Just watched "Nixon" and I have to say I think this is possibly Oliver Stone's best film.

I have been a big fan of his for almost his entire career and have always regarded "Platoon", "Born on the 4th of July", "JFK" and to some extent "Natural Born Killers" to be among his best.

But watching "Nixon", probably for the 4th or 5th time, I really think this one captures the American mentality in the 60s/early 70s amazingly well, the acting is top notch and the way Stone tells his rise and fall is extremely compelling and holds your attention. He also doesn't seem to be as over-indulgent in his usual trickery like he uses in "JFK" and "Natural Born Killers". I'd say the film's biggest flaw is some of the liberties taken with history and the bending of some of the facts. But obviously there was no access to the behind-the-scenes discussions, closed-door meetings, etc.

How would you guys say "Nixon" ranks in Stone's filmography?

4th or 5th time? Really? To me, Born on the Fourth of July captured that era much more personally than Nixon. Nixon is an okay film, but it's definitey not his best. And not one I'd watch 4 or 5 times.

Nixon is an insanely impressive film. Stone went through a fifteen year stretch (85-99) that is almost unparalleled in film history.Just masterful film after masterful film.
Nixon the film boasts a fantastic soundtrack, cast, cinematography and rather intricate and complicated script. Still it is immensely watchable.
I wouldnt say its Stones Best film but i would say its would be up there along with JFK, Born on the 4th of July,Any Given Sunday, Salvador and Heaven and Earth

Nixon is unquestionably Stone's best film in my eyes - every beat of every performance, every word of the script, every shot just seems ineffably right.

I know there is no such thing as a perfect film but this is one of the very few works I would give 10 out of 10 to.

The Motion Picture Academy should have got down on their knees in front of Stone, Hopkins, et all and given them every prize going in 1995.

It also has the best trailer I have ever seen for a film.

This is a truly great film. It bookends beautifully with JFK. The movie is filled with breathtakingly spectacular moments. The Dallas sequence with Larry Hagman as the composite character Jack Jones discussing Kennedy is pure cinematic poetry. I've watched that sequence many, many times, rewinding it over and over just to engage it's utter perfection. It just lives and breathes within a perfect construct. It's a textbook example of perfectly rhythmic movie editing and direction. An example of a filmmaker at the height of his skills. Not a wasted moment...just pure sound, image and scripted dialogue delivered impeccably by exceptionally talented artists.

This is Oliver Stone at the top of his game and one of his best films.

5/5

1995 was a great year for epic movies: Casino, Heat, Nixon, Mortal Kombat.

I'm really surprised to see the love for Nixon, was it re-released recently or something?

It's easily my favorite Oliver Stone film and the Director's Cut is the best way to watch it, with the addition of Sam Waterson as Richard Helms.

I like Oliver Stone's films and I like Nixon. But casting Kevin Costner in JFK was the biggest disaster in Stone's career. Truly awful.

I prefer Natural Born Killers or Salvador.

The film is great. I too recently watched it. Two things:

1. The theatrical cut is nowhere near as good as the director's cut. I was unimpressed when I first saw the theatrical version on VHS which had a second tape of deleted scenes. All the deleted scenes seemed essential. When they were reinstated it made for a much better film. I can forgive critics and the academy for not awarding anything to the theatrical version.

2. I think Stone hurt the film by doing too much of his "mixed media" style. He invented that look on JFK and went "all in" with Natural Born Killers. He dialed it down on Nixon but he should have dispensed with it all together. I don't have any problem with that style, but it just doesn't fit the story he's telling. Having the film cut from B&W to color when two people walk through a doorway is just unmotivated and distracting.

Its funny you mention the Helms character. What the fuck was going on with his eyes in that scene? They go all black like he is evil incarnate or something.

That's the clincher on the awesome scene; basically, Helms was representing the puppet master pulling Nixon's strings to continue Stone's narrative that there were other forces that represented the real sources of conflict.

The imagery in that scene is great, like the dark eyes or the flower that wilts as Nixon grovels in praise to Helms.

I'd say that's a pretty major flaw, esp. to someone like me who remembers the Nixon era. I found NIXON an interesting and entertaining film, mainly for Hopkins' performance, but it's nowhere near a historically significant film about the subject, nor a definitive film. You'd have to turn to documentaries for that, like Emile de Antonio's MILLHOUSE: A WHITE COMEDY (1971). On the other hand, Stone's JFK (1991) compares quite favorably to de Antonio's film about the assassination, RUSH TO JUDGMENT (1966), and remains Stone's best film and his most historically significant one. There were some liberties taken in JFK in terms of the way the information was presented (e.g. the whole scene with Donald Sutherland as "X"), but the information presented was all taken from the public record and public testimony. It wasn't "made up" as so many of the conspirators' friends in the media insisted.

JFK is by far my favorite Stone movie. My other faves include Platoon and Wall Street.

I think Nixon ranks somewhere in the "middle" of Stone's work...in about the same area as World Trade Center and Born on the Fourth of July. It's a good, solid movie - but not his "best".

Nixon is a masterpiece.