If you ask me, the title of this Bilge Ebiri New York/Vulture story implies that somewhere out there are ten mezzo-mezzo movie Nixons, and perhaps ten forgettable move Nixons on top of these. The idea of 30 or 40 Nixons…a battallion of Nixons…Nixons in leotards doing the Rockettes kick…an infinite number of scurrying, rat-like Nixons….an Army of Nixon waiters in Being Richard Nixon.
“With Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon opening this week — along with the release of hundreds of new hours of Nixon tapes — America’s 37th president is back in the news,” Ebiri begins. “And it couldn’t have come at a more critical time — let’s face it, Tricky Dick’s claim to the title of America’s Premier Political Bogeyman has been shaky these past eight years. But until Dubya headlines his own torture-porn horror franchise (hey, it could happen), Richard Milhous Nixon will still be the nation’s favorite movie president — only Lincoln, with his hundred-year head start, can even hope to challenge him.”