I was able to re-watch the theatrical cut of Nixon on YouTube (LEGALLY). I've watched it some many times over the last 25 years and I still find it a compelling watch even when I know every story beat down cold. As time has gone on, I can notice more of it's flaws: most of the dialogue is a major info dump of proper nouns and historical events; Hopkins performance is mainly excellent even if it becomes a bit cartoonish at moments; the "Bay of Pigs"/Kennedy Assassination story thread that just seems--so Oliver Stone-y. Despite that, it's still grabs me by the lapels and leaves me hypnotized. I remember watching in on the big screen with my dad back in 95. I remember being just transported to that time and being totally engrossed in the story. (I did a paper on Richard Nixon in 6th grade a few years earlier). This one and Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, and Natural Born Killers are probably the only OS films I find re-watchable. Does Stone specialize in subtlety? Hell no. Does he take you on a wild ride? Hell yes.

Other great stuff: Joan Allen deserved an Oscar for her portrayal as Pat Nixon. It's such a wonderfully nuanced performance. This has got to be John Williams most underrated score. Goddamn, it's epic. It breathes as much life into this movie as much as John Carpenter's score does for Halloween.

If you haven't seen it, you can watch it for free with ads (LEGALLY) on YouTube.

Does anyone else dig on this movie? I find it Stone's last great movie before he kind of faded out of the mainstream. Also, the theatrical cut kicks the extended cut's ass up and down the block. I forgot how well-paced this movie was without the 28 minutes of footage that's shoehorned in the EC. (Though I do like Sam Waterston as Dick Helms)

I thought this movie was the beginning of his downfall. Watched it once in the theater, and on blu. Haven’t managed to sit through all of it since. No doubt he’s already in the early stages of penning a Trump movie.

Great film, but I prefer the director's cut. The scene with Helms is fantastic. Those in denial have always given props to Nixon here, but he was clearly owned by Helms.

You have to admit that Nixon is better than The Doors. The Doors was the pits.

As for a Trump biopic, I don't know how he'd pull it off. With both Nixon and W. there were aspects to the protagonists that were human and relatable.

The Doors was another bad one. Don’t get me wrong, Nixon had some great acting, but it just didn’t click for me the way JFK and W did. And it’s a long ass movie and it felt that way. JFK had a much better pacing and flow.

The Doors is awesome. It's its own thing. I have the 4K of the director's cut and it is cool as hell.

I have that as well. The sound on it is awesome.

You guys mentioned W. and that one I didn't care for. It humanized GWB way too much and just didn't feel epic enough. Although, it does play well as a double-feature with Vice. Vice is a much better film, as well.

Agree on Vice. W., well, I don't think anyone could make George W. Bush into a BELIEVABLE epic Shakespearean character like what was done with Nixon. It was smart of Stone not to try.

"Nixon" was a great film. As were Hopkins and Allen in it. My only gripe with the movie is, Hopkins looked nothing like Nixon. "JFK" was much better though all around. About "W", yeah, I hated the way they humanized GWB. But the worst part was Thandie Newton's Condoleezza Rich. Fucking hell was that a horrible performance.

I wasn't bothered by Hopkins not looking like Nixon. Reminds me of Frost/Nixon and Frank Langella also looked noting like Nixon That's a great film.

The Nixon Directors Cut is way better.

Firat time I saw Nixon was on a special edition vhs. It was the theatrical cut on two tapes because it’s so long. At the end of tape two was all the deleted scenes. I didn’t really enjoy the movie as much as I enjoyed jfk. But once I saw the deleted scenes I was like “all of that needed to be in there!” It all helped the movie and clarified things. When a true directors cut was made I was very happy.

I don't hate the director's cut. The added scenes are good on their own merit (especially the Sam Waterston scene), but watching the theatrical cut on YouTube, I was floored by how much better it flowed--at least from my perspective.

I’m going to have to give this another watch. I haven’t seen it since it was first released and I was only 16 or 17 years old. There’s probably a lot that I didn’t understand in it. I’m sure watching it again in my 40, particularly in the current policy climate, I’ll appreciate it a lot more.

Also I'm introducing this movie to a friend of mine in their early 20s. They are curious about American history and love movies. Yes, yes, I know: the movie takes some dramatic liberties with historical fact (and the movie acknowledges this in the opening card)--and I also told them that this is a drama and not a pure historical record. So, I recommended that they read up on Richard Nixon and the times he lived to get better context of all the historical info dumps this movie throws at the audience. Do you think someone born in the late 90s will appreciate this film?

I think I have seen it 3 times but will have to pop the blu-ray in the player sometime and I could watch it again.

Born on the 4th of July another Stone movie that does not get the love it should for the masterpiece it is.

Looking back 1995 had some great movies with Nixon, Casino, To Die For, Clueless, Braveheart, Crimson Tide, and Heat.

Any chance of a 4K conversion of both Nixon and JFK anytime soon? JFK is approaching its 30th anniversary this December, so I would like to think it's a possibility. I loved the director's cut of Nixon.

I'm glad to see this thread. I love the film, and it's in my top 3 or 4 Stone films. To me, JFK is in my top 5 movies ever, and this is no JFK, but damn good.

I would be all in for a 4K release of JFK as ESPECIALLY if it had both cuts of the film. I think the theatrical cut of JFK is superior if for no other reason than it doesn't have the screw up of having of the protagonists mentioning "our friend, Clay Shaw" before they introduce him into the movie proper. I can't believe someone as detail-oriented as Oliver Stone overlooked that cock-up.

JFK has a better chance of seeing a 4K release because it's WB. Nixon is Hollywood Pictures, I think, and that's Disney. Unless Kino licenses it for 4K, that'd be cool.

JFK is a masterpiece of film making, but I thought it ruined Oliver Stone as a director for a good while because he seemed to edit his films to took just like it for years. While it sort of works for Nixon, since it is more or less a sequel to JFK, it was annoying and distracting in films like Any Given Sunday and Natural Born Killers.

As for Nixon, there is a lot of great stuff in it, and I did pull the blu-ray off the shelf to rewatch it last summer, but it still in that pile of around 30 movies around the TV. I did watch Salvador, Heaven & Earth, and rewatch Natural Born Killers last year so I am making my way through some Stone.

Talk Radio is an underrated masterpiece.

Agreed. It is an overlooked gem.

Nixon is good, but JFK is Stone's masterpiece.
I know it's hated, but I really like U-Turn.

I haven't seen Any Given Sunday, but I think it works like gangbusters for NBK. The constant cutting and changes in film stocks really help pump up the manic energy and insanity of the film. I do think JFK (the theatrical cut) is Stone's most disciplined film by a long-ass way.