Sean Penn's New Role: Man Who Wants to Kill Nixon by Flying Plane Into White House

Movies.com ^ | circa April 2003 | L.N. Smithee

[L.N. Smithee]

The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2003)

A desperate insurance salesman (Sean Penn) plans an assassination attempt on Richard Nixon by crashing a plane into the White House in order to make his mark on history.

[L.N. Smithee]

FYI. Didn't see it anywhere else.

There's no way to tell from just that plotline, but it sounds like another celluloid slap at the "Angry White Male" a la Falling Down, the Michael Douglas vehicle about a defense worker who goes bananas after the post-Cold War "peace dividend" kicks in, costs him his job, and there is nothing good to do with all of those military weapons than terrorize minimum-wage dipsticks at fast-food joints.

I found the listing on IMDb.com after reading the latest excerpt from his paid full-page incoherent rant on the pages of the New York Times as reprinted on the Media Resource Center site.

[aynrandfreak]

What a stretch for him to play a guy that wants to kill Republicans.

[Brian Mosely]

Dang...Nixon's been dead and buried for years but that doesn't stop the left from digging him up and killing him again. I knew they really hated the man, but this is getting silly.

[jonalvy44]

Here's an idea. any movie with Penn, Robbins, etc. just take the budget and donate it to charity instead of making it. Americans do not wish to see these anti-American celebs anymore. They are fired!

www.PABAAH.com

[dead]

It sounds like a great idea for a movie. They should call it "Taxi Driver."

[lilylangtree]

Sounds like Penn is desperate. Wouldn't it be more apropos to have it: "The Assassination of William Jefferson Clinton Planned by a Hoard of Sexually-Deprived Women"

[Tacis]

One of the truly wonderful things, perhaps, the only wonderful thing about Sean Penn movies is that the subject matter makes no difference. I will not watch nor pay to watch it. And, I urge all others to take advantage of this automatic evaluation characteristic of Penn's work. If Sean Penn is in in, it isn't worth seeing.

[Constitution Day]

I knew they really hated the man, but this is getting silly.

I agree, but someone really did try to do this to Nixon. I saw a bit about it on the History Channel.

[Southack]

Nixon gave the Left the EPA. Nixon listened to the Left and got America out of VietNam.

Nixon was the first President to go to Communist China, opening it up and thrilling Leftists around the world.

In typical Leftist fashion, however, the Left has hated Nixon ever since.

[Deb]

Which reminds me...what was the final story on the guy who flew his plane into the Clinton White House? Or the guy who fired the semi-automatic machine gun into the Clinton White House?

Press didn't make much of either.

[BossLady]

I guess Sean has time for another movie role since he was 'let go' from his last one....heheh...

[Brian Mosely]

I must have forgotten about that one. I know it was tried on the last occupant of the White House, but I don't seem to recall any attempts like this against Nixon.

[A Texan]

Just so everyone knows, this is based on actual events. I don't know if the movie is going to be fact-based, but it did happen, I believe it was stopped by an airport security guard or police officer, who was wounded in the process's.

[Constitution Day]

Here's a link from Yahoo which gives a little more information:

NIXON Project Attracts Don Cheadle

[You Dirty Rats]

Actually, I think this will be a stoner/sci-fi movie. Penn's role will show what happens when a Martian makes you study after school is out and miss the party, dude!

[alloysteel]

The plot line was done in real life. Remember the inebriated person who stole a light plane in Maryland and flew it into the side of the White House back during the regime of the "Former Occupant of the Oval Office, 1993-2001"? As it happened, "Former Occupant" was not at home, and the damage was largely limited to the pilot and plane.

But wouldn't this same story line applied to Nixon be a little overkill? Or was Sean Penn making a Freudian slip by subconsciously transposing Richard Nixon and the "Former Occupant of the Oval Office, 1993-2001"?

[Seeking the truth]

The left has always hated Nixon since he brought down Alger Hiss.

[Brian Mosely]

Byck wants to hijack a commuter jet coming out of Atlanta and crash it into the White House. Cheadle plays Bonny, a mechanic and Byck's only friend with whom he was supposed to start a business.

Uh....does Hollywood REALLY think this is going to go over well...I mean, hijacking a jet and crashing it into a public landmark to make a political statement...it's been done...really, it has.

Penn can really pick 'em, huh?

[L.N. Smithee]

Byck wants to hijack a commuter jet coming out of Atlanta and crash it into the White House. Cheadle plays Bonny, a mechanic and Byck's only friend with whom he was supposed to start a business.

It just occurred to me: Is the man whose character Cheadle's role is based on actually black?

[Question_Assumptions]

I actually like Falling Down. Why? Because despite the fact that the main character clearly goes mad and despite some other problems, it actually makes some very good statements about civility, goes through great pains to show that the relatively conservative protagonist is neither racist nor anti-semetic, shows gang bangers and homeless beggers as parasites, and show some of what the main character is angry about in a sympathetic way without excusing his over-the-top violent responses.