01:41:25,453
Cushman knows a lot. But there's
definitely the concept that
1632
01:41:25,537 --> 01:41:28,915
Bay of Pigs is a Cushman thing
because Nixon can never deny
1633
01:41:28,999 --> 01:41:31,959
not knowing about Cuba
when Cushman is his military advisor
1634
01:41:32,044 --> 01:41:33,586
and knows everything.
1635
01:41:33,670 --> 01:41:38,049
When Nixon wins the presidency in '68,
he goes back to work on Cuba.
1636
01:41:38,133 --> 01:41:42,804
People forget, renewed attempts
to destabilize the island occur.
1637
01:41:42,888 --> 01:41:45,598
In 1970, in that area,
1638
01:41:45,682 --> 01:41:50,019
the Americans inject swine flu
biological warfare into Cuba,
1639
01:41:50,104 --> 01:41:53,439
into the pigs. We killed the entire
population of pigs in Cuba,
1640
01:41:53,524 --> 01:41:55,399
which is a very big industry.
1641
01:41:55,484 --> 01:41:59,278
Who knows what else? Swine flu, for all
I know, could've become AIDS in Africa.
1642
01:41:59,363 --> 01:42:02,782
Play with biological warfare,
you're unloosing a Pandora's box
1643
01:42:02,866 --> 01:42:07,036
on the world. We did it in Cuba, and
we're still paying for it in some way.
1644
01:42:07,121 --> 01:42:09,705
that's what my karma says.
I could be dead wrong.
1645
01:42:09,790 --> 01:42:11,541
I think it was a huge mistake.
1646
01:42:11,625 --> 01:42:14,794
Here's Nixon trying
to kill Castro again.
1647
01:42:14,878 --> 01:42:20,341
And not getting his rocks off on Castro
in 1972 and 3, he goes aFter Chile.
1648
01:42:20,425 --> 01:42:23,511
this is a really bald attempt by Nixon.
1649
01:42:23,595 --> 01:42:26,931
He's acting like a buccaneer
from the '50s again.
1650
01:42:27,015 --> 01:42:32,270
In the '70s, in Vietnam,
he's ignoring the truth of what he said
1651
01:42:32,354 --> 01:42:35,731
and going for more war,
destabilizing Cambodia,
1652
01:42:35,816 --> 01:42:40,653
bring a genocide. then on top of it,
he's going aFterAllende in Chile.
1653
01:42:40,737 --> 01:42:44,782
And the CIA's very involved
with the murder of Rene Schneider,
1654
01:42:44,867 --> 01:42:47,201
the chief of staff of Chilean military,
1655
01:42:47,286 --> 01:42:51,080
who was very much against
the concept of the military coup.
1656
01:42:51,165 --> 01:42:53,416
He was a democrat.
And Allende was elected.
1657
01:42:53,500 --> 01:42:57,461
that is what happened. they killed the
general, replaced him with a Pinochet,
1658
01:42:57,546 --> 01:43:02,550
one of his type, and the junta
went in and killed Allende.
1659
01:43:02,634 --> 01:43:05,344
they said he suicided
himself with a machine gun,
1660
01:43:05,429 --> 01:43:09,140
which I loved. [laughs]
1661
01:43:09,224 --> 01:43:13,519
they disappeared several Americans
and who knows how many Chileans.
1662
01:43:13,604 --> 01:43:16,856
the Chileans went through horror,
as did Argentina, as did Brazil
1663
01:43:16,940 --> 01:43:19,025
prior to that, as did Guatemala,
1664
01:43:19,109 --> 01:43:21,611
as did Salvador in the '80s.
1665
01:43:21,695 --> 01:43:26,991
the record of torture in the
South Americas and Central Americas
1666
01:43:27,075 --> 01:43:29,327
is depressing. tyruly depressing.
1667
01:43:29,411 --> 01:43:33,372
Particularly when you understand
the degree of cooperation between
1668
01:43:33,457 --> 01:43:38,544
American military and CIA forces
with death squads and torturers.
1669
01:43:38,629 --> 01:43:42,048
It was really one
of the saddest episodes.
1670
01:43:44,343 --> 01:43:47,220
What rough beast
1671
01:43:47,304 --> 01:43:51,265
Its hour come round at last
1672
01:43:51,350 --> 01:43:56,354
Slouches toward Bethlehem
to be born?
1673
01:43:58,690 --> 01:44:00,233
Yes.
1674
01:44:01,485 --> 01:44:05,112
This country stands at such a juncture.
1675
01:44:10,577 --> 01:44:12,161
Manolo?
1676
01:44:16,166 --> 01:44:17,583
Mano?
1677
01:44:17,668 --> 01:44:20,378
- [Manolo] Mr. President.
- Yeah.
1678
01:44:20,462 --> 01:44:22,380
I'm sorry.
1679
01:44:22,464 --> 01:44:25,466
[Stone] I'm trying to follow
the emotional levels of Nixon.
1680
01:44:25,550 --> 01:44:29,303
Here's Nixon coming out of the CIA
meeting. Kids are ringing the gates.
1681
01:44:29,388 --> 01:44:32,265
If anything,
he's aware of his limited power now.
1682
01:44:32,349 --> 01:44:34,684
It's gonna build through
the Manolo scene,
1683
01:44:34,768 --> 01:44:39,272
where he realizes Manolo really
emotionally connects to Kennedy.
1684
01:44:39,356 --> 01:44:42,441
But Richard Nixon can never
emotionally connect to a Manolo.
1685
01:44:42,526 --> 01:44:46,862
Or to, for that matter, the students
he's going to visit now.
1686
01:44:46,947 --> 01:44:50,157
this is very important, that he's
looking for that Kennedy thing,
1687
01:44:50,242 --> 01:44:52,118
that magnetism, leadership quality
1688
01:44:52,202 --> 01:44:56,455
that De Gaulle and his heroes,
Churchill especially, had.
1689
01:44:56,540 --> 01:45:00,960
We let you down, didn't we?
Your people.
1690
01:45:01,044 --> 01:45:04,088
That was Mr. Kennedy, sir.
1691
01:45:05,549 --> 01:45:09,135
[Stone] I love this scene, particularly
the humanity of it coming off
1692
01:45:09,219 --> 01:45:12,221
that tough scene with Sam Waterston,
that cold scene,
1693
01:45:12,306 --> 01:45:15,808
which is unfortunately cut out
of the film in the original.
1694
01:45:15,892 --> 01:45:20,062
You get to an end of a film,
this huge cutting process, it's so big,
1695
01:45:20,147 --> 01:45:22,023
and you have to make decisions.
1696
01:45:22,107 --> 01:45:25,901
Sometimes the way you structured it
will push you into a corner
1697
01:45:25,986 --> 01:45:27,903
where you cut your best scene.
1698
01:45:27,988 --> 01:45:30,197
Did you cry when he died?
1699
01:45:34,453 --> 01:45:35,953
Yes, sir.
1700
01:45:37,539 --> 01:45:38,914
Why?
1701
01:45:40,334 --> 01:45:42,668
I don't know.
1702
01:45:44,004 --> 01:45:47,590
He made me...
1703
01:45:47,674 --> 01:45:50,259
...see the stars.
1704
01:45:57,142 --> 01:45:59,435
How did he do that?
1705
01:46:01,772 --> 01:46:03,481
Those kids.
1706
01:46:05,484 --> 01:46:09,028
Why do they hate me so much?
1707
01:46:10,238 --> 01:46:13,908
[Stone] At the time, we did some very
interesting time-lapse photography.
1708
01:46:13,992 --> 01:46:16,744
We'd been doing it for a while.
We started in The Doors.
1709
01:46:16,828 --> 01:46:19,288
de did itin Natural Born Killers
and we did it here.
1710
01:46:19,373 --> 01:46:22,833
It shows you Washington
in a subjective way.
1711
01:46:22,918 --> 01:46:25,961
It's changing. Everything is going fast.
1712
01:46:40,185 --> 01:46:44,480
A beautiful shot of Tony at the actual
memorial in Washington, D.C.
1713
01:46:49,319 --> 01:46:51,821
this is a set we built in L.A.
1714
01:46:51,905 --> 01:46:55,950
Amazing set. Almost the same size
as the real Lincoln.
1715
01:46:56,034 --> 01:46:59,245
We put back there the matte
of the Washington Memorial.
1716
01:47:08,672 --> 01:47:12,341
Here, we have another matte
of the Vietnam War, which,
1717
01:47:12,426 --> 01:47:15,052
when I saw it five years later,
really struck me,
1718
01:47:15,137 --> 01:47:19,265
out of the blue. I forgot
a lot about these cuts I'd been doing.
1719
01:47:23,061 --> 01:47:26,188
I love this shot, the relationship
of Nixon to Lincoln.
1720
01:47:26,273 --> 01:47:29,191
The Battle Hymn of the Republic,
one of my favorites.
1721
01:47:29,276 --> 01:47:31,235
Whenever I hear that, I'm a sap.
1722
01:47:32,529 --> 01:47:35,614
[students murmuring]
1723
01:47:39,202 --> 01:47:42,288
Kids were hanging out at the
Lincoln Memorial, inside and out.
1724
01:47:42,372 --> 01:47:45,708
All overWashington. they were sleeping
inside in the corners.
1725
01:47:47,461 --> 01:47:50,463
Hi, I'm Dick Nixon.
1726
01:47:50,547 --> 01:47:52,256
Hi, there.
1727
01:47:54,009 --> 01:47:55,968
- Where you from?
- Syracuse.
1728
01:47:56,052 --> 01:47:59,430
Oh, yeah, the, uh, Orangemen.
1729
01:47:59,514 --> 01:48:02,099
Now, there's a football program.
1730
01:48:02,184 --> 01:48:06,395
Jim Brown and that other tailback...
1731
01:48:06,480 --> 01:48:10,983
[Stone] I got to work with Jim Brown
aFter this in Any Given Sunday.
1732
01:48:11,067 --> 01:48:13,861
A lot of my characters bounce
from real life into my life.
1733
01:48:13,945 --> 01:48:18,991
Even had Richard Nixon once on TV.
He referred to me as a liar. [laughs]
1734
01:48:19,075 --> 01:48:22,495
He was on with Larry King or David qrost
1735
01:48:22,579 --> 01:48:26,582
and he's saying, "that producer, Oliver
Stone, he's making up that stuff..."
1736
01:48:26,666 --> 01:48:29,835
I'd gone to his buttons.
I pushed his button about Vietnam.
1737
01:48:29,920 --> 01:48:32,588
About Kennedy and Vietnam.
that was the one thing
1738
01:48:32,672 --> 01:48:36,800
that drove him nuts. He always wanted
to prove Kennedy brought us to Vietnam
1739
01:48:36,885 --> 01:48:39,303
to destroy his reputation.
He couldn't prove it.
1740
01:48:39,387 --> 01:48:42,681
As you know, from our other commentary
on JFK he can't.
1741
01:48:42,766 --> 01:48:46,894
It just isn't true. But here I am
saying that JqK wanted to get us
1742
01:48:46,978 --> 01:48:49,688
out of Vietnam,
and he went nuts on David qrost
1743
01:48:49,773 --> 01:48:52,858
and called me a complete Hollywood
nincompoop and liar.
1744
01:48:52,943 --> 01:48:55,444
It was funny to be insulted
by Richard Nixon.
1745
01:48:55,529 --> 01:48:58,447
In a way,
I did make a belated enemies list.
1746
01:48:58,615 --> 01:49:01,367
Tell that to the GIs who are
gonna die tomorrow in Vietnam.
1747
01:49:01,451 --> 01:49:05,037
- What lets you kill women and children?
- What you have to understand
1748
01:49:05,121 --> 01:49:08,040
is we're willing to die
for what we believe in.
1749
01:49:08,124 --> 01:49:10,125
- That's the truth.
- Yeah.
1750
01:49:10,210 --> 01:49:11,627
Yeah.
1751
01:49:14,381 --> 01:49:17,550
[Stone] this is the real Nixon,
the log cabin Nixon in California.
1752
01:49:17,634 --> 01:49:21,971
Lincoln was a very important Republican,
the first Republican.
1753
01:49:22,055 --> 01:49:26,392
- [man] This is all bullshit.
- Sometimes I go to the Lincoln Room
1754
01:49:26,476 --> 01:49:30,729
at the White House and just pray.
But, you know, liberals...
1755
01:49:30,814 --> 01:49:34,233
[Stone] this is an interesting intercut
of the man, the reflection,
1756
01:49:34,317 --> 01:49:36,735
the respect he pays.
1757
01:49:36,820 --> 01:49:41,699
My family went Republican
because Lincoln freed the slaves.
1758
01:49:41,783 --> 01:49:44,910
[Stone] Many people in America,
of course,
1759
01:49:44,995 --> 01:49:48,080
were very moved by Lincoln
and went Republican,
1760
01:49:48,164 --> 01:49:52,084
why the Republicans did so well. He was
one of the great Republican presidents.
1761
01:49:52,168 --> 01:49:55,254
They were, you know,
conservative Bible folk,
1762
01:49:55,338 --> 01:49:57,631
but they had a powerful sense
of right and wrong.
1763
01:49:57,716 --> 01:50:01,594
[Stone] that's true. Nixon's ancestors
had been involved in abolitionism.
1764
01:50:01,678 --> 01:50:02,761
...I was like you.
1765
01:50:02,846 --> 01:50:07,433
- Looking for answers. See?
- Come on.
1766
01:50:07,517 --> 01:50:09,602
[man 2] Tricky Dick himself.
1767
01:50:09,686 --> 01:50:14,481
[Stone] Which makes the descent from
his ethical roots more disappointing
1768
01:50:14,566 --> 01:50:17,526
and tragic. the beast catches up to him.
1769
01:50:17,611 --> 01:50:21,572
His entire entourage of Secret Service
1770
01:50:21,656 --> 01:50:24,575
and Woods, Haldeman, Ehrlichman
1771
01:50:24,659 --> 01:50:27,453
coming to get their master
like Dobermans
1772
01:50:27,537 --> 01:50:29,830
to pull him back into the White House.
1773
01:50:32,500 --> 01:50:35,294
Chuck Pfeiffer, my friend,
looks like a Nazi there.
1774
01:50:35,378 --> 01:50:37,463
I pulled out more than half the troops.
1775
01:50:37,547 --> 01:50:41,091
I'm trying to cut the military budget
for the first time in 30 years.
1776
01:50:41,176 --> 01:50:43,135
I want a volunteer army.
1777
01:50:43,219 --> 01:50:46,096
But it's also a question
ofAmerican credibility.
1778
01:50:46,181 --> 01:50:48,932
- Our position in the world.
- Come on, Mr. Nixon.
1779
01:50:49,017 --> 01:50:53,228
- It's a civil war between Vietnamese.
- [Stone] Woods'd like to strangle
1780
01:50:53,313 --> 01:50:55,439
the guy. [laughs]
1781
01:50:57,400 --> 01:50:59,401
So why does it go on?
1782
01:51:01,488 --> 01:51:03,656
[Stone] Another intercut.
1783
01:51:04,908 --> 01:51:09,453
And there's great mystery
for me in the silence.
1784
01:51:09,537 --> 01:51:10,996
Hear the radio.
1785
01:51:12,248 --> 01:51:14,500
You can't stop it, can you?
1786
01:51:15,460 --> 01:51:17,127
Even if you wanted to.
1787
01:51:18,713 --> 01:51:20,964
[Stone] Can't stop fate.
1788
01:51:21,049 --> 01:51:23,342
The system won't let you stop it.
1789
01:51:23,426 --> 01:51:28,764
[Stone] It's almost the powerlessness
he felt when his younger brothers died.
1790
01:51:28,848 --> 01:51:31,642
that same powerlessness
is now invading him.
1791
01:51:31,726 --> 01:51:36,689
that's something that's very difficult
for him as a survivor of those deaths.
1792
01:51:36,773 --> 01:51:37,981
You're powerless!
1793
01:51:38,066 --> 01:51:41,652
[Stone] To be a victim, you see,
you have to overcome being the victim.
1794
01:51:41,736 --> 01:51:45,781
that was a crisis. Victim, overcome,
1795
01:51:45,865 --> 01:51:48,617
and become a victimizer
until you become a victim again.
1796
01:51:48,702 --> 01:51:52,287
Victim, victimizer.
Victim, victimizer.
1797
01:51:52,372 --> 01:51:55,040
Sounds like you're talking
about a wild animal.
1798
01:51:58,378 --> 01:52:00,504
Yeah, maybe I am.
1799
01:52:00,588 --> 01:52:03,173
We really must go,
Mr. President. Please.
1800
01:52:03,258 --> 01:52:07,302
- [woman] Hey, what about the war, man?
- [man] When you gonna get us out?
1801
01:52:07,387 --> 01:52:10,389
- The old man's moving.
- Move it. Get away.
1802
01:52:10,473 --> 01:52:13,142
She got it, Bob.
Nineteen-year-old college kid.
1803
01:52:13,226 --> 01:52:15,561
[Stone] that was shot in interior set.
1804
01:52:15,645 --> 01:52:18,564
...that's taken me 25 years
in politics to understand.
1805
01:52:18,648 --> 01:52:20,733
The CIA, the Mafia...
1806
01:52:20,817 --> 01:52:24,486
[Stone] I don't know why. I think
at the time we were doing this,
1807
01:52:24,571 --> 01:52:28,699
Washington, D.C., the Memorial,
was closed for refurbishing.
1808
01:52:31,995 --> 01:52:36,165
I had shot at the Memorial prior to that
with Donald Sutherland,
1809
01:52:36,249 --> 01:52:38,584
Kevin Costner scene in JFK.
1810
01:52:40,420 --> 01:52:44,089
Here's The Battle Hymn of the Republic
montage, beautifully cut.
1811
01:52:50,513 --> 01:52:53,932
Passage of time. When you see montages
with passage of time like that,
1812
01:52:54,017 --> 01:52:56,560
they don't make those montages anymore.
1813
01:52:58,021 --> 01:52:59,480
Here he is still.
1814
01:53:00,774 --> 01:53:02,858
the unending war.
1815
01:53:04,527 --> 01:53:08,363
They've been at it for a whole year.
Young kids just like Tricia.
1816
01:53:09,115 --> 01:53:13,243
[Stone] there's the marriage, the day
of the rain. Real footage, I think.
1817
01:53:13,328 --> 01:53:18,415
- This whole damn system of government.
- Remember what Lenin said in 1917.
1818
01:53:18,500 --> 01:53:23,629
[Stone] We mixed home-movie style, 16...
No, eight-millimeter color,
1819
01:53:23,713 --> 01:53:28,801
with golf-ball grain, with some nice 35.
Here's documentary footage.
1820
01:53:28,885 --> 01:53:33,388
there, you saw one of the guards. Nixon
changed over the White House guards
1821
01:53:33,473 --> 01:53:36,642
to make them wear uniforms like...
It was ridiculous because
1822
01:53:36,726 --> 01:53:39,978
it was typical Nixon in that it
was so awkward the way he did it.
1823
01:53:40,063 --> 01:53:43,774
the uniforms were terrible.
Like tin-pot Prussian policemen
1824
01:53:43,858 --> 01:53:46,568
from the 1840s.
they didn't look like Americans at all.
1825
01:53:46,653 --> 01:53:48,821
Americans were turned off.
He gave it up.
1826
01:53:48,905 --> 01:53:50,280
Where are they now?
1827
01:53:52,367 --> 01:53:55,869
How the hell The Times got a hold of
this Ellsberg stuff is a disgrace.
1828
01:53:56,704 --> 01:54:00,165
Yeah. We can't keep a damn secret
in this government.
1829
01:54:00,250 --> 01:54:03,335
They're stealing papers
right out of this office.
1830
01:54:03,419 --> 01:54:05,546
Johnson had the same damn problem
1831
01:54:05,630 --> 01:54:08,549
- until he bugged his own office.
- We took that system out.
1832
01:54:08,633 --> 01:54:11,218
That was a mistake.
1833
01:54:11,302 --> 01:54:14,429
The White House was full
of Kennedy people then.
1834
01:54:14,514 --> 01:54:17,474
- It still is.
- Who's behind this?
1835
01:54:17,559 --> 01:54:21,895
Well, you have CIA people
all over this place.
1836
01:54:21,980 --> 01:54:26,358
Helms has seen to that.
Then there's Kissinger's staff.
1837
01:54:26,442 --> 01:54:30,529
Kissinger himself, I believe,
may be the leaker.
1838
01:54:30,613 --> 01:54:32,197
Kissinger?
1839
01:54:32,282 --> 01:54:35,033
He's obsessed with his own image.
1840
01:54:35,118 --> 01:54:38,370
He wants his Nobel Peace Prize
a little too much.
1841
01:54:38,454 --> 01:54:41,206
And as the late Dr. King proved,
1842
01:54:41,291 --> 01:54:44,585
even an ape can win a prize
with good press.
1843
01:54:44,669 --> 01:54:47,713
Jesus, I'd like to book him
into a psychiatrist's office.
1844
01:54:47,797 --> 01:54:51,550
He comes in here ranting and raving,
dumping his crap all over the place.
1845
01:54:53,428 --> 01:54:56,889
- Could you prove it, Edgar?
- Mr. President,
1846
01:54:56,973 --> 01:54:58,974
I always get my man.
1847
01:55:00,351 --> 01:55:01,894
Yeah, you do.
1848
01:55:01,978 --> 01:55:05,272
This damn tie. Could you help me?
1849
01:55:05,356 --> 01:55:06,773
Yeah.
1850
01:55:10,486 --> 01:55:13,655
- See, I'd be bugging myself.
- Look.
1851
01:55:15,325 --> 01:55:19,578
- Who'd get the tapes?
- No one. Your property.
1852
01:55:20,663 --> 01:55:22,247
And it would prove your case.
1853
01:55:22,832 --> 01:55:26,627
Why do you think Kissinger
is taping all your calls?
1854
01:55:27,795 --> 01:55:29,630
For history.
1855
01:55:30,715 --> 01:55:32,758
His word against yours.
1856
01:55:32,842 --> 01:55:36,261
And right now, he's got the records.
1857
01:55:40,516 --> 01:55:43,018
I'll get Manolo to do this.
1858
01:55:43,603 --> 01:55:45,729
Thanks.
1859
01:55:45,813 --> 01:55:47,940
You know, Churchill once said to me,
1860
01:55:48,024 --> 01:55:50,442
"If you want your own
history written properly,
1861
01:55:50,526 --> 01:55:52,527
you better write it yourself."
1862
01:55:52,612 --> 01:55:54,738
The only thing is, Edgar,
1863
01:55:54,822 --> 01:55:57,199
I don't want this to come back
and haunt me.
1864
01:55:57,283 --> 01:56:00,160
It won't, as long as I'm here.
1865
01:56:00,828 --> 01:56:02,329
Good.
1866
01:56:03,790 --> 01:56:06,208
[big band jazz playing]
1867
01:56:09,045 --> 01:56:10,629
This way.
1868
01:56:16,052 --> 01:56:17,761
What's wrong?
1869
01:56:18,763 --> 01:56:21,223
We'rejust not going
to buckle to these people.
1870
01:56:21,307 --> 01:56:23,392
[chanting] No more war!
1871
01:56:26,312 --> 01:56:28,021
[chuckles]
1872
01:56:30,233 --> 01:56:32,401
- It's beautiful.
- OK.
1873
01:56:37,240 --> 01:56:38,490
[man] Yes, thank you.
1874
01:56:43,579 --> 01:56:47,666
[Stone] And J. Edgar's checking out
the guards. He likes the uniform.
1875
01:56:48,084 --> 01:56:50,919
Princess, may I?
1876
01:56:52,255 --> 01:56:53,755
Thank you.
1877
01:57:06,519 --> 01:57:10,355
I'm very proud of you today,
Princess. Very.
1878
01:57:10,440 --> 01:57:11,773
Thank you, Daddy.
1879
01:57:16,446 --> 01:57:18,989
[applause]
1880
01:57:27,915 --> 01:57:29,291
Yeah?
1881
01:57:29,375 --> 01:57:33,378
Some secret essays on Vietnam have
been leaked to The New York Times.
1882
01:57:33,463 --> 01:57:36,381
I know, I know. Not now, Chuck.
1883
01:57:36,466 --> 01:57:39,217
[Stone] I love the scene
where he treats Kevin Dunn like,
1884
01:57:39,302 --> 01:57:42,888
"Don't wreck my wedding day."
What Dunn is coming and telling him
1885
01:57:42,972 --> 01:57:45,140
is the Pentagon Papers have hit.
1886
01:57:45,892 --> 01:57:48,226
Of course,
he's there watching everything.
1887
01:57:48,311 --> 01:57:50,353
He's a character, Hoover.
1888
01:57:54,233 --> 01:57:57,069
the Pentagon Papers is the big issue
that's coming up.
1889
01:57:57,153 --> 01:58:01,406
the same weekend his daughter got
married was the weekend, June 13th,
1890
01:58:01,491 --> 01:58:07,412
that Daniel Ellsberg apparently
leaked papers on Vietnam for decades
1891
01:58:07,497 --> 01:58:11,458
to Neil Sheehan, who later
wrote the book Bright Shining Lie.
1892
01:58:11,542 --> 01:58:15,087
Sheehan, at The Times.
they went with it. Nixon sued them,
1893
01:58:15,171 --> 01:58:19,800
but they were overruled. A significant
press first was established
1894
01:58:19,884 --> 01:58:22,010
by the publication of supposed secrets.
1895
01:58:22,095 --> 01:58:25,222
The State Department under Rogers
is leaking like a sieve.
1896
01:58:25,306 --> 01:58:28,767
And now this little,
insignificant little shit, Ellsberg,
1897
01:58:28,851 --> 01:58:31,686
publishing all the diplomatic secrets
of this country
1898
01:58:31,771 --> 01:58:34,731
is destroying our ability
to conduct foreign policy.
1899
01:58:34,816 --> 01:58:37,567
I wonder if people here wouldn't
think ten years in prison
1900
01:58:37,652 --> 01:58:40,195
was cheap if they could contribute
to ending this war.
1901
01:58:40,279 --> 01:58:44,449
[Stone] I think Nixon makes it clear
it's not the Pentagon Papers he cares...
1902
01:58:44,534 --> 01:58:46,618
He's gonna explain what he cares about.
1903
01:58:46,702 --> 01:58:49,538
Nixon, if you look at it, is not upset.
He's cool.
1904
01:58:49,622 --> 01:58:51,873
It's Kissinger who's upset.
1905
01:58:51,958 --> 01:58:55,377
Kissinger is upset
because he looks bad,
1906
01:58:55,461 --> 01:58:59,422
and everyone in the room knows Kissinger
cares a lot about his public image.
1907
01:58:59,507 --> 01:59:03,051
Ironically, because of the new cut,
you will know in this scene,
1908
01:59:03,136 --> 01:59:06,805
that Nixon now knows, through Hoover,
that Kissinger
1909
01:59:06,889 --> 01:59:10,142
is tapping him, spying on Nixon.
1910
01:59:10,226 --> 01:59:12,060
Which is amazing.
1911
01:59:12,145 --> 01:59:15,355
But there's another surprise
coming later on Kissinger,
1912
01:59:15,439 --> 01:59:18,775
which will be the one-two punch
that knocks Nixon out on Kissinger.
1913
01:59:18,860 --> 01:59:20,652
Kissinger turns on him, in a sense.
1914
01:59:20,736 --> 01:59:23,321
- He's photogenic. Try new biscuits.
- Fuck it.
1915
01:59:23,406 --> 01:59:25,949
He doesn't like me, John.
It's your fault, Henry.
1916
01:59:26,033 --> 01:59:27,909
- I beg your pardon?
- [Stone] Great scene.
1917
01:59:27,994 --> 01:59:31,538
I love the black and white and the
grain. We decided to go bold with this.
1918
01:59:31,622 --> 01:59:35,208
It's a very interestingly cut scene.
It goes from different styles
1919
01:59:35,293 --> 01:59:38,003
and doesn't seem to conflict.
It feels right.
1920
01:59:38,087 --> 01:59:42,382
I love the change from grain
within a shot.
1921
01:59:42,466 --> 01:59:45,343
It doesn't bother me.
To me, it's fractured.
1922
01:59:45,428 --> 01:59:47,679
All conversations
like this are fractured.
1923
01:59:47,763 --> 01:59:51,099
Yeah, but it's not, bottom line,
gonna change a goddamn thing, John.
1924
01:59:51,184 --> 01:59:54,895
The... question is how do we
screw Ellsberg so bad,
1925
01:59:54,979 --> 01:59:57,063
it puts the fear of God
into all leakers?
1926
01:59:57,148 --> 02:00:00,609
[Stone] People talk from a time
and place. Say something in a meeting,
1927
02:00:00,693 --> 02:00:04,279
you're representing yourself in 1962.
that's when you had the thought.
1928
02:00:04,363 --> 02:00:06,323
But it's really 1971.
1929
02:00:06,407 --> 02:00:09,284
Some people in the present,
some in the past, some future.
1930
02:00:09,368 --> 02:00:12,746
We're all kind of from different places,
coming at this thing.
1931
02:00:12,955 --> 02:00:15,457
The CIA and the FBI
aren't doing thejob.
1932
02:00:15,541 --> 02:00:20,045
Now, we can create our own intelligence
unit right here inside the White House.
1933
02:00:20,129 --> 02:00:24,132
[Stone] Kevin Dunn plays Charles Colson,
one of the toughest guys on staff,
1934
02:00:24,217 --> 02:00:26,760
and went to jail,
became a born-again Christian.
1935
02:00:26,844 --> 02:00:29,471
Blasted the film when it came out
in The New York Times.
1936
02:00:29,555 --> 02:00:32,390
Don't know why they gave space
and wouldn't give me space.
1937
02:00:32,475 --> 02:00:34,726
He was an ex-convict, I wasn't.
1938
02:00:34,810 --> 02:00:37,145
I like it. I like the idea.
1939
02:00:38,147 --> 02:00:41,441
Yeah, but is it legal?
Has it ever been done before?
1940
02:00:42,443 --> 02:00:44,152
Oh, sure.
1941
02:00:44,237 --> 02:00:47,781
Lyndon, JFK, FDR.
1942
02:00:49,033 --> 02:00:53,495
I mean, Truman cut the shit out of my
investigation of the Hiss case in '48.
1943
02:00:53,579 --> 02:00:56,414
- What he did was illegal.
- With this kind of thing,
1944
02:00:56,499 --> 02:01:00,293
you got to be brutal. A leak happens,
the whole damn place should be fired.
1945
02:01:00,378 --> 02:01:04,756
Really, I mean, you do it
like the Germans in World War II.
1946
02:01:04,840 --> 02:01:08,176
[Stone] this is actual dialogue
from Nixon in a speech to his aides.
1947
02:01:08,261 --> 02:01:11,680
I cut to Kissinger
'cause he was Jewish and German.
1948
02:01:11,764 --> 02:01:15,517
He was talking
about the German ways of extinction.
1949
02:01:15,601 --> 02:01:18,186
Talking about a means to an end,
which is what he did.
1950
02:01:18,271 --> 02:01:20,146
Took any means to the end.
1951
02:01:20,231 --> 02:01:24,943
- We're not Germans.
- Yeah. Ellsberg's not the issue.
1952
02:01:25,027 --> 02:01:28,280
The Pentagon Papers aren't the issue.
1953
02:01:28,364 --> 02:01:31,324
It's the lie.
1954
02:01:31,409 --> 02:01:34,619
- Mr. Hiss is lying.
- Yeah.
1955
02:01:35,746 --> 02:01:37,539
Remember, John, back in '48?
1956
02:01:37,623 --> 02:01:40,458
Nobody believed Alger Hiss
was a communist except me.
1957
02:01:40,543 --> 02:01:43,712
[Stone] Not true. He got his
information from the CIA and qBI.
1958
02:01:43,796 --> 02:01:46,548
He was their kind:
Ivy League establishment.
1959
02:01:46,632 --> 02:01:50,385
- I am not, and never have been...
- Mr. Hiss is lying.
1960
02:01:50,469 --> 02:01:53,638
- Mr. Hiss?
- I was dirt to them, nothing.
1961
02:01:53,723 --> 02:01:57,559
- And Dick kicked the shit out of 'em.
- I wouldn't have if Hiss hadn't lied
1962
02:01:57,643 --> 02:01:58,852
about knowing Chambers.
1963
02:01:58,936 --> 02:02:01,604
[Stone] the way Nixon got famous,
taking Hiss apart
1964
02:02:01,689 --> 02:02:03,732
with planted information.
1965
02:02:03,816 --> 02:02:06,985
The key thing we proved
was that Hiss was a liar.
1966
02:02:07,069 --> 02:02:09,821
Then people bought that he was a spy.
1967
02:02:09,905 --> 02:02:11,698
It's the lie that gets you.
1968
02:02:13,242 --> 02:02:15,827
All right, Henry,
we're gonna go your way.
1969
02:02:15,911 --> 02:02:18,163
Crush this Ellsberg
same way we did Hiss.
1970
02:02:18,247 --> 02:02:20,081
There is no other choice,
Mr. President.
1971
02:02:20,166 --> 02:02:23,710
We'll hit him so hard, he'll look
like everything that's sick and evil
1972
02:02:23,794 --> 02:02:26,713
about the eastern establishment.
You and your plumbers,
1973
02:02:26,797 --> 02:02:28,381
you get all the dirt
on this guy.
1974
02:02:28,466 --> 02:02:31,176
See him going to the bathroom
in front of the public.
1975
02:02:31,260 --> 02:02:33,762
And when we finish with him,
they'll crucify him.
1976
02:02:33,846 --> 02:02:36,639
Then we'll get our second term.
1977
02:02:36,724 --> 02:02:40,685
[Stone] Seems Nixon is more concerned
with the second term here.
1978
02:02:40,770 --> 02:02:43,938
- [rooster crows]
- [mambo music playing]
1979
02:02:44,023 --> 02:02:45,940
[yelling in Spanish]
1980
02:02:51,197 --> 02:02:53,281
The claws are out, Frank.
1981
02:02:54,825 --> 02:02:57,702
- You seen the guys?
- They're around.
1982
02:02:57,787 --> 02:02:59,788
Why? You got a customer?
1983
02:03:02,249 --> 02:03:05,960
- The White House.
- You're fuckin' me.
1984
02:03:06,045 --> 02:03:09,255
We're gonna be plumbers, Frank.
We're gonna plug leaks.
1985
02:03:10,257 --> 02:03:13,426
- Who are we workin' for?
- A guy named Gordon Liddy.
1986
02:03:13,511 --> 02:03:16,721
He thinks he's Martin Bormann.
He wants to meet you.
1987
02:03:18,474 --> 02:03:21,726
[Stone] I think the real characters,
qrank Sturgis, Howard Hunt
1988
02:03:21,811 --> 02:03:26,648
and Gordon Liddy here should
be very flattered to be played
1989
02:03:26,732 --> 02:03:31,403
by three so attractive actors. they were
not as attractive in real life.
1990
02:03:31,487 --> 02:03:35,824
Robert Beltran, on the leFt, is Sturgis
and John Diehl, who I love,
1991
02:03:35,908 --> 02:03:40,245
from many movies looks mad. He has that
mad quality Liddy had in his eyes.
1992
02:03:40,329 --> 02:03:43,248
Hunt was a more
difficult character to create
1993
02:03:43,332 --> 02:03:47,001
'cause he looks more like Doonesbury
character. He's a bit weaker-chinned
1994
02:03:47,086 --> 02:03:50,088
than Ed Harris.
Ed Harris is a strong-looking man.
1995
02:03:51,173 --> 02:03:56,136
Bob, tell Trini I'll be
in Key Biscayne at 4:00.
1996
02:03:56,220 --> 02:03:58,680
- With Pat?
- No, alone.
1997
02:03:58,764 --> 02:04:00,432
Pat's staying here with Mrs. Eisenhower.
1998
02:04:00,516 --> 02:04:03,768
[Stone] Nixon and Pat at this time
had separate bedrooms.
1999
02:04:03,853 --> 02:04:07,313
this is really a sad scene for me.
It's about Pat realizing
2000
02:04:07,398 --> 02:04:10,316
- how leFt out she is of his life.
- I missed you.
2001
02:04:11,944 --> 02:04:14,612
[Stone] this is one of
my favorite lines in the movie.
2002
02:04:14,697 --> 02:04:18,950
- Because I have to relax.
- [Stone] "I have to relax." [laughs]
2003
02:04:19,034 --> 02:04:21,953
He has to relax.
He can't be with his wife.
2004
02:04:22,037 --> 02:04:25,248
they've reached this calcification
where he says that. I love it.
2005
02:04:25,332 --> 02:04:27,750
there's an honesty between them.
2006
02:04:30,171 --> 02:04:34,257
Joan got an Academy-Award nomination
for Pat. It looks like her,
2007
02:04:34,341 --> 02:04:36,718
and she's such a great actress.
2008
02:04:36,802 --> 02:04:38,720
Very, very dignified.
2009
02:04:40,556 --> 02:04:42,557
It was a long time ago.
2010
02:04:44,894 --> 02:04:47,812
[Stone] I think she
was an equal match for Tony.
2011
02:04:47,897 --> 02:04:51,274
She had a great theater background.
She could handle her own with him
2012
02:04:51,358 --> 02:04:53,610
without being intimidated.
2013
02:04:53,694 --> 02:04:55,904
they were good equals.
2014
02:04:57,031 --> 02:04:59,115
I don't need that.
2015
02:04:59,200 --> 02:05:02,952
[Stone] God, she looks
like Pat Nixon... at times.
2016
02:05:04,955 --> 02:05:07,290
I'm not Jack Kennedy.
2017
02:05:10,961 --> 02:05:13,838
No, you're not.
2018
02:05:13,923 --> 02:05:18,927
So stop comparing yourself to him.
You have no reason to.
2019
02:05:19,929 --> 02:05:22,680
[Stone] Scene goes from Nixon
triumphant on the phone
2020
02:05:22,765 --> 02:05:24,641
to being in retreat.
2021
02:05:24,725 --> 02:05:28,019
Watch the staging around the room.
It's sort of bizarre staging.
2022
02:05:28,103 --> 02:05:31,898
I tried to encourage them
to do the opposite of what we thought
2023
02:05:31,982 --> 02:05:34,359
to keep the scene moving.
2024
02:05:34,443 --> 02:05:38,279
In flight. He's in flight from her.
Almost like being cornered all the time.
2025
02:05:40,741 --> 02:05:42,283
You don't understand.
2026
02:05:45,454 --> 02:05:48,456
They're playing for keeps, Buddy.
2027
02:05:48,541 --> 02:05:51,918
You know, the press, the kids,
the liberals out there.
2028
02:05:52,002 --> 02:05:54,963
They're out there trying
to figure out how to tear me down.
2029
02:05:55,047 --> 02:05:58,967
- They're all your enemies?
- [Stone] they are to him,
2030
02:05:59,051 --> 02:06:04,681
aFter Helms, the kids
and the Pentagon Papers.
2031
02:06:04,765 --> 02:06:08,351
And the media, I have to say,
we all know, they kept up a steady
2032
02:06:08,435 --> 02:06:13,398
attack on Nixon's character and doubt
about it, but the reality is
2033
02:06:13,482 --> 02:06:16,901
in the years of '68,
'69 and '70, '71 even,
2034
02:06:16,986 --> 02:06:19,862
he got breaks from the press.
A lot of breaks.
2035
02:06:19,947 --> 02:06:24,284
But because of the old habit encrusted
in his head of being hated by them,
2036
02:06:24,368 --> 02:06:28,496
it was hard for him to accept that.
He saw it as a negative conspiracy.
2037
02:06:28,581 --> 02:06:31,374
You want to see that, Buddy?
It's not pretty!
2038
02:06:32,918 --> 02:06:35,545
Sometimes I think that's
what you want, Dick.
2039
02:06:36,213 --> 02:06:38,006
What the hell are you saying?
2040
02:06:39,466 --> 02:06:41,092
Are you drunk?
2041
02:06:43,429 --> 02:06:47,098
[Stone] Even his wife he feels
is not there for him. She's too soFt.
2042
02:06:47,182 --> 02:06:49,642
I gotta keep fighting, Buddy,
for the country.
2043
02:06:49,727 --> 02:06:53,104
These people running things, the elite!
2044
02:06:53,188 --> 02:06:55,690
They're just soft, chicken-shit faggots.
2045
02:06:55,774 --> 02:06:57,609
[Stone] Martha and George. [laughs]
2046
02:06:57,693 --> 02:07:00,069
They don't have
the long-term vision anymore.
2047
02:07:00,154 --> 02:07:03,990
[Stone] these are actual quotes
from Nixon.
2048
02:07:04,074 --> 02:07:07,452
Oh, God, this country's in deep,
deep, deep trouble, Buddy.
2049
02:07:07,536 --> 02:07:10,455
- [Stone] Cover their asses.
- I have to see this through, you know.
2050
02:07:10,539 --> 02:07:13,875
[Stone] "Mother would expect no less
of me." these are actual quotes.
2051
02:07:16,170 --> 02:07:18,087
I'm sorry, Buddy.
2052
02:07:20,841 --> 02:07:23,968
I just wish you knew
how much I love you, that's all.
2053
02:07:24,053 --> 02:07:29,223
It took me a long time to fall
in love with you, Dick, but I did.
2054
02:07:30,100 --> 02:07:32,810
And it doesn't make you happy.
2055
02:07:32,895 --> 02:07:35,563
- You want them to love you.
- No, I don't.
2056
02:07:35,648 --> 02:07:38,483
- I'm not Jack Kennedy.
- They never will, Dick.
2057
02:07:38,567 --> 02:07:43,321
No matter how many elections you win,
they never will.
2058
02:07:58,796 --> 02:08:01,839
[Stone] A lot of the portraits we did
are dutched or canted.
2059
02:08:01,924 --> 02:08:05,968
they're from a low angle like Eisenstein
and Russian revolutionaries did.
2060
02:08:06,053 --> 02:08:09,597
We wanted to create that sense
of power and size these people had.
2061
02:08:09,682 --> 02:08:12,517
When he walks in the room,
trick effects. Slams the door,
2062
02:08:12,601 --> 02:08:15,728
we rack the camera up
so it looks ridiculous, but it's funny.
2063
02:08:20,818 --> 02:08:24,529
Gentlemen, this is our last damn leak.
2064
02:08:24,613 --> 02:08:27,198
It's no way to run
a goddamn government.
2065
02:08:28,117 --> 02:08:32,036
We're gonna prosecute Ellsberg
and anyone else who wants to leak
2066
02:08:32,121 --> 02:08:36,708
- and that means anyone here...
- [Stone] I love that Eisenstein shot
2067
02:08:36,792 --> 02:08:40,169
- of Jimmy Woods.
- Permissiveness of this year is over.
2068
02:08:40,254 --> 02:08:43,715
The belts are coming off and people
are gonna go to the woodshed.
2069
02:08:43,799 --> 02:08:48,052
'Cause the government cannot survive
with a counter-government inside it.
2070
02:08:48,137 --> 02:08:50,930
[Stone] Not one cabinet member
says a word the whole time.
2071
02:08:51,014 --> 02:08:53,266
Nixon is the king,
the mad King George.
2072
02:08:53,350 --> 02:08:56,894
He's Macbeth, Eisenstein's
creation of Ivan the Terrible.
2073
02:08:56,979 --> 02:08:58,396
Nixon the Terrible.
2074
02:09:00,149 --> 02:09:05,069
The Harvard Hebrew boys who leak.
2075
02:09:05,154 --> 02:09:09,782
I hear people say, "But Ellsberg
did it for the good of the country.
2076
02:09:09,867 --> 02:09:12,326
People's right to know."
2077
02:09:13,328 --> 02:09:17,832
Well, that's in every case.
Alger Hiss said the same thing.
2078
02:09:17,916 --> 02:09:20,418
So did the Rosenbergs.
Look what happened to them.
2079
02:09:20,502 --> 02:09:23,171
[mimics electrical crackling]
Old Sparky got 'em.
2080
02:09:23,255 --> 02:09:25,548
They always
underestimated old Nixon, see.
2081
02:09:25,632 --> 02:09:29,135
We're gonna fightjust as dirty.
This is sudden death, gentlemen.
2082
02:09:29,219 --> 02:09:31,137
We're gonna get 'em on the ground,
2083
02:09:31,221 --> 02:09:34,474
stick in our spikes and twist
and show them no mercy.
2084
02:09:34,558 --> 02:09:39,228
So, uh, starting today,
no one in this room talks to the press
2085
02:09:39,313 --> 02:09:43,107
without checking with Mr. Haldeman here.
2086
02:09:43,192 --> 02:09:45,943
[Stone] Words he said
about Haldeman. "Go to Haldeman
2087
02:09:46,028 --> 02:09:49,947
about everything." He isolated himself
more and more, angrier and angrier.
2088
02:09:50,032 --> 02:09:51,866
...and The Washington Post.
2089
02:09:51,950 --> 02:09:55,703
Um, Mr. Haldeman is the chief high
executioner from now on.
2090
02:09:57,664 --> 02:10:01,375
[Stone] He looks like the chief
executioner from that angle.
2091
02:10:03,670 --> 02:10:07,381
Anyone who screws with us,
his fucking head comes off.
2092
02:10:07,466 --> 02:10:09,717
- You got that?
- [Stone] "You got that?"
2093
02:10:12,805 --> 02:10:15,264
Well, thank you very much, gentlemen.
2094
02:10:15,349 --> 02:10:17,350
Good day to you.
2095
02:10:24,107 --> 02:10:26,317
[Nixon] History will never be the same.
2096
02:10:26,401 --> 02:10:30,404
[Stone] that was John Diehl
wearing a wig for the break-in.
2097
02:10:31,740 --> 02:10:33,616
[Nixon] We have changed the world.
2098
02:10:33,700 --> 02:10:36,869
- Five, ten.
- What else you got?
2099
02:10:46,964 --> 02:10:49,924
[Stone] this is one of
my favorite montages we did.
2100
02:10:50,008 --> 02:10:53,094
Took a while to cut. We kept going back
and forth on pacing,
2101
02:10:53,178 --> 02:10:55,805
but it's so rich and dense
in meaning to me.
2102
02:10:55,889 --> 02:10:58,975
You can't simulate Mao.
It's very hard.
2103
02:10:59,059 --> 02:11:02,353
Who knows what they actually said?
But we have a few clues.
2104
02:11:02,437 --> 02:11:05,690
Two fractured men coming together.
But they're very united.
2105
02:11:05,774 --> 02:11:09,777
Both from poor families,
both egoistic rulers
2106
02:11:09,862 --> 02:11:11,487
with strong sense of self.
2107
02:11:11,572 --> 02:11:15,533
Mao is hilarious in the scene.
I don't know that he said that,
2108
02:11:15,617 --> 02:11:19,203
but this is a key point. Do you go with
a protocol of what they might have said
2109
02:11:19,288 --> 02:11:23,833
which is boring, or was Mao,
reportedly on heavy doses of opium,
2110
02:11:23,917 --> 02:11:27,628
living quite a degenerate life at this
time, maybe he spoke bluntly.
2111
02:11:27,713 --> 02:11:31,048
Why not? Even if he didn't,
let him speak what he feels.
2112
02:11:31,133 --> 02:11:34,594
And do it in a way that was clipped
and fractured enough so it wouldn't
2113
02:11:34,678 --> 02:11:37,972
be pretentious and hang there.
that's why the cutting is what it is.
2114
02:11:38,056 --> 02:11:40,766
We get glimpses of conversation
as if it's hard to see.
2115
02:11:40,851 --> 02:11:43,686
Hard to get behind doors.
Don't wanna make it too easy.
2116
02:11:43,770 --> 02:11:46,522
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
2117
02:11:46,607 --> 02:11:48,065
[speaking in Mandarin]
2118
02:11:48,150 --> 02:11:51,569
[interpreter] That has
the added virtue of being true.
2119
02:11:51,653 --> 02:11:54,864
[Kissinger] Your writings have
changed the world, Mr. Chairman.
2120
02:11:54,948 --> 02:11:57,199
[interpreter speaking Mandarin]
2121
02:11:57,284 --> 02:11:58,492
[speaks in Mandarin]
2122
02:11:58,577 --> 02:12:01,913
[interpreter] Bullshit.
My writings mean...
2123
02:12:01,997 --> 02:12:04,582
[Stone] that's Bai Ling,
the Chinese actress there.
2124
02:12:04,666 --> 02:12:07,668
Did a nice job as the interpreter.
2125
02:12:07,753 --> 02:12:10,379
Supposed to be Zhou Enlai,
which I kind of like.
2126
02:12:11,381 --> 02:12:15,509
[speaking in Mandarin]
2127
02:12:15,594 --> 02:12:17,803
[Stone] I love this line about fat men.
2128
02:12:17,888 --> 02:12:20,640
How a fat man gets so many girls.
2129
02:12:24,478 --> 02:12:29,273
Power, Mr. Chairman,
is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
2130
02:12:30,025 --> 02:12:32,443
[Stone] And that is a Kissinger line,
2131
02:12:32,527 --> 02:12:36,572
which was not in this context.
But it was a very funny line.
2132
02:12:36,657 --> 02:12:40,826
Kissinger was one of the most attractive
men, single bachelors of that era.
2133
02:12:42,496 --> 02:12:46,332
this is a young actor playing Mao.
We found him out of Toronto.
2134
02:12:46,416 --> 02:12:49,377
It was a similarity we worked on
with prosthetics.
2135
02:12:49,461 --> 02:12:53,005
But we had to age him down. He had
to learn Mandarin, which is difficult.
2136
02:12:53,090 --> 02:12:54,966
His name was Ric Young.
2137
02:12:55,050 --> 02:13:00,221
I'm glad to see Marty Scorsese
used him years later in Kundun.
2138
02:13:01,640 --> 02:13:04,642
In my case, millions of reactionaries.
2139
02:13:04,726 --> 02:13:08,562
In your case, millions of Vietnamese.
2140
02:13:08,647 --> 02:13:11,482
Civil war is always
the cruelest kind ofwar,
2141
02:13:11,566 --> 02:13:14,318
but our two nations
were forged by revolution.
2142
02:13:14,403 --> 02:13:16,237
The United States, China.
2143
02:13:16,321 --> 02:13:19,991
[Stone] Like Mao's inside man
is laughing because he died soon aFter.
2144
02:13:20,075 --> 02:13:23,411
But he knows Nixon's dark soul,
dark heart.
2145
02:13:23,495 --> 02:13:28,249
[speaking in Mandarin]
2146
02:13:28,333 --> 02:13:32,086
History is a symptom of our disease.
2147
02:13:34,756 --> 02:13:39,176
[Stone] the music and flowering, the
Helms montage, if you think about it.
2148
02:13:39,261 --> 02:13:41,512
Except instead of flowers,
we're using bombs.
2149
02:13:41,596 --> 02:13:44,682
As if Mao was saying to Nixon,
"qace up to who you are.
2150
02:13:44,766 --> 02:13:47,685
You're nuts. You're evil.
2151
02:13:47,769 --> 02:13:49,645
You have to kill
in order to achieve."
2152
02:13:49,730 --> 02:13:53,190
[man] Newspapers are calling it
a Stone Age tactic
2153
02:13:53,275 --> 02:13:56,944
and Nixon a maddened tyrant.
Nixon's response:
2154
02:13:57,029 --> 02:14:01,907
"When the Vietnamese take the Paris
peace talks seriously, I'll stop."
2155
02:14:16,840 --> 02:14:18,841
A penny for your thoughts.
2156
02:14:21,803 --> 02:14:23,971
Just think of the...
2157
02:14:24,056 --> 02:14:25,806
Think of the life Mao's led.
2158
02:14:27,225 --> 02:14:30,603
In '52, I... I called him a monster.
2159
02:14:31,646 --> 02:14:35,441
Now he could be our most important ally.
2160
02:14:35,525 --> 02:14:37,276
Only Nixon could've done that.
2161
02:14:37,360 --> 02:14:41,155
[Stone] Nixon referred to himself
several times in the third person.
2162
02:14:42,074 --> 02:14:44,075
[Nixon] Yep.
2163
02:14:44,159 --> 02:14:47,787
[Stone] Again, the schism
between the public and the private.
2164
02:14:47,871 --> 02:14:49,914
Congratulations, Dick.
2165
02:14:49,998 --> 02:14:51,999
- Mr. Ziegler.
- Mr. President,
2166
02:14:52,084 --> 02:14:54,585
the press guys asked
if you could come back.
2167
02:14:54,669 --> 02:14:57,588
- The hell with them.
- [Stone] I love, "To hell with them."
2168
02:14:57,672 --> 02:15:02,343
A knee-jerk reaction from Nixon to the
press because he had been shaFted.
2169
02:15:02,427 --> 02:15:04,345
But he personalized it.
2170
02:15:06,848 --> 02:15:08,724
He was thin-skinned.
2171
02:15:09,351 --> 02:15:11,227
OK.
2172
02:15:11,895 --> 02:15:15,856
[Stone] He was thin-skinned
because he was bright and sensitive too.
2173
02:15:15,941 --> 02:15:17,942
People that way tend
to be thin-skinned.
2174
02:15:19,569 --> 02:15:22,530
And hurt.
2175
02:15:22,614 --> 02:15:25,074
Ron Ziegler, David Paymer.
2176
02:15:25,158 --> 02:15:29,829
Always a wonderful supporting actor,
willing to just bring an energy
2177
02:15:29,913 --> 02:15:33,958
that's correct to the role
of the supporting man.
2178
02:15:34,835 --> 02:15:37,878
I love this scene, 'cause he's shocked.
Look at Tony's eye.
2179
02:15:37,963 --> 02:15:42,591
You can see that he's just amazed.
He resorts to a characteristic...
2180
02:15:44,427 --> 02:15:48,472
...gesture that really is a hollow,
rigid gesture.
2181
02:15:48,557 --> 02:15:50,850
He can't respond emotionally
to compliments.
2182
02:15:50,934 --> 02:15:54,728
But it's a great moment. It did happen.
the press gave him that reception
2183
02:15:54,813 --> 02:15:56,939
in the plane on the way back.
2184
02:15:57,357 --> 02:16:00,609
Well, it looks to me
2185
02:16:00,694 --> 02:16:04,947
like we're gonna lose a war
for the first goddamn time.
2186
02:16:05,031 --> 02:16:08,409
- Yep.
- You're goin' right along with it,
2187
02:16:08,493 --> 02:16:11,287
buyin' into this Kissinger bullshit,
2188
02:16:11,371 --> 02:16:15,708
this... detente with Communists.
2189
02:16:15,792 --> 02:16:18,919
Detente. Sounds like
a couple of fags dancin'.
2190
02:16:23,842 --> 02:16:27,553
Jack, we're not living in the same
country you and I knew in '46.
2191
02:16:27,637 --> 02:16:31,098
Our people are just not gonna sacrifice
in major numbers for war.
2192
02:16:31,183 --> 02:16:34,059
Can't even get 'em to accept cuts
in their gas tax.
2193
02:16:34,144 --> 02:16:37,479
Now, the Arabs and the Japanese
are draining the gold reserves...
2194
02:16:37,564 --> 02:16:39,231
Whose fault is that?
2195
02:16:39,316 --> 02:16:42,568
Ifwe'd won in Vietnam,
we wouldn't be having this conversation.
2196
02:16:42,652 --> 02:16:46,447
Nobody's fault, Jack. It's change.
It's a fact of history.
2197
02:16:46,531 --> 02:16:49,408
Even that old cocksucker
J. Edgar Hoover's dead.
2198
02:16:49,492 --> 02:16:51,577
Now who'd have thought that possible?
2199
02:16:51,661 --> 02:16:53,704
[Stone] Where we
find out Hoover's gone.
2200
02:16:53,788 --> 02:16:57,166
We see the way Nixon refers to him,
"that old cocksucker."
2201
02:16:57,250 --> 02:16:58,792
So much for friendship.
2202
02:16:59,836 --> 02:17:04,548
Actually, Hoover protected Nixon,
I think, a lot more than people know.
2203
02:17:04,633 --> 02:17:06,842
I think Hoover liked Nixon,
but knew Nixon.
2204
02:17:06,927 --> 02:17:11,013
As he said at the pool, he could recite
the speech about his father.
2205
02:17:11,097 --> 02:17:13,891
He knew Nixon to be a manipulator
and a liar,
2206
02:17:13,975 --> 02:17:18,270
which is why he liked him. He could
get along with that kind of guy.
2207
02:17:18,355 --> 02:17:20,189
Now, Kissinger's misunderstood.
2208
02:17:20,273 --> 02:17:22,983
He acts like a liberal
for his establishment friends,
2209
02:17:23,068 --> 02:17:26,570
- but he's even tougher than I am.
- [man] So Kissinger stays.
2210
02:17:26,655 --> 02:17:29,240
Just like Castro, Mr. Nixon.
2211
02:17:30,825 --> 02:17:33,452
Yeah. He stays.
2212
02:17:34,913 --> 02:17:37,748
And you are comfortable
with that decision?
2213
02:17:40,877 --> 02:17:42,336
[Jack] Desi's got a point.
2214
02:17:42,420 --> 02:17:47,591
What the hell are we gonna do about
the Communists in our own backyard?
2215
02:17:47,676 --> 02:17:49,843
What do you really mean, Jack?
2216
02:17:49,928 --> 02:17:53,264
I mean, I got
federal price controls on my oil.
2217
02:17:53,348 --> 02:17:57,268
And the rag heads
are beatin' the shit out of me, Dick.
2218
02:17:57,352 --> 02:18:01,188
And your EPA environmental agency
has got its thumb so far up my ass,
2219
02:18:01,273 --> 02:18:04,316
- it's scratchin' my ear!
- I think it's time for us to be...
2220
02:18:04,401 --> 02:18:07,403
- Let him finish, Bob.
- I got a federal judge orderin' me
2221
02:18:07,487 --> 02:18:12,199
to bus my grandkids halfway across this
town to go to school with nigger kids.
2222
02:18:13,535 --> 02:18:17,329
Now, Dick, Mr. President,
2223
02:18:17,414 --> 02:18:20,249
aren't you forgetting
who put you where you are?
2224
02:18:21,501 --> 02:18:25,421
The American people
put me where I am, Jack.
2225
02:18:25,505 --> 02:18:27,548
- Really?
- [Stone laughs]
2226
02:18:27,632 --> 02:18:31,760
- Well, that can be changed.
- In a heartbeat.
2227
02:18:33,513 --> 02:18:37,224
[Stone] Lighting here is superb
from Richardson.
2228
02:18:37,309 --> 02:18:41,103
Especially against this stone wall.
He's a man in hell.
2229
02:18:41,187 --> 02:18:46,734
In which Nixon emerges as the hero.
2230
02:18:46,818 --> 02:18:48,485
Another ironic twist.
2231
02:18:48,570 --> 02:18:50,446
Well, let me tell you this, Jack.
2232
02:18:50,530 --> 02:18:53,240
If you don't like it,
there's an election in November
2233
02:18:53,325 --> 02:18:56,910
and you can take your money out
in the open and give it to Wallace.
2234
02:18:56,995 --> 02:19:00,873
How about it, Jack? Willing to do that?
2235
02:19:00,957 --> 02:19:06,211
Hand this country over to some pansy
poet socialist like George McGovern?
2236
02:19:08,089 --> 02:19:11,592
'Cause if you're not happy
with the EPA up your ass,
2237
02:19:11,676 --> 02:19:14,219
try the IRS.
2238
02:19:15,555 --> 02:19:17,848
Goddamn, Dick.
2239
02:19:17,932 --> 02:19:23,354
- You're not threatening me, are ya?
- Presidents don't threaten, Jack.
2240
02:19:23,438 --> 02:19:25,481
They don't have to.
2241
02:19:28,276 --> 02:19:30,444
Good day to you, gentlemen. Thank you.
2242
02:19:31,696 --> 02:19:33,655
[Stone laughs]
2243
02:19:55,720 --> 02:19:58,847
[man] With third party candidate
George Wallace out of the race,
2244
02:19:58,932 --> 02:20:00,808
paralyzed by an assassin's bullet,
2245
02:20:00,892 --> 02:20:03,519
Richard Nixon
has crushed George McGovern
2246
02:20:03,603 --> 02:20:06,647
in the 1972 presidential election.
2247
02:20:06,731 --> 02:20:11,527
It is the second-biggest landslide
in American history.
2248
02:20:11,611 --> 02:20:13,237
As the new term begins,
2249
02:20:13,321 --> 02:20:16,740
it does not seem the Watergate
investigations have damaged Nixon
2250
02:20:16,825 --> 02:20:20,077
politically in any significant way.
2251
02:20:20,161 --> 02:20:22,955
[Stone] Again, the time-lapse.
this is well done
2252
02:20:23,039 --> 02:20:26,333
'cause it shows you the danger coming up
over the White House.
2253
02:20:28,002 --> 02:20:31,672
It's pulling out of Vietnam
without a right-wing revolt.
2254
02:20:31,756 --> 02:20:36,218
- I believe you're right.
- The presidency isn't enough anymore.
2255
02:20:37,220 --> 02:20:41,723
[Stone] It's like Nixon understands
that he's just a cog in the wheel.
2256
02:20:41,808 --> 02:20:44,601
He's the frontman
for what the real power structure
2257
02:20:44,686 --> 02:20:47,604
of the United States is,
which is way beyond the control
2258
02:20:47,689 --> 02:20:50,441
of one man or the command of one man.
2259
02:20:50,525 --> 02:20:55,404
the emperor is the ghost in the machine.
And if his public relations don't fit,
2260
02:20:55,488 --> 02:20:57,781
he's out. His decisions
are minor decisions,
2261
02:20:57,866 --> 02:21:03,078
not international trade decisions
as much as issues of social reform.
2262
02:21:04,038 --> 02:21:08,167
That mad bomber theory
wasn't so crazy after all.
2263
02:21:08,251 --> 02:21:09,960
Henry is coming back tojoin us.
2264
02:21:10,044 --> 02:21:13,130
He wants to be included
in the photographs, of course.
2265
02:21:13,214 --> 02:21:15,841
- [Haldeman] There's a surprise.
- This could be it.
2266
02:21:15,925 --> 02:21:18,802
This could be it. Four long years. Jeez.
2267
02:21:18,887 --> 02:21:22,764
Incidentally, I don't know if this is
the right time, but you should know.
2268
02:21:22,849 --> 02:21:27,019
Bill Sullivan at the FBI got back
to us with his report on Kissinger.
2269
02:21:28,730 --> 02:21:31,690
- I didn't wanna bring it up because...
- Go on.
2270
02:21:32,692 --> 02:21:37,571
Well, Sullivan thinks he's the one.
Henry's the leaker.
2271
02:21:37,655 --> 02:21:40,449
[Stone] the double whammy
because coming aFter Hoover
2272
02:21:40,533 --> 02:21:43,035
telling him Kissinger was taping Nixon,
2273
02:21:43,119 --> 02:21:48,165
now this is pretty solid evidence
that Kissinger was the talker.
2274
02:21:48,249 --> 02:21:51,168
And that's what we believe.
there's reasons to believe it.
2275
02:21:51,252 --> 02:21:53,587
they're stated in the anthology.
2276
02:21:53,671 --> 02:21:57,257
Of course, it will be denied
by many people.
2277
02:21:59,260 --> 02:22:01,762
Claims that he was dead
set against the bombing,
2278
02:22:01,846 --> 02:22:05,849
that you were unstable and that he
has to handle you with kid gloves.
2279
02:22:05,934 --> 02:22:09,228
[Stone] It's interesting that Nixon
doesn't fire him at this point
2280
02:22:09,312 --> 02:22:12,898
for this betrayal, because Nixon's
too smart. He's always thinking.
2281
02:22:12,982 --> 02:22:15,651
- Never deciding quickly.
- ...The New York Times?
2282
02:22:15,735 --> 02:22:16,985
[Ehrlichman] Yes, he did.
2283
02:22:17,070 --> 02:22:20,113
[Haldeman] We ought a fire his whining
ass right now, when he's on top.
2284
02:22:20,198 --> 02:22:22,282
You know what?
It'd set the right example...
2285
02:22:22,367 --> 02:22:25,702
[Stone] Nixon took to wearing
an American flag in his lapel.
2286
02:22:25,787 --> 02:22:29,623
It was one of his corny gestures.
Got a lot of attention.
2287
02:22:29,707 --> 02:22:32,793
He was the first one.
I think they all wear them now.
2288
02:22:34,295 --> 02:22:36,964
No. No.
2289
02:22:37,048 --> 02:22:40,801
He's our only star right now.
He'd go crying to the press.
2290
02:22:40,885 --> 02:22:43,804
- He'd crucify us.
- [Stone laughs]
2291
02:22:43,888 --> 02:22:46,014
Son of a bitch.
2292
02:22:46,099 --> 02:22:47,933
Get someone on our staff on his ass.
2293
02:22:48,017 --> 02:22:50,561
Tap his phones.
I wanna know everyone he talks to.
2294
02:22:50,645 --> 02:22:53,605
Let's see how long
the Kissinger mystique lasts.
2295
02:22:53,690 --> 02:22:56,900
So, John, what about
these Watergate clowns?
2296
02:22:56,985 --> 02:23:00,737
This Sirica's crazy.
Thirty-five year sentence.
2297
02:23:00,822 --> 02:23:04,533
No weapons, right? No injuries.
2298
02:23:04,617 --> 02:23:06,910
There's no success.
It's just ridiculous.
2299
02:23:06,995 --> 02:23:10,581
Sirica's just trying to force someone
to testify, but they're solid.
2300
02:23:10,665 --> 02:23:14,918
What about this Washington Post crap?
Woodwind and Fernstein.
2301
02:23:15,003 --> 02:23:17,254
- Bernstein, sir.
- Who the fuck are they, anyway?
2302
02:23:17,338 --> 02:23:20,841
[Stone] I love that.
He gets right to the point. Power.
2303
02:23:20,925 --> 02:23:22,301
- Yes, sir, I am.
- Good.
2304
02:23:22,385 --> 02:23:25,762
Well, they're trying to connect
Bob and John with the secret fund.
2305
02:23:25,847 --> 02:23:29,433
[Stone] We sense for the first
time that Haldeman and Ehrlichman know
2306
02:23:29,517 --> 02:23:32,644
- they're going down.
- The FBI's feeding me their reports.
2307
02:23:32,729 --> 02:23:35,564
[Stone] David Hyde Pierce
is wonderful in the role of Dean.
2308
02:23:35,648 --> 02:23:39,693
He's got an innocence to him which
I found to be true in the man I met.
2309
02:23:43,448 --> 02:23:47,075
the timing on that was interesting
because it falls nicely.
2310
02:23:47,160 --> 02:23:49,620
the hydraulic pressed the plane down
so we drop.
2311
02:23:49,704 --> 02:23:53,123
they're all worried, on the edge,
but reassuring each other,
2312
02:23:53,207 --> 02:23:55,751
but there is no reassurance
as the airplane shows us.
2313
02:23:55,835 --> 02:23:59,129
It's a real gangster movie. [laughs]
Like gang members
2314
02:23:59,213 --> 02:24:02,633
who sell each other out gradually
until the last one leFt.
2315
02:24:04,844 --> 02:24:08,472
...and our prisoners ofwar
are coming back home.
2316
02:24:08,556 --> 02:24:13,894
South Vietnam has the right
to determine its own future.
2317
02:24:13,978 --> 02:24:17,105
So, we have peace with honor.
2318
02:24:22,737 --> 02:24:25,322
The president will take
some of your questions now.
2319
02:24:25,406 --> 02:24:27,407
- [man] Mr. President!
- Dan.
2320
02:24:27,492 --> 02:24:29,451
Isn't it true little has been achieved
2321
02:24:29,535 --> 02:24:32,329
that the Communists
have not been offering since 1969,
2322
02:24:32,413 --> 02:24:35,916
that in fact your administration
has needlessly prolonged the war
2323
02:24:36,000 --> 02:24:38,251
and escalated it
to new levels ofviolence?
2324
02:24:38,336 --> 02:24:43,674
I will, uh... try to answer
that question in some detail.
2325
02:24:43,758 --> 02:24:45,258
[woman] Mr. President!
2326
02:24:45,343 --> 02:24:47,928
What is your reaction
to James McCord's statement
2327
02:24:48,012 --> 02:24:50,097
that high-level White House officials
2328
02:24:50,181 --> 02:24:52,349
were involved
in the Watergate break-in?
2329
02:24:52,433 --> 02:24:55,602
That's the dumbest thing
I've ever heard.
2330
02:24:55,687 --> 02:24:59,106
The Washington Post is reporting
that Mr. Haldeman and Ehrlichman
2331
02:24:59,190 --> 02:25:01,942
secretly dispersed
up to $900,000 in campaign funds.
2332
02:25:02,026 --> 02:25:03,527
Is there any truth to that?
2333
02:25:03,611 --> 02:25:05,779
Now, let me make this perfectly clear.
2334
02:25:05,863 --> 02:25:09,282
I will not respond to the charges
of The Washington Post.
2335
02:25:09,367 --> 02:25:12,452
Nor will I comment on a matter
that is currently before the courts.
2336
02:25:12,537 --> 02:25:16,540
[Stone] Nixon was upset that the press
conference was not well received
2337
02:25:16,624 --> 02:25:21,128
where he announced the peace agreement
in Vietnam. He was thinking
2338
02:25:21,212 --> 02:25:24,047
he would be applauded as a hero.
It was four years later.
2339
02:25:24,132 --> 02:25:28,260
I don't think the press was excited as
it was about Watergate, which is what
2340
02:25:28,344 --> 02:25:32,180
they asked him about
until he fled the news conference.
2341
02:25:32,265 --> 02:25:34,683
[reporters clamoring]
2342
02:25:36,394 --> 02:25:38,186
Mr. President, sir...
2343
02:25:38,271 --> 02:25:40,480
Ron, get in there and do something!
2344
02:25:41,941 --> 02:25:45,694
[Stone] At one news conference I saw
a picture file of Nixon actually pushing
2345
02:25:45,778 --> 02:25:49,364
Ron Ziegler back...
It was outside the White House.
2346
02:25:49,449 --> 02:25:51,742
Pushing Ron back to deal
with the press.
2347
02:25:51,826 --> 02:25:53,660
God!
2348
02:25:56,205 --> 02:25:58,999
You know who's behind this, don't you?
Teddy Kennedy.
2349
02:25:59,083 --> 02:26:03,378
Yeah, he drowns a broad in his car,
and he can't run for president.
2350
02:26:03,463 --> 02:26:05,338
[Stone] One of my favorite scenes.
2351
02:26:05,423 --> 02:26:09,760
I love the magnetism of Hopkins' anger
2352
02:26:09,844 --> 02:26:11,511
that floods into Jimmy Woods,
2353
02:26:11,596 --> 02:26:14,514
who takes it up another notch.
2354
02:26:14,599 --> 02:26:17,893
Pleasing his boss
with his Doberman-like anger.
2355
02:26:17,977 --> 02:26:20,645
We gave Ehrlichman too much
of the benefit of the doubt.
2356
02:26:20,730 --> 02:26:23,857
But J.T. wanted to go more in that
direction. J.T. Walsh,
2357
02:26:23,941 --> 02:26:26,943
who's unfortunately passed away.
I also pushed him in that way
2358
02:26:27,028 --> 02:26:31,865
because I felt we needed some kind
of conscience, something to reflect
2359
02:26:31,949 --> 02:26:35,911
what honesty was. We lose sight of it
with all these crooks.
2360
02:26:35,995 --> 02:26:38,163
But that might have been a mistake.
2361
02:26:38,247 --> 02:26:41,166
Ehrlichman was a tough guy too.
But there was some evidence
2362
02:26:41,250 --> 02:26:43,710
that he had some sense
of compassion at times.
2363
02:26:43,795 --> 02:26:46,171
So did Haldeman.
Haldeman was a human being,
2364
02:26:46,255 --> 02:26:48,340
as his son attested.
2365
02:26:48,424 --> 02:26:51,968
But he served his master
oFten without thought.
2366
02:26:52,053 --> 02:26:55,806
OFten without questioning his orders
like a good German.
2367
02:26:55,890 --> 02:26:59,267
You know what? You should be proud,
because they'll never trust you, sir.
2368
02:26:59,352 --> 02:27:02,062
Because we speak
for the average American.
2369
02:27:02,146 --> 02:27:04,731
You know why they're turning on me?
2370
02:27:04,816 --> 02:27:08,401
It's because they're not serious
about power, that's why.
2371
02:27:08,486 --> 02:27:10,654
They're playing with power.
2372
02:27:10,738 --> 02:27:13,281
They're forgetting
the national interest.
2373
02:27:13,366 --> 02:27:17,202
In the old days people knew
how to hold power, how to set limits.
2374
02:27:17,286 --> 02:27:20,997
They wouldn't have torn this country
apart over a third-rate burglary.
2375
02:27:21,082 --> 02:27:24,668
For Christ's sake, now all they
care about are their egos,
2376
02:27:24,752 --> 02:27:26,670
looking good at cocktail parties.
2377
02:27:26,754 --> 02:27:29,005
Beating out other papers
and chasing girls.
2378
02:27:29,090 --> 02:27:32,175
Wondering whether someone
said something nice about them.
2379
02:27:32,260 --> 02:27:34,094
Short-term, frivolous bullshit.
2380
02:27:34,178 --> 02:27:37,556
Ben Bradlee worrying
about Teddy Kennedy liking him.
2381
02:27:37,640 --> 02:27:42,602
[Stone laughs] Some of those are
actual Nixon lines about the parties.
2382
02:27:42,687 --> 02:27:45,647
We are playing a totally reactive game.
2383
02:27:45,731 --> 02:27:51,111
We have to get ahead of the ball.
Now, we all know that you are clean.
2384
02:27:51,195 --> 02:27:53,196
Right?
2385
02:27:53,281 --> 02:27:57,701
Then let's take off the gloves.
Let's do a housecleaning.
2386
02:27:57,785 --> 02:27:59,995
Housecleaning?
2387
02:28:07,461 --> 02:28:09,880
No, it could be ugly, Henry,
really ugly.
2388
02:28:09,964 --> 02:28:12,549
It must be done, sir.
Your government is paralyzed.
2389
02:28:12,633 --> 02:28:15,343
All kinds of shit could come out.
The Ellsberg thing.
2390
02:28:15,428 --> 02:28:17,429
You knew about that, didn't you, Henry?
2391
02:28:17,513 --> 02:28:19,890
Well, I heard something.
It sounded idiotic.
2392
02:28:19,974 --> 02:28:21,600
Idiotic.
Yeah, I suppose it was.
2393
02:28:21,684 --> 02:28:24,811
I thought it was your idea
to expose Ellsberg as a sex fiend.
2394
02:28:24,896 --> 02:28:27,230
I guess somebodyjust
took you too literally.
2395
02:28:27,315 --> 02:28:31,526
I never suggested a bunch of imbeciles
break into a psychiatrist's office.
2396
02:28:31,611 --> 02:28:33,570
It doesn't matter.
2397
02:28:33,654 --> 02:28:35,697
[Stone] I love the editing here.
2398
02:28:35,781 --> 02:28:39,784
All these interior psychological
thoughts are passing in the air,
2399
02:28:39,869 --> 02:28:43,538
canted angles. Again,
the Russian concept of...
2400
02:28:43,623 --> 02:28:45,999
Look at the four men
going towards closure.
2401
02:28:46,083 --> 02:28:50,420
I like the staging of this.
I asked all four actors to stand up.
2402
02:28:50,504 --> 02:28:53,548
I didn't want anybody sitting down.
I wanted to keep it moving.
2403
02:28:53,633 --> 02:28:55,425
As I did the bedroom scene.
2404
02:28:55,509 --> 02:28:59,012
I was in that mood for that bedroom
scene with Pat and Dick
2405
02:28:59,096 --> 02:29:02,974
just to keep it moving. I asked both
actors to stop as little as possible
2406
02:29:03,059 --> 02:29:05,602
when we rehearsed it.
Keeping on the move.
2407
02:29:05,686 --> 02:29:08,813
Out of that grew the idea
of her circling, him circling,
2408
02:29:08,898 --> 02:29:11,399
which I saw the scene as sort of
a circling scene.
2409
02:29:11,484 --> 02:29:14,277
- Sir.
- Yeah?
2410
02:29:14,362 --> 02:29:19,532
There are times when
even the president can go too far.
2411
02:29:23,412 --> 02:29:26,623
You played it perfectly, sir.
That cocksucker'll think twice
2412
02:29:26,707 --> 02:29:28,667
- before he leaks again.
- [Stone] qurther on the scene.
2413
02:29:28,751 --> 02:29:30,961
You think that would be
the end of the scene,
2414
02:29:31,045 --> 02:29:34,673
but I encouraged them
to go one extra step.
2415
02:29:34,757 --> 02:29:36,216
Hunt wants more money.
2416
02:29:36,300 --> 02:29:38,677
- Another 122,000.
- Fuck.
2417
02:29:38,761 --> 02:29:42,305
If he doesn't get it right away,
he's going to blow us out of the water.
2418
02:29:42,390 --> 02:29:45,308
He means it. Since his wife died
in the plane crash, he's over the edge.
2419
02:29:45,393 --> 02:29:46,977
Pay him. Pay him what he wants.
2420
02:29:47,061 --> 02:29:50,480
[Stone] Here's another Oval Office
scene. We did them back to back.
2421
02:29:50,564 --> 02:29:53,733
It was originally one scene
that we put the fade-out and fade-in
2422
02:29:53,818 --> 02:29:57,988
between the two. But this has been
lengthened since the original.
2423
02:29:58,072 --> 02:30:01,616
And I think it's important because
it re-echoes the circle with Helms.
2424
02:30:01,701 --> 02:30:04,119
Why we took it out.
Helms had not been in the movie.
2425
02:30:04,203 --> 02:30:06,746
We took Helms out
and then put him back in.
2426
02:30:07,999 --> 02:30:10,333
This has nothing to do
with the Bay of Pigs!
2427
02:30:11,752 --> 02:30:14,004
I have no concern
about the Bay of Pigs!
2428
02:30:14,088 --> 02:30:16,339
[Haldeman] I couldn't believe it.
2429
02:30:16,424 --> 02:30:19,801
This is what the president
told me to relay to you, Dick.
2430
02:30:19,885 --> 02:30:22,345
I had to remind him
who he was talking to.
2431
02:30:22,430 --> 02:30:26,141
So I was wondering? What's such
dynamite in this Bay of Pigs thing?
2432
02:30:26,225 --> 02:30:27,934
Sir.
2433
02:30:31,355 --> 02:30:34,858
It was clearly effective because
all of a sudden it was no problem
2434
02:30:34,942 --> 02:30:38,611
for Helms to go to the FBI
and try to put a lid on Watergate.
2435
02:30:39,488 --> 02:30:43,074
- What about the documents promised?
- He'll give us the documents.
2436
02:30:43,159 --> 02:30:46,703
But I think ifwe offer him
an ambassadorship,
2437
02:30:46,787 --> 02:30:49,998
the ambassadorship to Iran,
we can get rid of him. He'll go...
2438
02:30:50,082 --> 02:30:54,711
- No, I promised Iran to Townsend.
- Townsend in Belgium. It's available.
2439
02:30:54,795 --> 02:30:59,382
He gave us 300 grand. Belgium's
not worth more than 100, 150.
2440
02:30:59,467 --> 02:31:01,134
What about England?
2441
02:31:01,218 --> 02:31:04,054
Forget it.
Annenberg's paid three times that much.
2442
02:31:04,138 --> 02:31:07,307
Helms wants Iran,
or there might be a problem.
2443
02:31:07,391 --> 02:31:10,185
All his old buddies are over there
making a fortune...
2444
02:31:10,269 --> 02:31:11,728
When does this end, Bob?
2445
02:31:11,812 --> 02:31:13,313
- Executive clemency.
- What?
2446
02:31:13,397 --> 02:31:16,900
Hunt and the Cubans have nothing
to lose now. Pardon them all.
2447
02:31:16,984 --> 02:31:20,320
[Stone] qrom a transcript in which
Nixon sells ambassadorships,
2448
02:31:20,404 --> 02:31:24,741
which makes you wonder what the Iran
deal was with Helms, the CIA.
2449
02:31:24,825 --> 02:31:27,410
Was it to enrich Helms in Iran or not?
2450
02:31:27,495 --> 02:31:30,997
Was it to pay Helms off? Hide him?
2451
02:31:31,082 --> 02:31:33,208
Lyndon bugged, so did Kennedy.
2452
02:31:33,292 --> 02:31:37,921
FDR cut a deal with Lucky Luciano.
Christ, even Eisenhower had a mistress.
2453
02:31:38,005 --> 02:31:41,424
What's so special about me? Huh?
2454
02:31:41,509 --> 02:31:45,970
What about Lyndon? He could make
a couple calls to the... Hell, and...
2455
02:31:46,055 --> 02:31:48,556
...shut this whole damn thing down.
2456
02:31:48,641 --> 02:31:50,266
- Anyone talk to him?
- I have.
2457
02:31:50,351 --> 02:31:52,602
- What'd he say?
- No dice, he hit the roof.
2458
02:31:52,686 --> 02:31:54,062
Why?
2459
02:31:54,146 --> 02:31:57,607
He said if you go out with a story
about how he bugged your plane,
2460
02:31:57,691 --> 02:31:59,567
he's gonna reveal...
2461
02:32:07,993 --> 02:32:10,453
He's gonna reveal... [muttering]
2462
02:32:10,538 --> 02:32:12,789
- ...Vietnamese peace talks...
- All right.
2463
02:32:12,873 --> 02:32:14,791
All right! Stop!
2464
02:32:14,875 --> 02:32:16,543
What's the matter with you?
2465
02:32:18,003 --> 02:32:22,632
I know. I just know
we've made too many enemies.
2466
02:32:23,384 --> 02:32:27,303
There's another thing. Bob and I have
to testify before the urban committee.
2467
02:32:27,388 --> 02:32:30,598
No, you're not.
You're gonna claim executive privilege.
2468
02:32:30,683 --> 02:32:32,976
You're gonna stonewall it
all the way.
2469
02:32:33,060 --> 02:32:35,395
Plead the 5th Amendment.
I don't give a shit.
2470
02:32:35,479 --> 02:32:38,148
They can't force
the president's people to testify.
2471
02:32:38,232 --> 02:32:40,775
Executive privilege
looks like we're covering.
2472
02:32:40,860 --> 02:32:43,278
We are covering up
for God's sake.
2473
02:32:43,362 --> 02:32:45,405
Some petty, stupid shit.
2474
02:32:46,490 --> 02:32:50,410
There are things I can say what
other people said, and they'd be lies.
2475
02:32:50,494 --> 02:32:54,455
When I say them,
nobody believes me anyway.
2476
02:32:54,540 --> 02:32:57,625
[Stone] We built the Oval Office
to exact specifications.
2477
02:32:57,710 --> 02:33:00,879
We rented it from American President,
but we built it higher
2478
02:33:00,963 --> 02:33:03,756
to the exact specifications
of the White House.
2479
02:33:06,969 --> 02:33:08,678
John's right, boss.
2480
02:33:08,762 --> 02:33:12,849
[Stone] I love this scene because
it's truly a circling of the wagons.
2481
02:33:13,767 --> 02:33:16,102
Sometimes you gotta punt.
2482
02:33:18,355 --> 02:33:21,900
[Stone] David Hyde Pierce did a
wonderful job of interpreting John Dean,
2483
02:33:21,984 --> 02:33:25,111
who was on the set quite a bit.
But as oFten the case,
2484
02:33:25,196 --> 02:33:28,114
David didn't want to do it
in front of John. I don't blame him.
2485
02:33:28,199 --> 02:33:32,702
But John was a supporter of the film
and helped us a lot in detail.
2486
02:33:32,786 --> 02:33:35,663
As did Alexander Butterfield.
Howard Hunt stopped by.
2487
02:33:35,748 --> 02:33:40,251
Quite a few people. John Sears.
Bob Scheer was there as consultant.
2488
02:33:40,336 --> 02:33:44,964
We had many different consultants
on the film who were very helpful.
2489
02:33:47,009 --> 02:33:49,594
About Kennedy and LBJ and Truman.
2490
02:33:49,678 --> 02:33:50,720
How so?
2491
02:33:50,804 --> 02:33:54,349
[Stone] this is a one-shot scene.
It's shot as a one-shot. It's cut up.
2492
02:33:54,433 --> 02:33:56,893
But watch the flow of the Steadicam.
2493
02:33:56,977 --> 02:33:59,771
And the actors,
the way they hit their marks. Nice.
2494
02:33:59,855 --> 02:34:03,274
these are two pros here.
2495
02:34:03,359 --> 02:34:08,029
this is tough dialogue, too,
because it's got little shadings.
2496
02:34:09,031 --> 02:34:12,575
I wanted to keep the hallway jumping
too. I put a friend of mine
2497
02:34:12,660 --> 02:34:16,079
as a tour guide leading
these Nigerians around.
2498
02:34:16,163 --> 02:34:20,500
And they kind of come in the other room.
You'll see.
2499
02:34:22,336 --> 02:34:25,672
this is the actual layout of that area
of the White House.
2500
02:34:27,174 --> 02:34:29,384
20 years, you ever shake hands with him?
2501
02:34:29,468 --> 02:34:31,803
Ever have a real conversation with him?
2502
02:34:34,265 --> 02:34:37,600
No, this...
This is about Richard Nixon.
2503
02:34:37,685 --> 02:34:41,354
You got people dying because
he didn't make varsity football.
2504
02:34:41,438 --> 02:34:45,233
[Stone] Ehrlichman is playing off
of Haldeman's sense of conscience.
2505
02:34:45,317 --> 02:34:49,570
this is a scene that also allows
Haldeman to have a bit of a conscience.
2506
02:34:50,030 --> 02:34:52,198
Goes white every time you mention it.
2507
02:34:54,076 --> 02:34:57,745
- It's a code or something.
- Well, shit, even I figured that out.
2508
02:34:59,164 --> 02:35:01,040
I think he means...
2509
02:35:02,960 --> 02:35:05,670
- The Kennedy assassination...
- Yeah?
2510
02:35:05,754 --> 02:35:10,133
They went after Castro and in some
crazy way it got turned back on Kennedy.
2511
02:35:10,217 --> 02:35:14,345
I don't think the old man knows what
happened. But he's afraid to find out.
2512
02:35:14,430 --> 02:35:17,640
He's shitting peach pits every time
he thinks about it.
2513
02:35:17,725 --> 02:35:20,435
Created a Frankenstein
with those damn Cubans.
2514
02:35:20,519 --> 02:35:23,354
Eight words back in '72:
2515
02:35:23,439 --> 02:35:29,110
"I covered up." "I was wrong."
"I'm sorry."
2516
02:35:29,194 --> 02:35:31,904
And the American public
would've forgiven him.
2517
02:35:31,989 --> 02:35:35,116
But we never opened our mouths, John.
2518
02:35:36,076 --> 02:35:37,994
We failed him.
2519
02:35:38,078 --> 02:35:41,789
Dick Nixon saying "I'm sorry"?
[laughs] That'll be the day.
2520
02:35:41,874 --> 02:35:45,335
[Stone] Nerve-wracking for actors,
especially Jimmy, nervous type.
2521
02:35:45,419 --> 02:35:48,671
He has to walk and talk.
All those lines. He gets to the end.
2522
02:35:48,756 --> 02:35:50,757
Afraid he's gonna
blow a line at the end.
2523
02:35:50,841 --> 02:35:53,217
You do know
that we're next, don't you?
2524
02:35:57,598 --> 02:36:00,099
[Stone] this was a scene
I was much criticized for.
2525
02:36:00,184 --> 02:36:03,353
Hunt meets Dean on the bridge.
2526
02:36:03,437 --> 02:36:06,647
Dean has asked for the meeting
on the basis of how much more
2527
02:36:06,732 --> 02:36:08,983
will it take? they're being blackmailed.
2528
02:36:09,068 --> 02:36:10,568
You're early, John.
2529
02:36:12,905 --> 02:36:16,032
If you'd been that stealthy at the
Watergate, we wouldn't be in this mess.
2530
02:36:16,116 --> 02:36:18,534
[Stone] A little zinger in there.
And it was true.
2531
02:36:18,619 --> 02:36:22,163
- I was sorry to hear about your wife.
- Yes.
2532
02:36:23,832 --> 02:36:25,500
Take out the money.
2533
02:36:25,584 --> 02:36:28,711
The president would like to know
if that was the last payment.
2534
02:36:28,796 --> 02:36:31,464
- I'll bet he would.
- Is it?
2535
02:36:32,925 --> 02:36:35,885
In Richard Nixon's long history
of underhanded dealings
2536
02:36:35,969 --> 02:36:39,764
he's never had better value for his
money. If I were to open my mouth,
2537
02:36:39,848 --> 02:36:42,392
all the dominoes would fall.
2538
02:36:43,811 --> 02:36:45,895
Can I ask you a question?
2539
02:36:45,979 --> 02:36:47,897
How the hell do you have the temerity
2540
02:36:47,981 --> 02:36:50,858
to blackmail the president
of the United States?
2541
02:36:50,943 --> 02:36:55,154
That's not the question, John.
The question is, why is he paying?
2542
02:36:55,239 --> 02:36:59,075
- To protect his people.
- I'm one of his people.
2543
02:36:59,159 --> 02:37:02,537
The Cubans are his people.
And we're going to jail for him.
2544
02:37:02,621 --> 02:37:06,499
Howard, you will serve no more
than two years, then he'll pardon you.
2545
02:37:06,583 --> 02:37:09,710
Maybe. Maybe not.
2546
02:37:10,838 --> 02:37:13,798
But you don't leave your men
on the beach, John.
2547
02:37:13,882 --> 02:37:16,592
You don't make them beg for their money
like thieves.
2548
02:37:16,677 --> 02:37:20,012
You don't dump men with families
who've served their country.
2549
02:37:20,097 --> 02:37:23,099
He didn't know.
This thing has gotten out of hand.
2550
02:37:23,183 --> 02:37:27,019
You think a man as controlled as Richard
Nixon would've allowed a break-in
2551
02:37:27,104 --> 02:37:30,523
at the Democratic National Headquarters
without knowing it?
2552
02:37:30,607 --> 02:37:35,236
You think Mitchell or Haldeman wouldn't
have run it by him at least once?
2553
02:37:35,320 --> 02:37:37,905
The president's men did nothing,
2554
02:37:37,990 --> 02:37:41,701
nothing without
Richard Nixon's permission.
2555
02:37:45,330 --> 02:37:47,498
John, sooner or later...
2556
02:37:47,583 --> 02:37:52,128
Sooner, I think, you're going to learn
the lesson that's been learned
2557
02:37:52,212 --> 02:37:55,715
by everyone who's ever
gotten close to Richard Nixon.
2558
02:37:55,799 --> 02:38:00,887
That he's the darkness
reaching out for the darkness.
2559
02:38:02,473 --> 02:38:06,267
And eventually it's either you or him.
2560
02:38:08,812 --> 02:38:11,522
Your grave's already been dug, John.
2561
02:38:25,037 --> 02:38:28,331
[man] FBI director-designate
L. Patrick Gray
2562
02:38:28,415 --> 02:38:31,125
shocked the Senate
by revealing that John Dean
2563
02:38:31,210 --> 02:38:34,629
has been secretly receiving
FBI reports on Watergate.
2564
02:38:34,713 --> 02:38:38,841
[Stone] Distorting wide-angle low lens.
Moving, trying to get into the mind,
2565
02:38:38,926 --> 02:38:43,179
unbalancing mind of John Dean who has
now felt the pressure from Hunt.
2566
02:38:43,263 --> 02:38:45,723
Dean has to know that he's next.
2567
02:38:45,807 --> 02:38:48,809
this is a wonderful scene.
I enjoyed it. this scene we let play
2568
02:38:48,894 --> 02:38:52,355
at the length we shot it. You had
to understand all the nuances
2569
02:38:52,439 --> 02:38:56,442
of Dick Nixon's shifty behavior.
I love the way Nixon starts the scene
2570
02:38:56,527 --> 02:39:00,488
with, "How much you need?" Like a Mafia
statement instead of the president.
2571
02:39:00,572 --> 02:39:04,116
You just hear him. "How much you need?"
Like a gangster.
2572
02:39:06,411 --> 02:39:09,205
You don't see him till here.
You see a sweaty lip.
2573
02:39:10,707 --> 02:39:13,918
this is dialogue directly
from the transcripts of the telephone.
2574
02:39:14,002 --> 02:39:17,004
"How much cash?" [laughs]
Dean going through legal stuff.
2575
02:39:17,089 --> 02:39:20,716
"How much do you need?"
Get to the point, lawyer.
2576
02:39:20,801 --> 02:39:22,760
Hunt's not the only problem.
2577
02:39:22,844 --> 02:39:27,557
[Stone] And this is actually the taping
system as reconstructed by Butterfield
2578
02:39:27,641 --> 02:39:30,434
for us of that time.
Very cheap taping system.
2579
02:39:30,519 --> 02:39:33,813
Small, you know,
very common tape recorders.
2580
02:39:33,897 --> 02:39:38,442
those tapes, of course,
take forever to wind and rewind.
2581
02:39:38,527 --> 02:39:42,029
You can break them down with razors.
But there's reasons to believe,
2582
02:39:42,114 --> 02:39:46,033
honestly, that these tapes
were re-duplicated by some agency.
2583
02:39:46,118 --> 02:39:49,870
that's what makes this bizarre
about181/2 minutes of missing tape.
2584
02:39:49,955 --> 02:39:54,083
I believe what Haig at the end of
the movie says, "Always another copy,"
2585
02:39:54,167 --> 02:39:58,504
means we have some evidence in that
181/2 minutes that could bury us.
2586
02:39:58,589 --> 02:40:01,090
"Bury you, Nixon,
and bury us, the country."
2587
02:40:01,174 --> 02:40:04,927
I think that's very important
to realize. What happens to those tapes.
2588
02:40:05,012 --> 02:40:10,182
they go out of there and put...
they're stored by the Secret Service.
2589
02:40:10,267 --> 02:40:12,310
qrom there on,
we don't know what happens.
2590
02:40:12,394 --> 02:40:16,314
Everything's a crisis among the upper
intellectual types, the softheads.
2591
02:40:16,398 --> 02:40:19,442
The average people don't think
it's much of a crisis.
2592
02:40:19,526 --> 02:40:22,903
For Christ's sake, this is not Vietnam.
No one's dying here.
2593
02:40:22,988 --> 02:40:28,200
[Stone] All these are actual texts
of Nixon. Sometimes conjoined.
2594
02:40:28,285 --> 02:40:30,077
Goldwater was right when he said
2595
02:40:30,162 --> 02:40:34,582
"For Christ's sakes, everybody bugs
everybody else." We know that.
2596
02:40:34,666 --> 02:40:36,959
[Stone] Actual wording
from the last scene.
2597
02:40:37,044 --> 02:40:39,629
Last scene played out
at a longer length than this.
2598
02:40:39,713 --> 02:40:43,007
Sometimes I'd take dialogue
from other places and other people
2599
02:40:43,091 --> 02:40:46,677
and put it in a scene.
I love that richness of that dialogue.
2600
02:40:46,762 --> 02:40:51,057
I wanted to use it. If I could get
the proper context, it made sense.
2601
02:40:51,141 --> 02:40:54,810
I wouldn't use it in the wrong context,
in my opinion. I was very careful.
2602
02:40:54,895 --> 02:40:58,731
Mitchell's gonna get it anyway,
so it's time he assumed responsibility.
2603
02:40:58,815 --> 02:41:00,733
You're not paying attention.
2604
02:41:00,817 --> 02:41:04,236
He won't. He's told Ehrlichman he won't.
2605
02:41:04,321 --> 02:41:07,823
You tell my good friend Dick
I got suckered into this thing...
2606
02:41:07,908 --> 02:41:10,951
[Stone] Which is what Mitchell said,
actually.
2607
02:41:11,036 --> 02:41:13,996
Mitchell didn't help Nixon in this.
He just let him hang out.
2608
02:41:14,081 --> 02:41:17,333
Mitchell didn't want to take the fall.
But he did take the fall.
2609
02:41:17,417 --> 02:41:20,336
He did take one of the falls.
So did Nixon.
2610
02:41:20,420 --> 02:41:23,673
Everybody took a fall. [laughs]
they were all doomed, these guys.
2611
02:41:23,757 --> 02:41:25,883
this is like, I guess...
2612
02:41:27,844 --> 02:41:31,013
If you ever saw that play,
Glengarry Glen Ross, Mametwrote,
2613
02:41:31,098 --> 02:41:34,850
with all these loser salesmen,
you think of these guys as...
2614
02:41:34,935 --> 02:41:37,520
that's why I started the movie
with used car salesmen.
2615
02:41:37,604 --> 02:41:40,690
these are all salesmen
but all doomed in their circle.
2616
02:41:40,774 --> 02:41:43,651
the noose keeps tightening
the whole movie.
2617
02:41:43,735 --> 02:41:45,820
they all sell each other out
in the end.
2618
02:41:45,904 --> 02:41:47,780
this is a very Mamet-like structure
2619
02:41:47,864 --> 02:41:52,284
but it's actually
closer to Scarface. [laughs]
2620
02:41:53,745 --> 02:41:56,497
- People would never understand.
- No.
2621
02:41:58,792 --> 02:42:02,461
[Stone] I love Anthony and David's
performances in this movie.
2622
02:42:02,546 --> 02:42:05,047
I just watched over and over,
enjoyed it.
2623
02:42:05,132 --> 02:42:06,716
Write up a report.
2624
02:42:06,800 --> 02:42:10,094
Put everything you know
about Watergate in there and say,
2625
02:42:10,178 --> 02:42:12,972
"Mr. President, here it all is." OK?
2626
02:42:13,056 --> 02:42:15,933
You want me to put it all in writing
over my signature?
2627
02:42:17,144 --> 02:42:21,772
Well, nobody knows more
about this thing than you do, John.
2628
02:42:21,857 --> 02:42:26,026
[Stone] All this is exact
quote from Nixon. [laughs]
2629
02:42:26,111 --> 02:42:30,489
But that is Anthony Hopkins doing
a little mannerism with his tongue.
2630
02:42:31,783 --> 02:42:33,868
I'm not going to
be the scapegoat for this.
2631
02:42:33,952 --> 02:42:38,831
[Stone] I love this talk too.
Another dialogue he gave John.
2632
02:42:41,001 --> 02:42:44,628
the irony is that Nixon, too,
was a man who was...
2633
02:42:44,713 --> 02:42:46,881
...who received informant information
2634
02:42:46,965 --> 02:42:51,010
from Dewey and perhaps from Chambers.
2635
02:42:52,179 --> 02:42:56,599
Now, it's beyond you, or even me, John.
2636
02:42:56,683 --> 02:43:00,102
[Stone] Nixon tried to set up Dean
to write the memo.
2637
02:43:00,187 --> 02:43:04,106
the idea, I think, behind it was Dean
would implicate himself in some way
2638
02:43:04,191 --> 02:43:07,568
and take the burden off Nixon.
then he could let Dean hang out to dry
2639
02:43:07,652 --> 02:43:10,446
before he had to sacrifice
Haldeman and Ehrlichman.
2640
02:43:10,530 --> 02:43:14,784
But Dean was smart enough to sense what
was coming and that's why Dean turned.
2641
02:43:14,868 --> 02:43:19,497
I think Dean did not
get a fair shake in history.
2642
02:43:19,581 --> 02:43:22,124
I love the door knob coming off here.
2643
02:43:22,209 --> 02:43:25,961
Nixon always has a problem getting
in and out of rooms. He was awkward.
2644
02:43:26,046 --> 02:43:29,632
He dropped the pills in the first scene
and very typical
2645
02:43:29,716 --> 02:43:31,842
of somebody who was awkward.
2646
02:43:35,722 --> 02:43:38,474
[Stone] As you see,
Haldeman and Ehrlichman took it bad.
2647
02:43:38,558 --> 02:43:42,853
Haldeman took a large hit.
Went to jail, as did Ehrlichman.
2648
02:43:42,938 --> 02:43:46,899
And Haldeman wrote a book
with co-author Joe DiMona,
2649
02:43:46,983 --> 02:43:50,945
called The Ends ofPower
in which he confessed
2650
02:43:51,029 --> 02:43:54,156
to many interesting things,
including Bay of Pigs code,
2651
02:43:54,241 --> 02:43:57,493
what he thought was the code
for the JqK assassination.
2652
02:43:57,577 --> 02:44:00,579
It is said he denied it aFter he
got out ofjail, but the truth was
2653
02:44:00,664 --> 02:44:02,706
right before he died,
he reaffirmed it.
2654
02:44:02,791 --> 02:44:07,795
Beside the point is when he got out of
jail, Nixon cozied up to him again.
2655
02:44:07,879 --> 02:44:11,173
So right away,
Haldeman was compromised.
2656
02:44:11,258 --> 02:44:14,510
Nixon had a very strong influence
over Haldeman.
2657
02:44:14,594 --> 02:44:18,931
Magnetism. Called him up aFterjail
and said, "Hey, Bob, how are you?
2658
02:44:19,015 --> 02:44:22,852
Horrible thing happened.
Horrible thing."
2659
02:44:24,104 --> 02:44:26,021
Nixon stayed out ofjail, as you know.
2660
02:44:26,106 --> 02:44:29,149
Of course, not the jail of his own mind,
2661
02:44:29,234 --> 02:44:31,861
but the jail that we all call jail.
2662
02:44:31,945 --> 02:44:34,864
It's a burn basket. that's Sam
Waterston. I'm suggesting
2663
02:44:34,948 --> 02:44:38,868
he's burning documents
because he knows the ship is sinking.
2664
02:44:38,952 --> 02:44:41,787
There can be no whitewash
at the White House.
2665
02:44:41,872 --> 02:44:44,707
Two wrongs do not make a right.
2666
02:44:44,791 --> 02:44:47,001
Now, I love America.
2667
02:44:47,085 --> 02:44:51,547
God bless America, and God bless
each and every one of you.
2668
02:44:51,631 --> 02:44:54,466
[Stone] It became pathetic at the end.
Many of us remember
2669
02:44:54,551 --> 02:44:57,636
TV telecasts that came
intermittently from the White House.
2670
02:44:57,721 --> 02:45:01,891
Each time Nixon was groping,
like the Checkers speech, at straws,
2671
02:45:01,975 --> 02:45:04,810
insisting on his innocence
and insisting this...
2672
02:45:04,895 --> 02:45:08,230
An audience refined
to the television world
2673
02:45:08,315 --> 02:45:12,818
of acting thought him...
Many of us thought him hollow
2674
02:45:12,903 --> 02:45:16,071
and clearly lying.
2675
02:45:16,156 --> 02:45:19,283
People said this was based on
Citizen Kane. Yes, to some degree,
2676
02:45:19,367 --> 02:45:22,661
the length of the table.
Nixon would have very formal dinners.
2677
02:45:22,746 --> 02:45:25,080
Towards the end, of course,
he dined alone a lot.
2678
02:45:25,165 --> 02:45:28,167
this is one of the rare instances
he may have dined with Pat.
2679
02:45:28,251 --> 02:45:30,669
Are you going to Key Biscayne?
2680
02:45:31,713 --> 02:45:33,505
- Yeah.
- Excuse me, sir.
2681
02:45:33,590 --> 02:45:35,215
When?
2682
02:45:36,927 --> 02:45:38,469
Tomorrow.
2683
02:45:45,393 --> 02:45:49,730
Ron told me that, um...
Bob Haldeman has been calling,
2684
02:45:49,814 --> 02:45:51,941
but you won't talk to him.
2685
02:45:53,401 --> 02:45:55,903
If he's convicted,
will you pardon him?
2686
02:45:59,866 --> 02:46:01,158
No.
2687
02:46:07,958 --> 02:46:11,418
Why are you cutting yourself off
from the rest of us?
2688
02:46:13,421 --> 02:46:15,631
Can't we discuss this?
2689
02:46:15,715 --> 02:46:20,636
- What exactly do you want to discuss?
- You. What you're doing.
2690
02:46:21,888 --> 02:46:25,224
- What am I doing?
- I wish I knew. You're hiding.
2691
02:46:25,308 --> 02:46:27,393
[Stone laughs]
2692
02:46:28,770 --> 02:46:32,815
- Hiding what?
- Whatever it is you've been hiding.
2693
02:46:32,899 --> 02:46:35,734
You're letting it destroy you, Dick.
2694
02:46:37,404 --> 02:46:39,863
- [Stone laughs]
- You won't ask for help...
2695
02:46:39,948 --> 02:46:43,075
My father did that with his hands.
2696
02:46:44,577 --> 02:46:47,037
Manolo, uh...
2697
02:46:47,122 --> 02:46:49,623
Mrs. Nixon's finished.
2698
02:46:49,708 --> 02:46:51,834
[Stone] You had to be that age
to play Nixon.
2699
02:46:51,918 --> 02:46:56,839
Tony Hopkins is 56, 8, got Nixon.
Got something in the inner man.
2700
02:46:56,923 --> 02:46:59,341
Nobody can actually mimic
somebody else totally.
2701
02:46:59,426 --> 02:47:01,051
But, God, he came close.
2702
02:47:07,809 --> 02:47:10,728
Brezhnev's coming in three days.
2703
02:47:10,812 --> 02:47:14,815
I don't wanna deal with them
and him and you.
2704
02:47:17,444 --> 02:47:20,696
How much more?
How much more is it going to cost?
2705
02:47:20,780 --> 02:47:24,283
When do the rest of us
stop paying off your debts?
2706
02:47:28,496 --> 02:47:32,291
I'd like to finish my dinner in peace,
2707
02:47:32,375 --> 02:47:34,334
if it's not too much to ask.
2708
02:47:34,419 --> 02:47:38,255
[Stone] Of course, there's rumors
Pat Nixon was drinking more and more,
2709
02:47:38,339 --> 02:47:42,885
and had always had drinking issues,
but became totally numbed out
2710
02:47:42,969 --> 02:47:46,638
during these last few months.
tyrying to leave some kind of strength
2711
02:47:46,723 --> 02:47:50,017
and healthiness in this family.
Maybe Joan Allen is too powerful
2712
02:47:50,101 --> 02:47:53,896
to have been Pat Nixon. Who knows?
Pat, like so many women in the '50s
2713
02:47:53,980 --> 02:47:57,107
and the '40s, that Barbie doll
generation, was a betrayed wife,
2714
02:47:57,192 --> 02:48:01,361
in the sense that she grew into...
lived through the man. And the man,
2715
02:48:01,446 --> 02:48:04,907
at the end of the day,
disappointed her, let her down.
2716
02:48:07,077 --> 02:48:11,330
[man] The committee will come to order.
Counsel will call the first witness.
2717
02:48:11,414 --> 02:48:13,999
Mr. John W. Dean, III.
2718
02:48:14,084 --> 02:48:16,627
[Stone] When Dean went public,
that was a disaster.
2719
02:48:16,711 --> 02:48:19,421
Everything was snowballing now.
2720
02:48:19,506 --> 02:48:22,049
You had Woodward-Bernstein articles
in The Post
2721
02:48:22,133 --> 02:48:24,426
keeping it alive in the public media,
2722
02:48:24,511 --> 02:48:27,763
but there was a whole
judicial machinery at work here.
2723
02:48:27,847 --> 02:48:31,809
It was a disappointment to me because
it was quite clear that the cover-up,
2724
02:48:31,893 --> 02:48:35,771
as far as the White House was...
was concerned, was going to continue.
2725
02:48:35,855 --> 02:48:38,524
Why is he doing this?
He's our goddamn lawyer.
2726
02:48:38,608 --> 02:48:40,818
If he had a problem,
why didn't he talk with us?
2727
02:48:40,902 --> 02:48:44,446
[Stone] John Stockwell on the leFt,
who's now directing movies.
2728
02:48:45,532 --> 02:48:48,492
It's still an informer's word
against the president's.
2729
02:48:48,576 --> 02:48:51,537
[Dean] ...were all indictable
for obstruction ofjustice.
2730
02:48:54,374 --> 02:48:58,961
[Stone] Now we're bouncing into the
Russian montage off the Chinese montage.
2731
02:49:00,630 --> 02:49:03,048
[speaking Russian]
2732
02:49:05,468 --> 02:49:09,763
[Stone] And of course Brezhnev is
dissing Mao, Mao is dissing Russians.
2733
02:49:09,848 --> 02:49:13,058
I wanted to make the point
that it was a triangle.
2734
02:49:13,143 --> 02:49:16,854
Nixon could have made
some huge strides here, understand?
2735
02:49:16,938 --> 02:49:21,108
But he couldn't concentrate. that's
true. At that meeting in Washington,
2736
02:49:21,192 --> 02:49:24,194
he was so distracted by the end
of the Watergate affair
2737
02:49:24,279 --> 02:49:27,739
that he blew a great opportunity
to further the peace
2738
02:49:27,824 --> 02:49:29,783
between the Soviet Union
and America.
2739
02:49:29,868 --> 02:49:32,536
It's a shame because that's
what had been his plan.
2740
02:49:32,620 --> 02:49:35,622
Actually, Nixon, you could argue,
I'm not saying correctly,
2741
02:49:35,707 --> 02:49:39,835
that he sacrificed Vietnam for the
larger issue of Russia and China,
2742
02:49:39,919 --> 02:49:42,838
looking for world peace,
looking for the end of the Cold War,
2743
02:49:42,922 --> 02:49:46,633
the detente that would prevent
those Vietnams from happening.
2744
02:49:46,718 --> 02:49:49,344
So he was saying,
"Let's keep the war going."
2745
02:49:49,429 --> 02:49:52,431
that could have been in his thinking,
which is geo-political
2746
02:49:52,515 --> 02:49:55,434
and Kissinger-like
in terms of its grand scenario,
2747
02:49:55,518 --> 02:49:57,895
its Machiavellian principle.
2748
02:49:58,271 --> 02:50:01,815
[woman] Life is the best teacher,
and therefore it must not interfere
2749
02:50:01,900 --> 02:50:04,193
with the building
of the S.A.L.T. Two treaty...
2750
02:50:04,277 --> 02:50:07,529
[Stone] I love this mushroom bomb.
that was what was at stake.
2751
02:50:07,614 --> 02:50:12,492
the mushroom bomb is the leading motif
of this conversation
2752
02:50:12,577 --> 02:50:16,955
as the Chinese lettering was
between Mao, I think the bomb
2753
02:50:17,040 --> 02:50:20,000
holds strong implications here.
2754
02:50:20,084 --> 02:50:22,669
[speaking Russian]
2755
02:50:27,383 --> 02:50:30,594
[Stone] I like how the Russians
know everything in the White House
2756
02:50:30,678 --> 02:50:34,056
as much as Nixon. It was true in
the last months of the administration,
2757
02:50:34,140 --> 02:50:36,391
people were talking, "Will he last?"
2758
02:50:36,476 --> 02:50:40,103
Like the Clinton impeachment,
but it was perhaps more serious.
2759
02:50:40,188 --> 02:50:43,232
Not only the crime was more serious,
the idea of impeachment
2760
02:50:43,316 --> 02:50:45,234
had not been around for so many years.
2761
02:50:45,318 --> 02:50:48,070
Since Andrew Johnson,
aFter the Civil War.
2762
02:50:53,368 --> 02:50:54,701
Did you?
2763
02:50:55,495 --> 02:50:58,038
- Daddy?
- What?
2764
02:50:58,122 --> 02:50:59,665
Did you cover it up?
2765
02:50:59,749 --> 02:51:02,584
[Stone] the concept of this scene
was he lied to his family.
2766
02:51:02,669 --> 02:51:06,380
He never says yes or no. All he does
is ask a rhetorical question.
2767
02:51:06,464 --> 02:51:09,174
You think I'd do
something like that, honey?
2768
02:51:12,178 --> 02:51:15,764
Well, then you can't give up.
You just can't.
2769
02:51:15,848 --> 02:51:18,809
You're one of the best presidents
this country has ever had.
2770
02:51:18,893 --> 02:51:22,396
You've done what Lincoln did, brought
this country back from civil war.
2771
02:51:22,480 --> 02:51:23,939
[Stone] All done in one move
2772
02:51:24,023 --> 02:51:26,858
from beginning to the end.
I think we did it 15 times.
2773
02:51:26,943 --> 02:51:29,403
You've gotta stay and fight.
2774
02:51:29,487 --> 02:51:32,781
I'll go out there and make speeches.
Nobody knows the real you,
2775
02:51:32,865 --> 02:51:36,285
how sweet you are,
how nice you are to people.
2776
02:51:36,369 --> 02:51:38,620
[Stone] the two daughters
really loved him
2777
02:51:38,705 --> 02:51:42,124
and said very good things about him
always. No question about that.
2778
02:51:42,208 --> 02:51:45,877
there was no bad-mouthing. We read one
of the books of the daughters
2779
02:51:45,962 --> 02:51:50,882
about their parents. Maybe they saw him
through rose-colored glasses.
2780
02:51:50,967 --> 02:51:53,552
Theyjust don't know the real you.
2781
02:51:55,179 --> 02:51:57,723
Theyjust don't know.
2782
02:51:57,807 --> 02:52:00,892
[Stone] Margaret Mitchell
was one of the... another one
2783
02:52:00,977 --> 02:52:04,062
of the obstacle courses.
Everywhere, she was attacking him.
2784
02:52:04,147 --> 02:52:06,773
In the last few months
when she was a loose cannon,
2785
02:52:06,858 --> 02:52:09,735
aFter the divorce
or the proposed divorce of Mitchell.
2786
02:52:09,819 --> 02:52:13,488
Mitchell was a tough nut like Nixon.
I loved him in that very...
2787
02:52:13,573 --> 02:52:15,824
Wouldn't give an inch.
He hated him like Agnew.
2788
02:52:15,908 --> 02:52:18,368
When Mitchell would be photographed,
2789
02:52:18,453 --> 02:52:21,496
he had the most puffy cheeks
and little beady eyes.
2790
02:52:21,581 --> 02:52:24,916
He was attorney general at one point.
He was tough as they come.
2791
02:52:31,591 --> 02:52:35,427
Now, were the visitors that
went into the White House warned
2792
02:52:35,511 --> 02:52:39,306
that their conversations with
the president would be taped?
2793
02:52:39,390 --> 02:52:41,933
[man] Again, I am not aware
of the technical details.
2794
02:52:42,018 --> 02:52:45,354
On Friday, we have the
high school students from Ohio.
2795
02:52:45,438 --> 02:52:49,191
Saturday is the National
Women's Republican Club.
2796
02:52:49,275 --> 02:52:52,235
[reporter] ...Watergate wide open,
former White House aide
2797
02:52:52,320 --> 02:52:56,031
Alexander Butterfield testified
before the Senate Select committee.
2798
02:52:56,115 --> 02:52:59,868
He revealed a taping system
that may have recorded conversations
2799
02:52:59,952 --> 02:53:02,746
in the White House,
the executive office building
2800
02:53:02,830 --> 02:53:05,123
and even members of his own family.
2801
02:53:05,208 --> 02:53:07,876
[Stone] Now it just unrolls.
this scene, of course,
2802
02:53:07,960 --> 02:53:11,213
is based on the fact that Butterfield,
in testimony to Congress,
2803
02:53:11,297 --> 02:53:12,589
revealed the tapes.
2804
02:53:12,673 --> 02:53:16,343
Alexander, who was one of our advisors,
never thought of it as malicious.
2805
02:53:16,427 --> 02:53:19,554
He never thought of it.
It was a slip, and it just came out.
2806
02:53:19,639 --> 02:53:22,557
He didn't realize the implications.
He was a bit lost.
2807
02:53:22,642 --> 02:53:26,019
It was a very confusing story.
It's hard to completely understand
2808
02:53:26,104 --> 02:53:28,605
the scope of it at the time
because it was unrolling
2809
02:53:28,689 --> 02:53:32,067
against other world events over
a long period of almost two years.
2810
02:53:32,151 --> 02:53:33,902
Of more than two years.
2811
02:53:33,986 --> 02:53:36,530
Now the secret is out.
this is the key moment,
2812
02:53:36,614 --> 02:53:39,282
'cause everybody wants
to keep it a secret and in a sense
2813
02:53:39,367 --> 02:53:43,537
wants to let it out.
that's what she says in this scene.
2814
02:53:47,083 --> 02:53:51,086
If Hunt goes public,
it'll be a fiasco for the C.I.A.
2815
02:53:51,170 --> 02:53:52,754
They're like love letters.
2816
02:53:52,839 --> 02:53:54,589
[tape rewinding]
2817
02:53:54,674 --> 02:53:56,091
You should burn 'em.
2818
02:53:56,175 --> 02:53:58,885
[Stone] this is a
psychological scene in the movie
2819
02:53:58,970 --> 02:54:00,387
because she's drunk.
2820
02:54:01,514 --> 02:54:05,016
They're evidence.
You can't legally destroy evidence.
2821
02:54:05,101 --> 02:54:07,936
You don't expect me to believe that...
2822
02:54:08,020 --> 02:54:10,647
[Stone] Now she's drunk a little bit.
I let her go.
2823
02:54:10,731 --> 02:54:13,400
Now we let her go a little bit.
She did like her drink.
2824
02:54:14,652 --> 02:54:18,488
Oliver Stone movie, you gotta have
a ghost, so there's Mary Steenburgen.
2825
02:54:18,573 --> 02:54:22,200
they're both drunk in this scene.
I don't see why not. [laughs]
2826
02:54:23,536 --> 02:54:26,455
- I rememberAlger Hiss.
- [Stone] She's scolding him now.
2827
02:54:26,539 --> 02:54:30,333
- I know how ugly you can be.
- [Stone] She knows how ugly he can be.
2828
02:54:30,418 --> 02:54:35,130
that's a scolding thing. "Where's the
secret that Mary Steenburgen asked?"
2829
02:54:35,214 --> 02:54:38,675
But I think Mom and wife
have a lot in common.
2830
02:54:38,759 --> 02:54:41,511
He sees her again,
but then the light comes on.
2831
02:54:41,596 --> 02:54:45,307
I love this look of Tony's
'cause it's so haunting.
2832
02:54:45,391 --> 02:54:47,934
No concept of remorse.
2833
02:54:48,019 --> 02:54:52,397
You want the tapes to get out.
You want them to see you at your worst.
2834
02:54:52,482 --> 02:54:53,982
- You're drunk.
- Oh, yeah!
2835
02:54:54,066 --> 02:54:56,735
No one'll ever see those tapes,
including you.
2836
02:54:56,819 --> 02:54:59,988
And what would I find out
that I haven't known for years?
2837
02:55:01,449 --> 02:55:06,036
[Stone] See the destruction cycle.
Six crises, 15 crises.
2838
02:55:06,120 --> 02:55:08,872
You destroy, rebuild.
Destroy, rebuild.
2839
02:55:08,956 --> 02:55:12,501
there's a worthlessness at the center
of it. A sense of worthlessness.
2840
02:55:12,585 --> 02:55:17,881
- that's what's amazing to Pat.
- They're not "yours." They are you.
2841
02:55:25,097 --> 02:55:27,432
You should burn them.
2842
02:55:35,525 --> 02:55:37,776
[Stone laughs]
2843
02:55:37,860 --> 02:55:41,613
Tony is famous for having had his share
of drinks in the '70s.
2844
02:55:43,616 --> 02:55:46,618
Only he could do that look.
It scared me when I first saw it.
2845
02:55:46,702 --> 02:55:48,495
I jumped out of my seat.
2846
02:55:48,579 --> 02:55:51,498
But Tony has a great sense memory
of being drunk
2847
02:55:51,582 --> 02:55:55,252
and drinking too much
and has been in AA for many years.
2848
02:55:55,336 --> 02:55:58,380
And goes faithfully
and is a very sober man.
2849
02:55:58,464 --> 02:56:01,299
Like other actors who've been there,
he remembers it well
2850
02:56:01,384 --> 02:56:04,678
and does a funny but human job of it.
2851
02:56:04,762 --> 02:56:08,473
I believed him when he's looked
at that ghost and jumped.
2852
02:56:14,313 --> 02:56:16,314
- What, do you think?
- I never said this.
2853
02:56:16,399 --> 02:56:18,275
- Seven times, ten times.
- Ten times.
2854
02:56:18,359 --> 02:56:21,903
- You think people like that gave up?
- Never.
2855
02:56:21,988 --> 02:56:25,448
Castro. These guys went after Castro.
2856
02:56:26,117 --> 02:56:29,286
[Stone] Watch this, watch this.
All these weird angles.
2857
02:56:30,496 --> 02:56:33,290
this is a shot I like.
2858
02:56:33,374 --> 02:56:35,667
One eye. [laughs]
2859
02:56:37,628 --> 02:56:40,755
this is an interesting montage.
A reverse time montage
2860
02:56:40,840 --> 02:56:43,967
that we used, as if he could
put it all back in time.
2861
02:56:44,051 --> 02:56:46,636
We've all wished that
at some point in our lives.
2862
02:56:55,354 --> 02:57:00,108
Whoever killed Kennedy came from
this thing we created, this beast.
2863
02:57:00,192 --> 02:57:01,776
[Stone] "this beast."
2864
02:57:01,861 --> 02:57:05,739
that's imagined dialogue that we put
into this 18 1/2-minute tape.
2865
02:57:05,823 --> 02:57:08,992
[man] In the latest bombshell,
the president's lawyers revealed
2866
02:57:09,076 --> 02:57:11,328
that there is
an 18-and-a-half-minute gap
2867
02:57:11,412 --> 02:57:13,413
in a critical Watergate tape.
2868
02:57:13,497 --> 02:57:17,459
Reactions of disbelief and anger
are being heard across the country.
2869
02:57:17,543 --> 02:57:21,338
[Stone] Around this time, Nixon had a
major phlebitis attack and almost died.
2870
02:57:21,422 --> 02:57:24,132
It seemed like he was dying
when he went to the hospital.
2871
02:57:24,216 --> 02:57:26,468
Had a very close call.
Blood clot in the leg.
2872
02:57:26,552 --> 02:57:29,888
But it can travel up to the pulmonaries,
the lungs.
2873
02:57:29,972 --> 02:57:32,641
that's why bleeding
comes out of the mouth.
2874
02:57:32,725 --> 02:57:36,144
It was a real serious blood clot
and lead to the medication
2875
02:57:36,228 --> 02:57:40,106
that he was taking, which people don't
seem to understand that when you
2876
02:57:40,191 --> 02:57:42,942
mix some medicine
with one or two drinks of Scotch,
2877
02:57:43,027 --> 02:57:45,987
you can slur without being drunk.
You're just slurring.
2878
02:57:46,072 --> 02:57:48,114
It's a physical reaction.
2879
02:57:48,199 --> 02:57:51,242
People misunderstood the point.
We hardly were trying to draw
2880
02:57:51,327 --> 02:57:55,497
a man who's an alcoholic. He was not.
He was a man under too much stress.
2881
02:57:55,581 --> 02:57:58,583
Nixon didn't have
the right outlets for stress.
2882
02:57:58,668 --> 02:58:02,128
Maybe he needed to be more
of an exercise freak or something.
2883
02:58:02,213 --> 02:58:05,173
Or laugh freak, something.
All he did was sit around and read
2884
02:58:05,257 --> 02:58:08,176
and talk and think.
He was living too cerebrally,
2885
02:58:08,260 --> 02:58:12,681
without soma. there has to be some soma
in your body. It can't all be cerebral.
2886
02:58:17,645 --> 02:58:20,689
I put him in this fantasy position,
dreaming of his tapes.
2887
02:58:20,773 --> 02:58:24,025
this is one of my trips here with
the tunnel. I wanted to play with it
2888
02:58:24,110 --> 02:58:27,821
this cheap tunnel we built.
I wanted to try red and blue light.
2889
02:58:27,905 --> 02:58:31,366
As if, when you die,
there's all this talk
2890
02:58:31,450 --> 02:58:35,203
of near-death experiences of people
who die and travel down tunnels
2891
02:58:35,287 --> 02:58:38,206
and see light, weird images
from their lives,
2892
02:58:38,290 --> 02:58:40,208
things you remember as you die.
2893
02:58:41,544 --> 02:58:43,420
that's my son, Mikey. [laughs]
2894
02:58:45,673 --> 02:58:48,717
that's young Nixon. Old Nixon.
2895
02:58:48,801 --> 02:58:52,637
Something brings him back,
the rebirth, the Christ image.
2896
02:58:53,305 --> 02:58:57,016
[man] Vice President Agnew has
resigned today pleading no contest
2897
02:58:57,101 --> 02:58:59,436
to charges of income tax evasion.
2898
02:58:59,520 --> 02:59:01,563
[Stone] He almost died, which is true.
2899
02:59:01,647 --> 02:59:05,275
But on the way back, you hear all the
mundane shit coming down on him now.
2900
02:59:05,359 --> 02:59:08,778
Poor guy is coming back to this world.
He got better, had to go back to it.
2901
02:59:08,863 --> 02:59:10,447
He was a tough guy, tough fight.
2902
02:59:10,531 --> 02:59:14,367
Because the media would constantly
cover it. Everything was buried
2903
02:59:14,452 --> 02:59:18,830
except for... Like the Clinton scandal.
It was about eating ourselves to death.
2904
02:59:18,914 --> 02:59:22,208
He's got an acute viral pneumonia
and a very serious phlebitis.
2905
02:59:22,293 --> 02:59:25,462
[Stone] Bill Bolander,
the doctor, a wonderful actor.
2906
02:59:25,546 --> 02:59:26,755
Oh, no.
2907
02:59:26,839 --> 02:59:29,466
[man] The president has returned
to the White House.
2908
02:59:29,550 --> 02:59:32,552
But Archibald Cox has declared war
by issuing a subpoena
2909
02:59:32,636 --> 02:59:36,014
- for nine of the president's tapes.
- [Stone] Exposure changes
2910
02:59:36,098 --> 02:59:40,185
on the White House, which we shot
with an old camera to show the lack
2911
02:59:40,269 --> 02:59:42,937
of stability,
the light coming and going.
2912
02:59:43,022 --> 02:59:46,858
This could trigger the impeachment.
They'll go to the Supreme Court.
2913
02:59:46,942 --> 02:59:50,487
I appointed three of those bastards.
I'll never give them my tapes.
2914
02:59:50,571 --> 02:59:53,114
Can the president afford
to ignore a subpoena?
2915
02:59:53,199 --> 02:59:57,118
Who the hell does Cox think he is? I've
never made a dime from public office.
2916
02:59:57,203 --> 03:00:00,288
I'm honest. My dad died broke. Jesus.
2917
03:00:00,372 --> 03:00:04,542
That son of a bitch Cox, he went
to the same law school as Jack Kennedy.
2918
03:00:04,627 --> 03:00:06,419
[Stone] One of my favorite scenes.
2919
03:00:06,504 --> 03:00:09,547
We constructed it from conversations
with different people
2920
03:00:09,632 --> 03:00:11,883
around this time.
But he did say these words
2921
03:00:11,967 --> 03:00:15,929
in various places to different people.
But we cobbled it together here.
2922
03:00:16,013 --> 03:00:21,518
My God, we would've changed it so they
couldn't have changed it back in years.
2923
03:00:21,602 --> 03:00:22,811
Yeah.
2924
03:00:24,563 --> 03:00:28,608
[Stone] It's interesting. He sniffs the
flowers that make him feel like death.
2925
03:00:28,692 --> 03:00:30,401
Sort of a reversal there.
2926
03:00:30,486 --> 03:00:33,655
Sir, Congress is considering
four articles of impeachment.
2927
03:00:33,739 --> 03:00:36,866
- Yeah. For what?
- They're very serious charges, sir.
2928
03:00:36,951 --> 03:00:40,078
[Stone] this is George Plimpton,
a New York character actor,
2929
03:00:40,162 --> 03:00:43,498
literary figure. Nice man.
Gentleman.
2930
03:00:43,582 --> 03:00:47,836
He kept blowing his lines. [laughs]
He was so nervous.
2931
03:00:47,920 --> 03:00:51,089
He had to list all these things
as a lawyer, but it took a few takes.
2932
03:00:51,173 --> 03:00:53,299
But George finally got it.
2933
03:00:53,384 --> 03:00:55,468
- Fred, they sell tickets.
- It's Ron, sir.
2934
03:00:55,553 --> 03:00:58,721
[Stone] Ron. He's got everybody
mixed up now.
2935
03:00:58,806 --> 03:01:01,057
John Wayne at the end.
He can't remember names,
2936
03:01:01,141 --> 03:01:03,351
where he is,
who he's supposed to talk to.
2937
03:01:03,435 --> 03:01:06,521
It's very funny, actually.
Avery dark humor
2938
03:01:06,605 --> 03:01:10,441
that Hopkins brings to this
and the script does too.
2939
03:01:10,526 --> 03:01:13,194
Jeez, I got half of 'em elected.
2940
03:01:13,279 --> 03:01:18,199
OK, so I got the South
and, uh, Goldwater and his boys.
2941
03:01:19,535 --> 03:01:21,494
I'll take my chances in the Senate.
2942
03:01:21,579 --> 03:01:24,873
[Stone] Nixon would alternate.
Some days he'd want to fight it,
2943
03:01:24,957 --> 03:01:28,293
go all the way, others he realized
the damage impeachment would do.
2944
03:01:28,377 --> 03:01:31,045
there was a concept of what
he would have to reveal.
2945
03:01:31,130 --> 03:01:33,131
Would he fall on his sword or not?
2946
03:01:33,215 --> 03:01:35,884
Like ancient Romans.
Or would he reveal secrets?
2947
03:01:35,968 --> 03:01:39,888
In that regard, he never did reveal
anything. Could call him a good Roman.
2948
03:01:39,972 --> 03:01:42,932
What I know about this country,
I could rip it apart.
2949
03:01:43,017 --> 03:01:46,811
If they want a public humiliation,
that's what they'll get.
2950
03:01:46,896 --> 03:01:49,439
- Yes, they will.
- I'll never resign this office.
2951
03:01:49,523 --> 03:01:52,734
[Stone] You heard. "the secrets I know
could bury this country."
2952
03:01:52,818 --> 03:01:56,070
I really believe that next
to Richard Helms, he was a great keeper
2953
03:01:56,155 --> 03:01:58,239
of the secrets of this country.
2954
03:01:58,324 --> 03:02:01,075
qrom the Dewey association
all the way through
2955
03:02:01,160 --> 03:02:06,372
the Lanskys, '50s, '60s, '70s,
and then he was out.
2956
03:02:06,457 --> 03:02:08,416
But he had an effect
on the '80s too,
2957
03:02:08,500 --> 03:02:11,502
- when he had an influence on Reagan.
- May I echo my concern?
2958
03:02:11,587 --> 03:02:16,090
- Then tell Richardson to fire him!
- Well, Richardson won't do that, sir.
2959
03:02:16,175 --> 03:02:18,843
- He'll resign.
- The hell he will. Then fire him too.
2960
03:02:18,928 --> 03:02:22,096
If you have to go down to the janitor
at thejustice department
2961
03:02:22,181 --> 03:02:23,765
fire that son of a bitch.
2962
03:02:23,849 --> 03:02:27,393
Mr. President, may I
just say something, sir?
2963
03:02:29,021 --> 03:02:31,522
I think that you should
welcome this subpoena.
2964
03:02:31,607 --> 03:02:33,524
- Why?
- Well, sir,
2965
03:02:33,609 --> 03:02:37,028
the tapes can only prove
that Dean was a liar. Right?
2966
03:02:37,112 --> 03:02:40,448
[Stone] Yes, of course.
the tapes implicate Nixon.
2967
03:02:40,532 --> 03:02:44,953
One of my favorite speeches here.
He said it during this time period.
2968
03:02:45,037 --> 03:02:47,121
There's more than just me.
2969
03:02:47,206 --> 03:02:49,791
You can't break, my boy.
2970
03:02:49,875 --> 03:02:52,210
Even though it's ended.
2971
03:02:52,294 --> 03:02:55,755
You can't admit,
even to yourself, when it's gone.
2972
03:02:56,966 --> 03:02:59,884
Do you think those P.O.W.s
in there did?
2973
03:03:00,719 --> 03:03:03,304
Now, there's some people,
and we both know them, Al
2974
03:03:03,389 --> 03:03:05,974
think you can go stand
in the middle of a bull ring
2975
03:03:06,058 --> 03:03:07,934
and cry "mea culpa, mea culpa,"
2976
03:03:08,018 --> 03:03:12,230
while the crowd is hissing
and booing and spitting on you.
2977
03:03:13,065 --> 03:03:16,901
Well, a man doesn't cry. I don't cry.
2978
03:03:17,653 --> 03:03:20,822
You don't cry. You fight.
2979
03:03:20,906 --> 03:03:23,116
[applause]
2980
03:03:24,743 --> 03:03:25,994
OK.
2981
03:03:26,078 --> 03:03:30,331
[man] Ladies and gentlemen,
the president of the United States!
2982
03:03:30,416 --> 03:03:32,500
[cheering, applause]
2983
03:03:35,337 --> 03:03:39,424
Good evening. We interrupt this program
for a special report from NBC news.
2984
03:03:39,508 --> 03:03:41,175
The country is in the midst
2985
03:03:41,260 --> 03:03:44,846
ofwhat may be the most serious
constitutional crisis in its history.
2986
03:03:44,930 --> 03:03:48,099
[Stone] We interviewed Richardson,
who told us this great line
2987
03:03:48,183 --> 03:03:51,602
I used in the movie later, I gave it
to Kissinger. "He had greatness
2988
03:03:51,687 --> 03:03:55,523
within his grasp,
but he had the virtue of his defects."
2989
03:03:56,859 --> 03:03:59,485
that is actually Robert Bork.
that's not a fake beard.
2990
03:03:59,570 --> 03:04:02,739
He was almost made Supreme Court
justice years later.
2991
03:04:02,823 --> 03:04:05,366
But it was turned back by Congress.
2992
03:04:05,451 --> 03:04:09,203
Bork fired everybody in the Justice
Department. It's very ironic
2993
03:04:09,288 --> 03:04:13,875
that he was put up for the job
of Supreme Court justice by Reagan.
2994
03:04:13,959 --> 03:04:19,213
And it became a cause celebre. He fired
everybody in the Justice Department.
2995
03:04:19,298 --> 03:04:21,215
Because of his views
he was rejected.
2996
03:04:21,300 --> 03:04:24,427
- Look. This. Nixon can't say that.
- Well, you did say it, sir.
2997
03:04:24,511 --> 03:04:26,721
Never! I never
said that about Jews.
2998
03:04:26,805 --> 03:04:30,433
- Makes me sound like an anti-Semite.
- [Stone] Richardson was a Brahmin
2999
03:04:30,517 --> 03:04:35,354
who was a totally ethical and honest
man, the most you've met in your life.
3000
03:04:35,439 --> 03:04:37,982
Spoke like a Brahmin from Boston.
3001
03:04:38,067 --> 03:04:41,069
Always a Republican, but a real
straight-laced Republican.
3002
03:04:41,153 --> 03:04:43,571
He was much admired.
3003
03:04:44,615 --> 03:04:48,743
- We could write "expletive deleted."
- Cut all these "goddamns"
3004
03:04:48,827 --> 03:04:51,913
and "Jesus Christs" out. Jesus.
3005
03:04:51,997 --> 03:04:56,292
Mr. President. Don't you see that all
these deletion marks in the transcript
3006
03:04:56,376 --> 03:04:59,837
make it look as though you...
you do nothing but swear?
3007
03:05:03,300 --> 03:05:06,260
[Stone] "Expletive deleted"
became a joke at the time.
3008
03:05:06,345 --> 03:05:09,263
Comedians would go on.
When the transcripts were released,
3009
03:05:09,348 --> 03:05:12,683
so many "expletive deleteds,"
it became part of the language.
3010
03:05:12,768 --> 03:05:17,105
We could start again, sir, but we
don't really have the staff to do that.
3011
03:05:17,189 --> 03:05:20,441
Then start over! Just start over!
3012
03:05:20,526 --> 03:05:23,611
The world will see only what I show 'em!
3013
03:05:23,695 --> 03:05:26,405
From page one, Al. Page one, Ron!
3014
03:05:26,490 --> 03:05:28,908
Ron, get in there and do something.
3015
03:05:28,992 --> 03:05:31,160
All this stuff.
3016
03:05:38,377 --> 03:05:40,253
Five seconds, Mr. President.
3017
03:05:40,337 --> 03:05:44,715
And four, three, two...
3018
03:05:47,970 --> 03:05:49,720
[Stone] the last pathetic gasp.
3019
03:05:49,805 --> 03:05:52,849
Good evening, my fellow Americans.
3020
03:05:52,933 --> 03:05:54,892
Tonight I'm taking an action
3021
03:05:54,977 --> 03:05:57,812
unprecedented in the history
of this office.
3022
03:05:57,896 --> 03:06:01,482
I had no knowledge of the cover-up
till John Dean told me about it
3023
03:06:01,567 --> 03:06:04,443
- on March 21st, a year ago.
- I think I'm going to throw up.
3024
03:06:04,528 --> 03:06:06,779
...no payment to Hunt
or anyone else be made.
3025
03:06:06,864 --> 03:06:09,907
[Stone] these TV appearances
were boring and repetitive
3026
03:06:09,992 --> 03:06:14,787
and pleading to stay in office.
they were disgusting, shameless.
3027
03:06:14,872 --> 03:06:18,749
He's the kind of guy who said, "I earned
every penny. I never profited."
3028
03:06:18,834 --> 03:06:21,169
that's true. Who knows?
But he lived well.
3029
03:06:21,253 --> 03:06:24,964
In all of my years of public life
I have never obstructed justice.
3030
03:06:25,048 --> 03:06:28,509
It's a tragedy
because he had greatness in his grasp.
3031
03:06:28,594 --> 03:06:32,180
- I welcome this examination.
- But had the defects of his qualities.
3032
03:06:32,264 --> 03:06:35,016
- I made $250,000...
- [Haig] They'll crucify him.
3033
03:06:35,100 --> 03:06:37,226
[Kissinger] Does anybody
care anymore?
3034
03:06:37,311 --> 03:06:39,979
...which many of you
were good enough to purchase.
3035
03:06:41,523 --> 03:06:44,859
And what happens after?
3036
03:06:44,943 --> 03:06:46,694
[Nixon] ...every year.
3037
03:06:47,487 --> 03:06:51,824
When I, in 1968 decided to become
a candidate for the president,
3038
03:06:51,909 --> 03:06:56,537
I decided to clean the decks
and to put everything in real estate.
3039
03:06:56,622 --> 03:07:00,374
So, that's where the money came from.
That's all I own.
3040
03:07:00,459 --> 03:07:03,461
That's what we have,
and that's what we owe.
3041
03:07:03,545 --> 03:07:06,797
Because people have got to know
whether or not their president...
3042
03:07:06,882 --> 03:07:08,883
...their president is a crook.
3043
03:07:08,967 --> 03:07:12,803
Well, I am not a crook.
I've earned everything I have
3044
03:07:12,888 --> 03:07:14,513
...doesn't have a mink coat.
3045
03:07:14,598 --> 03:07:17,475
She does have a respectable
Republican cloth coat.
3046
03:07:17,559 --> 03:07:20,895
And I always tell her that
she'd look good in anything.
3047
03:07:20,979 --> 03:07:24,065
[Stone] It occurred to me when
making the movie and it was clear
3048
03:07:24,149 --> 03:07:27,109
that Watergate begging was straight
out of Checkers speech.
3049
03:07:27,194 --> 03:07:30,821
I thought it would be nice
to go to Pat as a connector.
3050
03:07:30,906 --> 03:07:34,784
She would remember the past vividly
and see the repetition of the character
3051
03:07:34,868 --> 03:07:39,288
flaw in her husband. At the same time,
realize how wasted her life was,
3052
03:07:39,373 --> 03:07:42,250
that in his lie, she was wrapped up.
3053
03:07:42,334 --> 03:07:46,462
[man] ...has voted 27 to 11
to recommend impeachment to the House.
3054
03:07:46,546 --> 03:07:50,258
[Stone] We're rushing towards the end
here with all the charges being...
3055
03:07:50,342 --> 03:07:53,261
...all the unrolling of events
we don't have time for,
3056
03:07:53,345 --> 03:07:56,681
as the two men go to see him.
they saw him separately
3057
03:07:56,765 --> 03:07:59,767
and the resignation was done
under different circumstances.
3058
03:07:59,851 --> 03:08:03,854
But I think for purposes
of this movie,
3059
03:08:03,939 --> 03:08:07,525
I combined the two men,
Haig and Kissinger into one meeting.
3060
03:08:07,609 --> 03:08:09,610
...and thejustice department.
3061
03:08:09,695 --> 03:08:12,446
It denounces the plumbers
and it raises the question
3062
03:08:12,531 --> 03:08:16,575
ofwhether the United States
had a valid election in 1972.
3063
03:08:16,660 --> 03:08:19,620
[Stone] Nixon was a fan
of Victory at Sea by Richard Rogers.
3064
03:08:19,705 --> 03:08:22,123
So was my father.
I used to hear it a lot as a kid.
3065
03:08:22,207 --> 03:08:25,251
It was a famous TV show
with clips ofWWII.
3066
03:08:25,335 --> 03:08:27,420
[music playing]
3067
03:08:30,966 --> 03:08:32,383
Come in.
3068
03:08:44,396 --> 03:08:49,692
Victory at Sea, Al. Henry.
The Pacific Theatre.
3069
03:08:49,776 --> 03:08:53,571
Christ, you can almost hear the waves
breaking over the decks.
3070
03:08:53,655 --> 03:08:58,284
[Stone] Nixon was a naval officer in the
Pacific, a rear echelon administrator.
3071
03:08:59,453 --> 03:09:02,288
I'm afraid we have another problem,
Mr. President.
3072
03:09:03,123 --> 03:09:04,915
Excuse me, gentlemen.
3073
03:09:09,546 --> 03:09:12,089
June 23rd, '72, sir.
3074
03:09:14,760 --> 03:09:19,221
Your instructions to Haldeman
regarding the C.I.A. and the F.B.I.
3075
03:09:20,474 --> 03:09:22,016
So?
3076
03:09:22,100 --> 03:09:26,854
Your lawyers feel that
it's the smoking gun.
3077
03:09:26,938 --> 03:09:30,191
Totally out of context.
I was protecting the national security.
3078
03:09:30,275 --> 03:09:32,860
Sir, the deadline is today.
3079
03:09:36,031 --> 03:09:39,241
- Can we get around this, Al?
- [Stone laughs]
3080
03:09:39,326 --> 03:09:43,371
It's the Supreme Court, sir.
You don't get around it.
3081
03:09:43,455 --> 03:09:46,665
[Stone] We're also kind to Haig.
I don't think Haig was this kind
3082
03:09:46,750 --> 03:09:50,503
and empathetic an individual, but
you don't wanna paint everybody bad.
3083
03:09:50,587 --> 03:09:54,215
If you resign, you can keep your tapes
as a private citizen.
3084
03:09:54,299 --> 03:09:56,884
You could fight them for years.
3085
03:09:56,968 --> 03:09:59,470
[Stone] I don't know why.
Haig got off easy here.
3086
03:09:59,554 --> 03:10:03,557
I don't know, maybe it's my own fear
of if I make everybody a bastard
3087
03:10:03,642 --> 03:10:05,976
or dastardly dark,
3088
03:10:06,061 --> 03:10:10,314
it would look like a
cabal of cutthroats here.
3089
03:10:10,399 --> 03:10:14,568
But they weren't. they were more
disorganized than that.
3090
03:10:16,988 --> 03:10:18,197
the Lincoln Room.
3091
03:10:19,157 --> 03:10:21,867
- That was civil war.
- [Stone] Civil war.
3092
03:10:21,952 --> 03:10:23,327
How do you see this?
3093
03:10:27,082 --> 03:10:28,416
Oh, God.
3094
03:10:28,500 --> 03:10:31,544
We can't survive this, sir.
3095
03:10:34,506 --> 03:10:39,176
They also have you instructing Dean
to make the payoff to Hunt.
3096
03:10:39,261 --> 03:10:43,347
There's nothing in that statement
the president can't explain.
3097
03:10:43,432 --> 03:10:46,600
[Stone] You could argue that Haig
was, at that point, a younger man
3098
03:10:46,685 --> 03:10:50,813
and wasn't as confident as he was later
in the Reagan administration
3099
03:10:50,897 --> 03:10:54,567
when his manner offended people.
So perhaps at this time
3100
03:10:54,651 --> 03:10:57,528
he was more the loyal military aid,
which is what he was,
3101
03:10:57,612 --> 03:11:01,782
who acquired a position only because
everybody else had been lost around him,
3102
03:11:01,867 --> 03:11:04,577
Ehrlichman, Haldeman.
People were disappearing.
3103
03:11:04,661 --> 03:11:06,954
these were the people
leFt in the inner circle.
3104
03:11:07,038 --> 03:11:10,749
So you could argue Haig is drawn more
innocently than he was later
3105
03:11:10,834 --> 03:11:12,251
as a person.
3106
03:11:12,335 --> 03:11:16,464
They might if there was
another recording.
3107
03:11:17,132 --> 03:11:20,134
[Stone] this was never
said by Haig that we know of,
3108
03:11:20,218 --> 03:11:22,303
but this is a theory of ours.
3109
03:11:25,474 --> 03:11:29,143
I know for a fact
that it's possible.
3110
03:11:32,230 --> 03:11:33,689
I've spoken to Ford.
3111
03:11:33,773 --> 03:11:38,611
There's a very strong chance
that he'll pardon you.
3112
03:11:38,695 --> 03:11:42,531
I don't need a goddamned deal,
for God's sake. I...
3113
03:11:42,616 --> 03:11:47,620
This is something that
you will have to do, Mr. President.
3114
03:11:49,664 --> 03:11:54,084
I thought you'd rather do it now.
3115
03:11:58,590 --> 03:12:00,591
I'll wait outside.
3116
03:12:05,847 --> 03:12:07,598
Sir.
3117
03:12:08,767 --> 03:12:12,186
May I say, sir, that if you stay now,
3118
03:12:12,270 --> 03:12:16,524
it will paralyze the nation
and its foreign policy.
3119
03:12:20,111 --> 03:12:23,447
You always had a great
sense of timing, Henry.
3120
03:12:23,532 --> 03:12:27,326
When to give and when to take.
3121
03:12:30,413 --> 03:12:34,166
How do you think Mao
and Brezhnev will react?
3122
03:12:34,251 --> 03:12:37,545
[Stone] this is something
he asked Kissinger.
3123
03:12:37,629 --> 03:12:40,339
...after all the great things
you and I did together,
3124
03:12:40,423 --> 03:12:45,261
as some kind of... of crooks?
3125
03:12:45,345 --> 03:12:50,057
They will understand.
To be undone by a third-rate burglary
3126
03:12:50,141 --> 03:12:52,393
is a fate of biblical proportions.
3127
03:12:52,477 --> 03:12:55,938
[Stone] this is, I believe,
a Kissinger line also. Very well said.
3128
03:12:56,022 --> 03:12:59,066
And very fawning and praising of Nixon,
which he was.
3129
03:12:59,150 --> 03:13:01,735
Kissinger owed his career
to Rockefeller and Nixon.
3130
03:13:01,820 --> 03:13:04,947
No question that Kissinger hurt
Nixon with some of his leaks.
3131
03:13:05,031 --> 03:13:08,492
I'm not a quitter, never have been.
3132
03:13:08,577 --> 03:13:11,495
But I'm not stupid either.
3133
03:13:11,580 --> 03:13:15,082
A trial would kill me.
That's what they want.
3134
03:13:15,166 --> 03:13:17,710
- They won't get it.
- [Stone] Interesting how Nixon
3135
03:13:17,794 --> 03:13:20,504
turns it around from a defeat
into victory. "Retreat,
3136
03:13:20,589 --> 03:13:23,674
we're advancing backwards."
Nixon saw it as,
3137
03:13:23,758 --> 03:13:28,095
"they wanna kill me, put me on trial,"
which would have been a painful thing
3138
03:13:28,179 --> 03:13:31,682
with his phlebitis. He went through hell
anyway aFter the resignation,
3139
03:13:31,766 --> 03:13:34,143
fighting prosecution
and civil prosecution.
3140
03:13:34,227 --> 03:13:38,314
What we wanted to do in the resignation
was flip it, like he was defying them
3141
03:13:38,398 --> 03:13:41,400
by resigning.
3142
03:13:41,484 --> 03:13:45,571
If they harass you, I too will resign,
and I will tell the world why.
3143
03:13:45,655 --> 03:13:49,491
Don't be stupid.
The world needs you, Henry.
3144
03:13:51,036 --> 03:13:53,495
You always saw the big picture.
3145
03:13:57,042 --> 03:13:59,960
You were my equal in many ways.
3146
03:14:09,304 --> 03:14:12,264
You're the only friend I got, Henry.
3147
03:14:14,893 --> 03:14:17,227
Do you ever pray?
3148
03:14:18,396 --> 03:14:23,734
You know, believe in a supreme being?
3149
03:14:25,445 --> 03:14:29,657
Not really.
You mean on my knees?
3150
03:14:33,662 --> 03:14:37,247
My mother used to pray a lot.
3151
03:14:37,332 --> 03:14:42,252
It's been a long time
since I really prayed.
3152
03:14:48,009 --> 03:14:50,844
Let's pray, Henry.
3153
03:14:50,929 --> 03:14:55,432
Let's pray a little.
Just you and me.
3154
03:15:03,566 --> 03:15:06,360
I hope this doesn't
embarrass you, Henry.
3155
03:15:06,444 --> 03:15:09,279
No. Not at all, no.
3156
03:15:09,364 --> 03:15:13,325
- This is not going to leak, is it?
- [Stone] I just love the idea,
3157
03:15:13,410 --> 03:15:17,121
in the middle of this solemn moment,
which is true by all accounts.
3158
03:15:17,205 --> 03:15:20,040
How do we know? Leaked by
the only person in the room.
3159
03:15:20,125 --> 03:15:22,960
Kissinger. Nixon didn't talk about it.
3160
03:15:23,044 --> 03:15:26,463
We couldn't resist the impulse
to go in and have Kissinger
3161
03:15:26,548 --> 03:15:30,926
make a joke. "this isn't gonna leak?"
Which would have been appropriate.
3162
03:15:35,640 --> 03:15:37,808
[Nixon sobbing]
3163
03:15:44,607 --> 03:15:46,567
How can a...
3164
03:15:46,651 --> 03:15:49,194
How can a country come apart like this?
3165
03:15:49,279 --> 03:15:52,823
[Stone] Hiding his tears from Kissinger.
Hard scene for Tony to play.
3166
03:15:52,907 --> 03:15:54,867
He did a great job, very emotional.
3167
03:15:54,951 --> 03:15:59,496
I opened China.
I made peace with Russia.
3168
03:16:00,749 --> 03:16:03,834
I ended the war.
3169
03:16:05,503 --> 03:16:08,297
I did what I thought was right.
3170
03:16:13,511 --> 03:16:16,221
God, why do they hate me so?
3171
03:16:16,306 --> 03:16:20,184
It's unbelievable. It... It's insane.
3172
03:16:20,268 --> 03:16:23,312
[Stone] Don't know what he
prayed about, but we put words in
3173
03:16:23,396 --> 03:16:26,607
because they were the most
important things we could have done
3174
03:16:26,691 --> 03:16:29,985
and he couldn't understand
why he'd been cursed.
3175
03:16:35,241 --> 03:16:38,994
Tony ad-libbed those words.
they have broken meanings,
3176
03:16:39,078 --> 03:16:42,831
but they came from his heart
very suddenly. And we used that take.
3177
03:16:42,916 --> 03:16:47,586
It was a broken personal message
perhaps to his relative or mother.
3178
03:16:47,670 --> 03:16:51,131
It just was really sad.
It evoked body gestures.
3179
03:16:51,216 --> 03:16:54,384
Strong. I love this scene, too.
the walk-out scene.
3180
03:16:54,469 --> 03:16:57,888
In the darkened sort of
Citizen Kane White House.
3181
03:16:58,014 --> 03:17:03,477
They smelled the blood on me
this time, Al. I got soft, you know?
3182
03:17:04,354 --> 03:17:07,815
A rusty, metallic smell.
3183
03:17:07,899 --> 03:17:11,318
- I know it well, sir.
- It came over from Vietnam.
3184
03:17:11,402 --> 03:17:16,198
[Stone] I wanted to do a wrap-up scene
where Nixon states his final position.
3185
03:17:16,282 --> 03:17:19,201
I mean, everyone suffered so much.
3186
03:17:19,285 --> 03:17:22,412
Their boys killed.
3187
03:17:22,497 --> 03:17:26,208
They need to sacrifice something.
3188
03:17:26,292 --> 03:17:29,211
You know, appease the gods ofwar.
3189
03:17:30,088 --> 03:17:33,215
Mars, Jupiter.
3190
03:17:36,302 --> 03:17:39,388
I am that blood, General.
3191
03:17:41,391 --> 03:17:44,184
I am that sacrifice.
3192
03:17:44,978 --> 03:17:46,603
In the highest place of all.
3193
03:17:46,688 --> 03:17:48,939
[Stone] He once said that...
3194
03:17:51,192 --> 03:17:55,362
Yeah. All leaders
must finally be sacrificed.
3195
03:17:56,614 --> 03:17:59,533
Things won't be the same after this.
3196
03:17:59,617 --> 03:18:05,330
No, I played by the rules. Rules changed
right in the middle of the game.
3197
03:18:05,415 --> 03:18:09,126
There's no respect forAmerican
institutions anymore.
3198
03:18:09,210 --> 03:18:12,129
[Stone] I believe he also said this
in another context.
3199
03:18:12,213 --> 03:18:16,884
But the actual speech is cobbled
together from various sources.
3200
03:18:19,095 --> 03:18:22,389
People spit on soldiers.
3201
03:18:22,473 --> 03:18:25,017
Government secrets mean nothing.
3202
03:18:26,477 --> 03:18:29,646
I pity the next guy who sits here.
3203
03:18:32,483 --> 03:18:34,651
Good night, gentlemen.
3204
03:18:40,575 --> 03:18:43,118
Mr. President.
3205
03:18:53,421 --> 03:18:58,759
[Stone] It was an important move,
dolly around, reveal the competition.
3206
03:18:58,843 --> 03:19:02,262
the bookmark of his life.
Kennedy, Nixon. Two bookmarks.
3207
03:19:02,347 --> 03:19:07,017
It's from '60 to '74, 13 years,
a lot about American history.
3208
03:19:07,101 --> 03:19:09,394
A man of class and leadership
and distinction
3209
03:19:09,479 --> 03:19:12,522
and another man of great ambition.
3210
03:19:12,607 --> 03:19:16,652
Great intelligence and,
ultimately, tragic flaw.
3211
03:19:16,736 --> 03:19:18,862
the defects of his virtues.
3212
03:19:19,614 --> 03:19:24,534
When they look at you,
they see what they want to be.
3213
03:19:27,288 --> 03:19:32,292
When they look at me,
they see what they are.
3214
03:19:37,632 --> 03:19:40,759
Dick, please don't.
3215
03:19:47,308 --> 03:19:49,434
I can't.
3216
03:19:49,519 --> 03:19:51,561
I don't have the strength anymore.
3217
03:19:51,646 --> 03:19:56,149
[Stone] this is a dramatized scene.
We don't know if this happened.
3218
03:19:56,234 --> 03:19:59,194
Tom Wicker of The New York Times
reported the line
3219
03:19:59,278 --> 03:20:03,407
about the portrait of Kennedy.
Whether he said it to the portrait,
3220
03:20:03,491 --> 03:20:07,452
I don't know. I think we'd heard
he was talking to portraits
3221
03:20:07,537 --> 03:20:10,330
according to Woodward and Bernstein,
The Final Days.
3222
03:20:10,415 --> 03:20:13,500
I wouldn't know if he talked
to the Kennedy portrait, but it was
3223
03:20:13,584 --> 03:20:18,005
a strong, strong anchor for him.
3224
03:20:18,089 --> 03:20:20,173
Very sad scene.
3225
03:20:20,258 --> 03:20:25,262
...my mother gave me this stuff
and she made me swallow it.
3226
03:20:26,681 --> 03:20:29,516
It made me throw up all over her.
3227
03:20:29,600 --> 03:20:31,810
[Stone] He needs to egress
from his mother.
3228
03:20:31,894 --> 03:20:35,647
He has to throw up his mother
to be free of his mother.
3229
03:20:35,732 --> 03:20:39,735
Now he can be free of his burden
of goodness, of obligation,
3230
03:20:39,819 --> 03:20:41,403
duty, whatever.
3231
03:20:41,487 --> 03:20:44,239
I'm so afraid.
3232
03:20:44,907 --> 03:20:47,034
There's darkness out there.
3233
03:20:47,118 --> 03:20:50,245
[Stone] We got very high up here.
We pulled out the ceiling.
3234
03:20:50,329 --> 03:20:52,956
I really wanted a high shot,
high as we could go.
3235
03:20:53,041 --> 03:20:56,251
We went with this as the finale
'cause of the lighting.
3236
03:20:58,588 --> 03:21:02,215
Inside the ending, you'll find
another kernel of thought,
3237
03:21:02,300 --> 03:21:04,217
which is important.
3238
03:21:04,302 --> 03:21:07,387
We duplicate his speech
from his farewell speech,
3239
03:21:07,472 --> 03:21:10,682
one of the most powerful speeches
he gave. It was emotional
3240
03:21:10,767 --> 03:21:13,602
and felt, in spite of his mask.
3241
03:21:13,686 --> 03:21:17,939
And it reveals to us
that although the words are the same,
3242
03:21:18,024 --> 03:21:21,359
about the mother and father,
and it relies on cliche.
3243
03:21:21,444 --> 03:21:25,363
Cliche, in this case, is emotionalized
and dressed up in a new form.
3244
03:21:25,448 --> 03:21:28,867
It's not to say I forgive Nixon
or some people said
3245
03:21:28,951 --> 03:21:31,286
I get sentimental about Nixon.
Not at all.
3246
03:21:31,370 --> 03:21:33,622
this is actually the speech
and what it meant.
3247
03:21:33,706 --> 03:21:37,417
To those people in that room, it was a
great patriotic speech. they loved it.
3248
03:21:37,502 --> 03:21:40,921
they were crying. People who don't
like him say, "Terrible speech.
3249
03:21:41,005 --> 03:21:43,715
He was lying." But I think he meant it.
3250
03:21:43,800 --> 03:21:46,843
But partly do we end this movie
on a note of hagiography.
3251
03:21:46,928 --> 03:21:49,346
...my old man.
3252
03:21:49,430 --> 03:21:53,016
I think that they would
have called him sort of a,
3253
03:21:53,101 --> 03:21:56,061
sort of a little man, a common man.
3254
03:21:56,145 --> 03:22:01,900
Well, he didn't consider
himself that way.
3255
03:22:01,984 --> 03:22:06,571
You know what he was?
He was a streetcar motorman first.
3256
03:22:06,656 --> 03:22:10,242
Then he was a farmer.
3257
03:22:10,326 --> 03:22:12,285
Then he had a lemon ranch.
3258
03:22:12,370 --> 03:22:16,123
It was the poorest lemon ranch
in California, I can assure you.
3259
03:22:16,207 --> 03:22:19,251
He sold it before they found oil on it.
3260
03:22:22,338 --> 03:22:24,965
Then he was a grocer.
3261
03:22:25,049 --> 03:22:27,551
But he was a great man
3262
03:22:27,635 --> 03:22:30,929
because he did his job.
3263
03:22:31,013 --> 03:22:34,182
And everyjob counts up to the hilt
3264
03:22:34,267 --> 03:22:36,852
regardless ofwhat happens.
3265
03:22:38,229 --> 03:22:41,731
Nobody will ever write a book,
probably, about my mother.
3266
03:22:41,816 --> 03:22:46,486
[Stone] At the resignation speech
he never mentioned his wife, Pat.
3267
03:22:49,490 --> 03:22:52,868
My mother was a saint.
3268
03:22:52,952 --> 03:22:57,789
And I think of her
two boys dying of tuberculosis
3269
03:22:57,874 --> 03:23:01,626
[Stone] Very crisp black and white
photography by Bob Richardson.
3270
03:23:07,842 --> 03:23:13,430
Yes, she will have no books
written about her.
3271
03:23:14,765 --> 03:23:18,351
But she was a saint.
3272
03:23:19,395 --> 03:23:23,356
Now, however, we look to the future.
3273
03:23:23,441 --> 03:23:27,652
I remember something
Theodore Roosevelt wrote
3274
03:23:27,737 --> 03:23:31,907
when his first wife died
in his twenties.
3275
03:23:31,991 --> 03:23:35,702
He thought the light had gone
from his life forever.
3276
03:23:35,786 --> 03:23:39,372
But he went on, and he not
only became president
3277
03:23:39,457 --> 03:23:42,250
but as an ex-president,
he served his country
3278
03:23:42,335 --> 03:23:46,379
always in the arena,
tempestuous, strong,
3279
03:23:46,464 --> 03:23:49,007
sometimes right, sometimes wrong.
3280
03:23:49,091 --> 03:23:52,260
But he was a man.
3281
03:23:52,345 --> 03:23:57,974
And as I leave that's an example
I think all of us should remember.
3282
03:23:58,059 --> 03:24:03,688
See, we think sometimes when, things
happen that don't go the right way;
3283
03:24:03,773 --> 03:24:07,567
we think that when someone
dear to us dies,
3284
03:24:07,652 --> 03:24:10,487
when we lose an election,
3285
03:24:10,571 --> 03:24:14,241
or when we suffer defeat
that all is ended.
3286
03:24:14,325 --> 03:24:19,287
Not true.
It's only a beginning, always,
3287
03:24:19,372 --> 03:24:23,583
because the greatness comes,
not when things go always good for you,
3288
03:24:23,668 --> 03:24:27,629
but the greatness comes
when you're really tested,
3289
03:24:27,713 --> 03:24:31,424
when you take some knocks,
some disappointments
3290
03:24:31,509 --> 03:24:33,593
when sadness comes.
3291
03:24:33,678 --> 03:24:37,764
Because only if you've been
in the deepest valley
3292
03:24:37,848 --> 03:24:43,436
can you ever know
how magnificent it is
3293
03:24:43,521 --> 03:24:45,772
to be on the highest mountain.
3294
03:24:49,360 --> 03:24:52,654
So, I say to you on this occasion,
3295
03:24:52,738 --> 03:24:57,117
we leave, proud of the people
who have stood by us and worked for us
3296
03:24:57,201 --> 03:25:00,662
and served this government
and this country.
3297
03:25:00,746 --> 03:25:03,540
They want you to continue
to serve in government
3298
03:25:03,624 --> 03:25:05,750
if that is what you wish.
3299
03:25:05,835 --> 03:25:09,337
Remember, always give your best.
3300
03:25:09,422 --> 03:25:13,675
Never get discouraged.
Never be petty.
3301
03:25:13,759 --> 03:25:17,345
Always remember, others may hate you.
3302
03:25:17,430 --> 03:25:20,807
But those who hate you don't win
unless you hate them.
3303
03:25:20,891 --> 03:25:24,060
[Stone] It's as if he's talking
about himself and doesn't know it.
3304
03:25:24,145 --> 03:25:29,274
[laughs] But whatever the reasons,
we cut to the real President Nixon
3305
03:25:29,358 --> 03:25:33,987
at the end just to, out of the spirit
of an homage, to Anthony Hopkins,
3306
03:25:34,071 --> 03:25:36,323
to remind people it was an actor
who did this.
3307
03:25:36,407 --> 03:25:39,993
And also to show people who
don't know his face the real man.
3308
03:25:40,077 --> 03:25:42,495
I didn't feel it would destroy
the credibility.
3309
03:25:42,580 --> 03:25:44,998
Some worried about that.
I didn't think so.
3310
03:25:45,082 --> 03:25:46,916
It was the right thing to do.
3311
03:25:47,001 --> 03:25:53,006
And only then will you find what
we Quakers call "peace at the center".
3312
03:26:07,772 --> 03:26:13,526
He gave of himselfwith intelligence
and energy and devotion to duty.
3313
03:26:13,611 --> 03:26:15,362
[Stone] We pushed it to the funeral.
3314
03:26:15,446 --> 03:26:19,657
I tried to give a neutral reading
of the last years of his life.
3315
03:26:19,742 --> 03:26:24,537
Misunderstood by some people
as sentimentalizing Nixon.
3316
03:26:24,622 --> 03:26:29,209
I find it ironic that Nixon
was so honored on his death
3317
03:26:29,293 --> 03:26:33,630
by the attendance of five presidents.
It's amazing.
3318
03:26:33,714 --> 03:26:36,883
Clinton's words were generous.
But Clinton was close to Nixon,
3319
03:26:36,967 --> 03:26:38,802
went to him for advice.
3320
03:26:38,886 --> 03:26:43,223
The second half of the 20th century
will be known as the age of Nixon.
3321
03:26:43,307 --> 03:26:47,060
[narrator] In his absence, Russia and
the United States returned to a decade
3322
03:26:47,144 --> 03:26:49,562
of high-budget military expansion
and near war.
3323
03:26:50,481 --> 03:26:53,525
Nixon, who was pardoned
by President Ford,
3324
03:26:53,609 --> 03:26:59,197
lived to write six books and travel
the world as an elder statesman.
3325
03:26:59,281 --> 03:27:04,327
For the remainder of his life, he fought
successfully to protect his tapes.
3326
03:27:04,412 --> 03:27:09,207
The National Archives spent
14 years indexing and cataloging them.
3327
03:27:09,291 --> 03:27:13,753
Out of 4,000 hours,
60 hours have been made public.
3328
03:27:13,838 --> 03:27:16,673
[Stone] Of course, more have
been made public since then
3329
03:27:16,757 --> 03:27:20,677
through the work of the historian
Stanley Cutler and others.
3330
03:27:26,517 --> 03:27:29,936
I ended with a shot of Nixon
as a young man
3331
03:27:30,020 --> 03:27:32,730
out of empathy, as I said,
for what he started as.
3332
03:27:32,815 --> 03:27:36,109
We must remember what he finished as,
young man becomes the old man
3333
03:27:36,193 --> 03:27:37,986
and what happens in between.
3334
03:27:38,070 --> 03:27:41,406
Again, as with my other films,
I wanted to thank the actors
3335
03:27:41,490 --> 03:27:43,783
by showing the audience who they were.
3336
03:27:43,868 --> 03:27:46,703
What a magnificent cast.
they worked so hard.
3337
03:27:46,787 --> 03:27:48,788
And I thank them.
3338
03:28:15,357 --> 03:28:19,861
Shenandoah would be something Nixon
would appreciate like Victory at Sea.
3339
03:28:19,945 --> 03:28:22,238
Civil War tune, of course.
3340
03:28:22,323 --> 03:28:25,575
the healer. He saw himself
as the healer, doesn't mean he was.
3341
03:28:25,659 --> 03:28:27,744
It's the way he saw himself.
3342
03:28:27,828 --> 03:28:29,954
He was perhaps a divider.
3343
03:29:09,119 --> 03:29:11,079
E.G. Marshall has passed on.
3344
03:29:11,163 --> 03:29:13,957
A great fighter for human rights.
3345
03:29:18,420 --> 03:29:21,923
J.T. Walsh has passed on.
Young. Too young.
3346
03:29:24,134 --> 03:29:28,429
Joan Allen was nominated for an Oscar,
as was Tony Hopkins, the screenplay.
3347
03:29:33,769 --> 03:29:37,522
there he was, the bewildered, puzzled
thinking man, Mr. Cerebral.
3348
03:29:37,606 --> 03:29:41,234
Always worrying.
What a way to live your life.
3349
03:29:41,318 --> 03:29:45,655
Like that opening salesman at the
beginning, the used car salesman.
3350
03:29:45,739 --> 03:29:49,075
He never learned that lesson
which is project confidence.
3351
03:29:49,159 --> 03:29:52,370
that first actor
in that first industrial reel
3352
03:29:52,454 --> 03:29:54,330
was more confident than Nixon.
3353
03:29:54,415 --> 03:29:57,500
In his whole presidency,
never learned to project calm
3354
03:29:57,585 --> 03:30:00,420
and confidence and serenity.
He was never serene.
3355
03:30:00,504 --> 03:30:03,548
He was always in a contradiction.
that's why it was popular,
3356
03:30:03,632 --> 03:30:06,759
people would buy masks of Nixon.
the idea was he wore a mask
3357
03:30:06,844 --> 03:30:10,430
because his face was in contradiction
to what he was thinking or feeling.
3358
03:30:10,514 --> 03:30:12,640
You felt when he talked,
they were at odds.
3359
03:30:12,725 --> 03:30:15,643
the face didn't fit the words.
3360
03:30:15,728 --> 03:30:19,147
Didn't do much at the box office.
We hurt ourselves with, who knows,
3361
03:30:19,231 --> 03:30:22,650
the poster, the concept of Nixon
turned off a lot of people.
3362
03:30:22,735 --> 03:30:25,445
the darkness of the poster
didn't help us.
3363
03:30:25,529 --> 03:30:27,989
the look on his face was a scowl,
perhaps too much.
3364
03:30:28,073 --> 03:30:30,575
the public just never bought Nixon,
never have.
3365
03:30:30,659 --> 03:30:33,995
Even the ratings on the TV movie
that jumped out ahead of us,
3366
03:30:34,079 --> 03:30:35,622
they had no ratings either.
3367
03:30:35,706 --> 03:30:39,292
the interest in Nixon was never there
to begin with. It is in the media.
3368
03:30:39,376 --> 03:30:42,128
It is in the History Channel.
It is as a president.
3369
03:30:42,212 --> 03:30:45,423
Real life, spectators don't wanna
spend time with Richard Nixon.
3370
03:30:45,507 --> 03:30:49,552
they find him to be a monster
or somebody who scares them off.
3371
03:30:49,637 --> 03:30:52,680
It's a very interesting
psychological underpinning.
3372
03:31:12,201 --> 03:31:15,703
It was a huge production.
We did it in 65 days, 60 days.
3373
03:31:15,788 --> 03:31:17,121
Worked our butt off.
3374
03:31:17,206 --> 03:31:20,583
It came out nicely in the end. Cinergi
was a great company to work with.
3375
03:31:20,668 --> 03:31:24,212
Andy Vajna did a great job for us.
Really backed us.
3376
03:31:24,296 --> 03:31:26,130
We came in very close to budget.
3377
03:31:26,215 --> 03:31:29,884
Doesn't matter to me. I'm glad I made
the movie. I'm sorry they lost money.
3378
03:31:29,968 --> 03:31:34,263
I did too. But at the end of the day,
I think it's one of my best movies.
302920
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