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Nixon

(1995, Rated R, Drama, Starring Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Anthony Hopkins)

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 13, age appropriate for kids over 15; suggested age 13.

  • Is it any good?

    3.0

  • Common Sense says

    Dense psychodrama of much-disliked U.S. president.

Why We Rated This iffy for Ages 13–15

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    This version of Nixon is certainly a mixed character, but more tragic than an actual villain. Brought up in a strict Christian household on principles of truth and honesty, he becomes known popularly as a liar and a cheat. He tries to do good as a public servant, even succeeds in some ways, yet ruthlessly violates the law to maintain his power, and close friends and advisors are suspected of treachery. There is casual racist talk in high U.S. government circles about African Americans and Jews. An FBI director comes across as more like an evil mob boss -- an evil gay mob boss.

  • Violence:

    War and assassination footage in vintage news clips, some of which depict dead and mutilated corpses, fiery explosions.

  • Sex:

    Gossip of sexual indiscretions and adventuring by Daniel Ellsberg, Dwight Eisenhower, Martha Mitchell, the Kennedy men, even Martin Luther King Jr. J. Edgar Hoover is depicted flirting with another man and called a "queen," even though his (rumored) homosexuality is never directly confronted.

  • Language:

    Numerous racial epithets for Jews and African Americans (including the N-word), the F-word, the S-word -- this all out of a president's mouth (though he regrets the profanity becoming known to the public). Some of Nixon's cabinet similarly swear.

  • Consumerism:

    Mention of prominent newspapers, TV networks, automobile companies.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Social drinking, with the character of Pat Nixon particularly sinking into alcoholism and chainsmoking as a consequence of her unhappy marriage. Richard Nixon at one point has a prominent bottle of pills. As a boy he is severely upbraided for smoking homemade cigarettes of corn-silk.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Nixon

Parents need to know that the dialog in the Nixon White House is a veritable profanity-gate, with R-rated usage of the F-word, the S-word, the c-word, and numerous racial epithets (this is historically accurate, as the tapes revealed). Vintage newsreels and broadcast-TV footage show glimpses of corpses, explosions, and war atrocities in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Chile. There is talk of the sexual lives of leading figures such as Martin Luther King, Henry Kissinger, and the Kennedys. Meanwhile FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, heavily hinted as a homosexual, flirts with a waiter. This is a looong movie (even longer in the "Director's Cut"), so it's not the best choice for short-attention-span viewers.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about the character of Richard Nixon, both in this dramatization and in reality. Do you think this movie is fair to him? Fact-check what parts really happened and what parts (like a conspiratorial meeting with a nameless, sinister Texas oilman, played by Larry Hagman) are Stone's imagination. For what it's worth, the Nixon family was unhappy with this movie. You can have kids research the life and career of the controversial statesman and the tangled Watergate scandal. Do they think the country (and the Congress) learned anything constructive from Nixon's downfall? Can you relate it to the Washington D.C. of today?
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