The Assassination of Richard Nixon

2004 film

The Assassination of Richard Nixon

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Niels Mueller
Written by| Niels Mueller
Kevin Kennedy
Produced by| Alfonso Cuarón
Jorge Vergara
Starring|

* Sean Penn
* Don Cheadle
* Jack Thompson
* Naomi Watts
* Brad William Henke
* Michael Wincott
* Mykelti Williamson

Cinematography| Emmanuel Lubezki
Edited by| Jay Cassidy
Music by| Steven M. Stern

Production
companies

Anhelo Productions
Appian Way
Esperanto Filmoj

Distributed by| ThinkFilm

Release dates

* May 17, 2004 (2004-05-17) (Cannes)
* December 29, 2004 (2004-12-29) (United States)

Running time

| 95 minutes
Countries| United States
Mexico
Language| English
Budget| $4.6 million[1]
Box office| $4.4 million[2]

The Assassination of Richard Nixon is a 2004 drama film directed by Niels Mueller and starring Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, Jack Thompson and Naomi Watts. It is based on the story of would-be assassin Samuel Byck, who plotted to kill Richard Nixon in 1974. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.[3] The last name of the main character was changed to Bicke.[4]

## Plot

[edit]

In 1973, 43-year-old Philadelphia resident Sam Bicke (Sean Penn) is a down on his luck salesman who desperately wishes to reconcile with his estranged wife Marie (Naomi Watts). A constant moralizer, he states that he stopped working at the tire shop owned by his brother Julius (Michael Wincott) because he would lie to his customers. Believing that society's discrimination affects poor white people just as much as it does blacks, he attempts to join the Black Panthers. His dream is to own his own mobile tire sales business in partnership with his best friend, African-American mechanic Bonny (Don Cheadle).

He finds employment at an office furniture retail business, where his new boss Jack (Jack Thompson) gives him patronizing advice, while his awkwardness makes him a poor salesman. Jack describes US president Richard Nixon as the greatest salesman in history, because his election promise in 1968 was to exit the Vietnam War, and four years later he again coasted to win an easy re-election in 1972 on the promise of ending the same war.

Bicke becomes increasingly disillusioned with his status in society. He applies for a government loan to set up the business with Bonny, and he frantically waits for an answer in the mail. His sales figures continue to deteriorate, and Jack, who only hires married salesmen, begins to suspect Sam lied about his marriage. In fact, Marie keeps rebutting all of Sam's awkward attempts at reconciling, and later sends him a divorce decree, leaving him weeping in despair. Shortly afterwards, he deliberately destroys a sale by turning up the television volume in the showroom as Jack negotiates with a prospective customer and thereafter quits his job. While watching Nixon giving a speech on TV during the Watergate scandal, he screams at him, "It's about money, Dick!" With the loan still not finalized, he breaks into his brother's tire sales business to make a large order that will be delivered to Bonny. Ultimately, the loan is rejected, his rent is past due, and his brother Julius reveals he had to bail out Bonny, who was arrested for receiving stolen goods, and is now done entirely with his deadbeat, hypocritical brother.

A broken Sam begins obsessing more and more about Nixon. One night, after watching a news story about a helicopter pilot who did a fly-by around the White House and was arrested, he begins to formulate a plan to hijack a passenger airliner and crash it into the White House. In the two weeks leading to his action, he records a message detailing his intentions and state of mind, addressing it to Leonard Bernstein, whom he greatly admires.

Sam liquidates his bank account, steals Bonny's gun, and heads to a restaurant where Jack is dining. He aims the gun at Jack under the table, but cannot pull the trigger and flees. He goes to his and Marie's old house and sleeps in the empty home, then shoots and kills the family dog. The next morning, he drives to the Baltimore–Washington International Airport with the gun concealed against his leg and a suitcase full of gasoline. After mailing his confession to Bernstein, he plans to wait in line to board a flight, but seeing the security procedures are more thorough than expected, he panics and rushes on board, shooting a cop as he goes.

Once on board, he haphazardly shoots one pilot in the head and the other in the shoulder, then finds a passenger to act as co-pilot. However, he is shot through a window by an intervening policeman, but commits suicide before he can be killed or arrested. The day's events are shown on TV, though neither Bonny nor Marie appear to react to the mention of Sam's name.

## Cast

[edit]

* Sean Penn as Samuel "Sam" Bicke, a salesman with a history of short-lived jobs
* Naomi Watts as Marie Andersen Bicke, Sam's ex-wife
* Don Cheadle as Bonny Simmons, Sam's best friend and potential business partner
* Jack Thompson as Jack Jones, Sam's new employer at a furniture retail
* Mykelti Williamson as Harold Mann, head of the local Black Panther chapter
* Michael Wincott as Julius Bicke, Sam's brother
* Nick Searcy as Tom Ford, director of the local loan agency
* Brad William Henke as Martin Jones, Jack's son and a salesman
* Joe Marinelli as Mel Samuels

## Reception

[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 129 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Assassination of Richard Nixon struggles to convey deeper meaning, but a fascinating true story and compelling Sean Penn performance are worthy compensations."[5] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[6]

Empire gave the film four stars out of five, stating, "it's great to see the courage of '70s Hollywood meeting the conviction of 21st-century indie cinema in this stark, bold drama."[7]

Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars and wrote, "Does the film have a message? I don't think it wants one. It is about the journey of a man going mad. A film can simply be a character study, as this one is. That is sufficient. A message might seem trundled in and gratuitous."[4]

Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post wrote: "It grinds on without mercy. You're in the cross hairs. There is no escape. Where is that Secret Service when you need it?"[8]

## In popular culture

[edit]

In 2018, in a discussion of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, Donald Clarke wrote in The Irish Times that "[t]he most interesting cinematic analysis of any character featured in Assassins may, however, be Niels Mueller’s fascinating, underappreciated The Assassination of Richard Nixon from 2004."[9]

## See also

[edit]

* List of American films of 2004
* List of films based on actual events
* Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, a 2018 novel by Penn similar in content

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
2. ^ "The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
3. ^ "The Assassination of Richard Nixon". Cannes Festival. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
4. ^ a b Ebert, Roger (January 13, 2005). "'Nixon' soars on another riveting performance by Penn". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
5. ^ "The Assassination of Richard Nixon". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
6. ^ "The Assassination of Richard Nixon". Metacritic. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
7. ^ "Empire's The Assassination Of Richard Nixon Movie Review". Empire. January 2000. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
8. ^ Stephen Hunter (2005). "Overkill With Sean Penn". The Washington Post.
9. ^ "A shortcut to immortality: kill the president". The Irish Times. Retrieved April 8, 2018.

## External links

[edit]

* The Assassination of Richard Nixon at IMDb
* Official trailer

* v
* t
* e

Richard Nixon

* 37th President of the United States (1969–1974)
* 36th Vice President of the United States (1953–1961)
* U.S. Senator from California (1950–1953)
* U.S. Representative for CA–12 (1947–1950)

Presidency|

* Transition
* First inauguration
* Second inauguration
* Nixon Doctrine
* "Bring Us Together"
* Economic policies
* Nixon shock
* Tar Baby Option
* Environmental Protection Agency
* creation
* National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
* Space exploration
* 1971 National Cancer Act
* Vietnam War
* Cambodian bombing
* Paris Peace Accords
* "Peace with Honor"
* Vietnamization
* Silent majority
* Cold War period
* Linkage policy
* Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act
* 1970 Lincoln Memorial visit
* 1972 visit to China
* Shanghai Communiqué
* Détente
* 1972 Moscow Summit
* Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
* SALT I Treaty
* Prevention of Nuclear War Agreement
* Threshold Test Ban Treaty
* Endangered Species Act
* National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse
* War on drugs
* Drug Enforcement Administration
* Cannabis policy
* Enemies List
* list of opponents
* Operation CHAOS
* Watergate
* timeline
* White House tapes
* United States v. Nixon
* Senate Watergate Committee
* impeachment process
* "I am not a crook"
* Resignation
* speech
* Pardon
* State of the Union Address
* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973
* 1974
* Wilson desk
* Judicial appointments
* Supreme Court
* controversies
* Executive Orders
* Presidential Proclamations

Life and
politics|

* Richard Nixon Foundation
* Presidential Library and Museum
* Birthplace and boyhood home
* Checkers speech
* 1958 motorcade attack
* Kitchen Debate
* Operation 40
* "Last press conference"
* Florida White House
* "La Casa Pacifica"
* Nixon Center
* Nixon v. General Services Administration
* Death and state funeral

Books|

* Six Crises (1962)
* Bibliography

Elections|

* U.S. House of Representatives: 1946
* 1948
* U.S. Senate: 1950
* California gubernatorial election: 1962
* GOP presidential primaries: 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* 1972
* GOP national conventions: 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* campaign
* 1968
* campaign
* 1972
* campaign
* Presidential elections: 1952
* transition
* 1956
* 1960
* debates
* Kennedy transition
* 1968
* 1972

Popular
culture|

* "Nixon goes to China"
* Millhouse (1971 film)
* An Evening with Richard Nixon (1972 play)
* Richard (1972 film)
* Another Nice Mess (1972 film)
* Four More Years (1972 film)
* Impeach the President (1973 song)
* The Werewolf of Washington (1973 film)
* White House Madness (1975 film)
* All the President's Men (1976 film)
* The Public Burning (1977 novel)
* Washington: Behind Closed Doors (1977 miniseries)
* Secret Honor (1984 film)
* Nixon in China (1987 opera)
* The Final Days (1989 film)
* Nixon (1995 film)
* Elvis Meets Nixon (1997 film)
* Futurama (1999 TV series)
* Dick (1999 film)
* Nixon's China Game (2000 film)
* Dark Side of the Moon (2002 film)
* The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004 film)
* Frost–Nixon interviews (2006 play, 2008 film)
* Black Dynamite (2009 film)
* "The Impossible Astronaut" (2011 TV episode)
* Our Nixon (2013 film)
* X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014 film)
* Crooked (2015 novel)
* Elvis & Nixon (2016 film)
* The Post (2017 film)
* Watergate (2019 board game)
* U.S. postage stamp

Related|

* Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act
* Presidential Townhouse
* Richard Nixon mask
* Nixon diamond

Staff|

* Jack Brennan (aide de camp)
* Murray Chotiner (early campaign manager)
* Manolo Sanchez (valet)
* Rose Mary Woods (secretary)

Family|

* Thelma "Pat" Ryan Nixon (wife)
* Tricia Nixon Cox (daughter)
* Julie Nixon Eisenhower (daughter)
* Christopher Nixon Cox (grandson)
* Jennie Eisenhower (granddaughter)
* Francis A. Nixon (father)
* Hannah Milhous Nixon (mother)
* Donald Nixon (brother)
* Edward Nixon (brother)

* ← Lyndon B. Johnson
* Gerald Ford →

* Category

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template