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The Assassination of Richard Nixon

Like a fine wine, Sean Penn gets better with age. Since his chilling portrayal of a death-row inmate in “Dead Man Walking” in 1995, to his Oscar-winning role in “Mystic River” in 2003, Sean Penn has been honing and perfecting his craft to an art form. He is able to embody character roles with such conviction we forget we’re watching an actor and not the real person.

His newest portrayal of a down-and-out salesman named Samuel Bicke in a little-known independent film called “The Assassination of Richard Nixon,” may well be his best performance yet, though few people may have seen it. His heartbreaking portrayal of this tragic man is so raw and unfiltered, you almost have to wonder if he wasn’t channeling the man himself.

Because this film is based on true accounts of this man’s life, we already know the ending. What we may not know is what led him to commit the desperate act of hijacking a plane in 1972 as part of a plan to assassinate then President Richard Nixon. That journey is where this film comes in. Like a modern version of “Death of a Salesman,” this film shows a tragic man in a downward spiral from which he cannot seem to recover.

Bicke works as a frustrated, meek and bitter furniture salesman, separated from his wife (Naomi Watts) and kids, but desperate to reunite with them. He thinks that if he can start his own tire business with friend Bonny Simmons (Don Cheadle), he will be able to turn his life around and win his wife back. But, somehow, at least according to him, life is against him. He loses his sales job, the loan for his tire business falls through and his wife files for divorce. Destitute, depressed and alone, he blames the president for his lot in life. If his world is falling apart, then the leader of his world must be at fault. Therefore, the only logical thing to do, in his unstable mind, is to hijack a plane and kill Nixon. Once he makes this decision, he has new purpose in his life. He practices with toy guns and airplanes in his tiny apartment. Not sleeping, barely eating, this becomes his obsession, and eventually his demise.

This film, at its heart, is not about hijackings or an attempted assassination, it’s simply a character study of a man, like Willie Loman, for whom the American Dream became a nightmare. Brilliantly played by Penn, his performance is what makes this film worth seeing. He’s come a long way since the days of “Shanghai Surprise.”

The DVD doesn’t have any special features, other than previews for other New Line films.

Written by: Keli Ayr Brooks

Reviewers Rating: 8.5
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