Secret Honor - Die geheime Ehre des Präsidenten

Secret Honor/Carmen/Supergirl/Eureka/The Times of Harvey Milk

A remarkable performance by Philip Baker Hall

University of Michigan Central Campus, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Elliott Gould and George Segal in California Split (1974)

Tim Roth and Paul Rhys in Vincent & Theo (1990)

Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Cher, Karen Black, and Sandy Dennis in Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)

Buffalo Bill and the Indians or Sitting Bull's History Lesson

Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman, Geraldine Chaplin, and Frank Kaquitts in Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson

Matthew Modine, George Dzundza, David Alan Grier, Guy Boyd, Mitchell Lichtenstein, and Michael Wright in Streamers (1983)

Kim Basinger and Sam Shepard in Fool for Love (1985)

Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall in 3 Women (1977)

I am America. I'm a winner who lost every battle, up to and including the war. I am *not* the American nightmare. I am the American Dream. Period. That's why the system works. Because I am the system. *Period.*

Poster for video release, 16 x 24 Mini Movie Poster 

Philip Baker Hall

Donald Freed

Arnold M. Stone

A fictionalized former President Richard M. Nixon offers a solitary, stream-of-consciousness reflection on his life and political career - and the &quot;true&quot; reasons for the Watergate scandal and his resignation.

Robert Altman

Secret Honor

The Dark Night of Richard M. Nixon

&quot;Secret Honor&quot; is an actor&apos;s wet dream.

This screen adaptation of a one-man play stars Philip Baker Hall as Richard Nixon on the dark night that follows his resignation from the office of President of the United States. The film makes clear from the outset that it is not a representation of facts but rather a fictional exploration of the thoughts and feelings that may have been torturing Nixon at the time. Hall has the screen to himself and gives a fierce, if rather one-note, performance. The material isn&apos;t very deep and doesn&apos;t give Hall a lot of room to explore, but I suppose it succeeds on its own modest terms.

Robert Altman made this film at the apex of his disenfranchisement from the mainstream Hollywood system. He filmed it at the University of Michigan with the assistance of Michigan students, and the tiny budget and minimal resources show. It&apos;s not remotely cinematic, though Altman makes a solid effort to make it so. Though the action is confined to Nixon&apos;s private office, Altman frequently pans his camera over to a bank of security cameras that Nixon has trained on himself, so that much of the time we&apos;re watching an image of Hall on a T.V. monitor rather than Hall himself. The message is clear -- Nixon, and by extension any politician, is constantly performing, even in his most private moments. Once one takes the oath of the presidency, he can&apos;t ever stop being the president. How good a job would any one of us do under similar circumstances, and how harshly do we have the right to judge our leaders?

Admittedly, much of my lack of enjoyment of &quot;Secret Honor&quot; is my own fault. It made me realize how little I actually know about Nixon&apos;s presidency, which was over in the years just before I was born, and I wasn&apos;t able to understand many of the film&apos;s references. As is often the case, my knowledge of the more distant past is greater than events that have occurred within my lifetime.

Grade: B

"Secret Honor" is an actor's wet dream.

This screen adaptation of a one-man play stars Philip Baker Hall as Richard Nixon on the dark night that follows his resignation from the office of President of the United States. The film makes clear from the outset that it is not a representation of facts but rather a fictional exploration of the thoughts and feelings that may have been torturing Nixon at the time. Hall has the screen to himself and gives a fierce, if rather one-note, performance. The material isn't very deep and doesn't give Hall a lot of room to explore, but I suppose it succeeds on its own modest terms.

Robert Altman made this film at the apex of his disenfranchisement from the mainstream Hollywood system. He filmed it at the University of Michigan with the assistance of Michigan students, and the tiny budget and minimal resources show. It's not remotely cinematic, though Altman makes a solid effort to make it so. Though the action is confined to Nixon's private office, Altman frequently pans his camera over to a bank of security cameras that Nixon has trained on himself, so that much of the time we're watching an image of Hall on a T.V. monitor rather than Hall himself. The message is clear -- Nixon, and by extension any politician, is constantly performing, even in his most private moments. Once one takes the oath of the presidency, he can't ever stop being the president. How good a job would any one of us do under similar circumstances, and how harshly do we have the right to judge our leaders?

Admittedly, much of my lack of enjoyment of "Secret Honor" is my own fault. It made me realize how little I actually know about Nixon's presidency, which was over in the years just before I was born, and I wasn't able to understand many of the film's references. As is often the case, my knowledge of the more distant past is greater than events that have occurred within my lifetime.

Grade: B

A fictionalized former President Richard M. Nixon offers a solitary, stream-of-consciousness reflection on his life and political career - and the "true" reasons for the Watergate scandal and his resignation.

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Secret Honor

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