Frost/Nixon
15, Nationwide
Frost/Nixon is a properly terrific, dramatised account of the television interview between David Frost and disgraced former American President Richard Nixon which, broadcast in the summer of 1977, achieved the largest audience ever for a news programme in the history of American TV with 45 million viewers. As I don’t remember much about it — I was 16 at the time and therefore much too busy shoplifting in Chelsea Girl (or Snob or Biba; I wasn’t that fussed) — I can’t comment on the historical accuracy, but can say it feels powerfully authentic and, even if it isn’t, who cares? It’s a tight and absorbing trip to the cinema, end of.
Directed by Ron Howard — who’d have thought it? Richie Cunningham from Happy Days! — and adapted by playwright/screenwriter Peter Morgan (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland; not Happy Days) from his hit stage play, it follows all the shenanigans that ultimately led to the epic interview which, in and of itself, was filmed over 12 days, finally amounting to 28 hours and 45 minutes of footage.
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