PERSONAL DESIGNS
WILL BEAT ANY
PRICE FROM ANY 'Nixon'
CONTRACTOR OR T
MANUFACTURER

Rated R
hank goodness for credible
historians and Oliver Stone;
we'll still have Richard
Nixon to kick around. I have
to be careful here to critique the
film and not the man, although
director Stone's latest opus, a
three-hour Rorschach test, im-
pressively captures, humanizes

protestors. Shock cuts like X-rays
of Nixon's soul. Ominous clouds
speeding at high velocity over cap-
ital buildings in a Koyaanisqati-
like "nature out of control" apoc-
alyptic vision. An eerie atonal
score by John Williams comple-
ments the Dutch angles (used to
great effect in the original
Frankenstein movie) of the White

LOW PRICES and

Irwin & Laurie Groskind, Bloomfield Twp.
Steven & Ruthie Moss, Farmington Hills

Ask
Larry & Rhonda Katz, Farmington Hills
Robert & Dr. Jill Friedman, West Bloomfield

Anthony Hopkins stars as Richard M. Nixon with Joan Allen as his indomitable wife,
Pat, in Oliver Stone's newest opus, Nixon.

3250 New Farm Court, Suite 1, Walled Lake, MI 48390 (810) 624-9590

WE POURED OUR HEARTS INTO
BRINGING You A GREAT CUP OF COFFEE.

• IN-STORE COFFEE ROASTING, HAVE YOUR COFFEE FRESH-ROASTED & ENJOY A CUP OF COFFEE

ON US! • COFFEE HAPPY HOUR 3-7 P.M. MON.- FRI. BUY ONE COFFEE DRINK & RECEIVE A

SECOND COFFEE DRINK FREE • LIVE JAZZ FRI. & SAT. EVENINGS - 8 P.M.-11 P.M.

BOB

Os

THE BEST COFFEE, ESPRESSO & CAPPUCCINO IN TOWN!
Taste our tortes,scones & gourmet cakes.

r

-I '

r

i FREE CUP OF OUR 1 :
10% OFF
-1
Freshly
Ground
Coffee
I L_.
JAVA MASTER COFFEE i i
-Pith.
1-
J

I

J L

"' I P3.

"The Laughing Stock of Michigan"
Voted P 1 Comic By His Family

FRIDAYS, 9 p.m.

CALL NOW FOR
NEW YEAR'S EVE
RESERVATIONS

682-6540

Simsbury Plaza 33214 W. 14 Mile Rd. • W. Bloomfield, Michigan 48322
(Corner of 14 Mile & Farmington)

(810)

$

'

'

626-7393
Hours: Mor,Thurs.: 6:30 6.111.1 i p.m., Fri.: 6:30 j.ri I.-12 a.m.,
S&L: 7:36 a.m.-12 a.m., Sun.: 7:30 a.m.-11 p.m.,

GINO'S
COMEDY ROOM

1999 CASS LAKE RD
Knecio Harbor

-

,11.17,..-A,MVIYAVNJOISC:,..s.rat

.

anaan_FX_S2

and vilifies Nixon.
For those of you expecting a his-
tory lesson, look elsewhere. These
events are too recent in memory,
particularly around the baby-
boomer Vietnam draft generation,
to require much elaboration. The
events in this film — the Check-
ers speech, Alger Hiss, the
Kennedy debates, Pentagon pa-
pers, Watergate break-in, White
House tapes - are all
indelibly etched in our
MOVIES
nation's consciousness
and conscience.
Stone's other bio pic, JFK, was
soundly criticized for its willing-
ness to lend credence to a multi-
tude of sensational conspiracy
theories. Not so with Nixon; Stone
has annotated the bookstore ver-
sion of the script with documen-
tation to support the many stages
of the Nixon political era and the
many faces of Nixon.
The film plays like Shake-
spearean tragedy, going back to
Nixon's humble origins, his rela-
tionship with his mother, father
and two siblings who died of tu-
berculosis. Stone handles these
details with stunning juxtaposi-
tions, flashbacks to grainy black
and white footage that clatters
and blurs as it slips through the
projection gate. Nixon under in-
terrogation by his mother (Mary
Steenburgen), Nixon as a tackling
dummy at Whittier College,
Nixon as Pat's young suitor who
proposed on their first date, sig-
nifying he was more impetuous
than we might have thought.
This film contains hallucinato-
ry flashes of brilliance — the Re-
publican National Convention
floor dissolving in ) a field of war

House.
Nixon subverts his marriage to
political gain, sacrifices his hench-
men to ward off his inquisitors, .
spews anti-Semitism, records his
delusional paranoia, and quar-
terbacks his own downfall. He
should have remained a Whittier
tackling dummy.
In one of the film's more earnest
scenes, Nixon, attempting to gain
moral sustenance, is driven to
the Lincoln Memorial. Scores of
college-age protestors litter the
steps. Approached by them, Nixon
disassociates, rambles about foot-
ball, his youth, and finally, cor-
nered, attempts to justify the
Vietnam War with platitudes.
Youth can see right through him
and their distrust is palpable.
Those expecting a sampling of
the breadth or depth of Nixon's in-
tellect and reputed political as-
tuteness will be disappointed.
Instead, we see the paradox of
power — wanting it, getting it,
and fighting its loss with Machi-
avellian intensity.
Anthony Hopkins is splendid
as Nixon, conjuring his posture,
his mannerisms, his speech, his
sweaty upper lip. He is the dark-
ness, seeking the darkness. He is
helped enormously by Joan Allen
(Pat Nixon) who delivers some of
the most withering lines in the
film.
When Nixon refuses to surren-
der the incriminating White
House tapes, Pat tells him, "Burn
them." "They're mine," Nixon
says. Pat with laser-sharp tongue
replies, "The tapes are not yours
.. they are you."
.o)

— Dick Roc1z4,Lz