Secret Honor (1984)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

Donald Freed (play) &
Arnold M. Stone (play) ...

Release Date:

29 January 1986 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Anyone can BE the President.

Plot:

A fictionalized former President Richard M. Nixon offers a solitary, stream-of-consciousness reflection on his life and political career - and the "true" reasons for the Watergate scandal and his resignation.

Plot Keywords:

President | Watergate Scandal | Watergate | Defiance | Politician

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Philip Baker Hall

...

Richard Nixon

Also Known As:

Lords of Treason
Secret Honor: A Political Myth
Secret Honor: The Last Testament of Richard M. Nixon

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | UK:15

Filming Locations:

University of Michigan central campus, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Company:

Sandcastle 5 Productions

Trivia:

Filmed while 'Robert Altman' was a professor at the University of Michigan. The crew consisted of mostly students of the University who were studying film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: President Nixon presses the record button on his cassette tape recorder and begins recording, but a few moments later realizes that there is no cassette tape in the recorder. Cassette tape recorders have a trip bar inside the cassette compartment that make it impossible for the user to press the record button if no cassette is in the recorder. So President Nixon should not have been able to press the record button.

Quotes:

Richard Nixon: You, ladies and gentlemen of the American jury, shall look at the face that is under the mask, that is -
[stumbles]
Richard Nixon: - that is under the mask!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Robert Altman (#2.9)" (2001)

An utterly amazing movie!

SECRET HONOR should be seen by everybody with an interest in Richard Nixon. It may not be what he was really like, but it is a weird and unforgettable portrait of this man. Philip Baker Hall delivers one of the best screen performances I can ever remember in this one man movie. The movie takes place on the day before Richard Nixon is going to resign, and sits around drinking scotch and yelling into a tape recorder about everything in his political life. He blames Castro, Kissinger and anyone named Kennedy for all the problems in his life- while never accepting resposibilty for any of it himself. He's a man entrenched in denial. The movie utlimately makes Nixon look like an idiot- a man who has no idea what he was doing. This is one of Robert Altman's best films- an utterly amazing film.