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Hugh Hewitt: Ron Howard discusses Richard Nixon and his Oscar nominated film, Frost/Nixon
Townhall.com ^ | January 28, 2009 | Hugh Hewitt

Posted on 01/28/2009 10:26:19 AM PST by EveningStar

HH: If you’ve listened to this program, you know that I worked for Richard Nixon from 1978-1980, and then again from ’89-’91. I knew him pretty well, I knew him very well in those years. So when Frost/Nixon came out, I sort of was going to be skeptical. What would they do with Jack Brennan? What would they do with the old man? And I loved it. Joining me now to discuss it, Ron Howard, the director/producer of it. Ron, welcome back, good to talk to you.

RH: Thank you, good to talk to you, Hugh.

HH: Congratulations on the movie. What did you learn about Nixon that you didn’t know when you started?

(Excerpt) Read more at hughhewitt.townhall.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aworkoffiction; fakebutaccurate; frostnixon; hollywood; hollywoodreds; hughhewitt; nixon; revisionisthistory; ronhoward; talkradio
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1 posted on 01/28/2009 10:26:19 AM PST by EveningStar
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To: sauropod

read


2 posted on 01/28/2009 10:26:52 AM PST by sauropod (An expression of deep worry and concern failed to cross either of Zaphod's faces - hitchhiker's guid)
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To: EveningStar
So let me ask you about the controversial part, which is the conversation between Nixon and Frost which the Nixon people say does not happen, didn’t happen in real life.

RH: Right.

HH: Why use that device?

RH: Well, we said, of course, we say it didn’t happen. I mean, it’s an example of creative license, but creative license born out of research and a desire to offer a more comprehensive sense of both of these characters.And of course, the president was known for some of these rambling, late night phone calls, and not that he was any kind of a heavy drinker, but by all accounts, very light-headed. And you know, I mean if he had a couple of drinks, and if he was taking any sleep medication or anything like that, which he was also, would sometimes do, these calls, he wouldn’t always remember them the next day. And so when Peter Morgan bumped into that in the research, he was looking for a way to have a really personal confrontation between he and Frost off the record that would allow him as the writer, and us as the audience, to really understand that as different as these guys were in personality and outward appearances, they had so much in common.

A bit stilted "plot device". "he was drunk and called him and used expressions that showed he was uncomfortable..."

3 posted on 01/28/2009 10:37:59 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Obama thinks spending tax $ on abortions in Mexico helps more than controlling illegal imigration)
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To: EveningStar
Pretty good interview with Ronnie. I liked that he recognized that Nixon was truly smart. I see the characterization of presidents this way:

Eisenhower -- dumb and boring
Kennedy -- god-like
Johnson -- Good man, overwhelmed by Vietnam, sad story, let's forget about him.
Nixon -- can't call him dumb, so let's call him evil.
Ford -- Dumb.
Carter -- Brilliant.
Reagan -- Dumb
Bush I -- Dumb.
Clinton -- Brilliant.
Bush II -- Dumb.
Obama -- Brilliant.

All the Democrats are brilliant. All the Republicans are dumb -- the only exception is Nixon. They couldn't call him dumb, so they called him evil and hated him all the more.

4 posted on 01/28/2009 10:40:48 AM PST by ClearCase_guy
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To: EveningStar

Ronnie’s a good Goebbels propagandist (he was during the election.)


5 posted on 01/28/2009 10:42:39 AM PST by goodnesswins (Tell the truth - GOEBBELIZATION (propaganda) is what many voters suffer from.....)
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To: ClearCase_guy

I would amend your description. Bush II - dumbest man ever born (until the next republican is elected).


6 posted on 01/28/2009 10:43:17 AM PST by keepitreal (Obama brings change: an international crisis (terrorism) within 6 months)
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To: ClearCase_guy
Don't forget:

Sarah Palin -- Dumb.
7 posted on 01/28/2009 10:44:22 AM PST by Antoninus (America didn't turn away from conservatism, they turned away from many who faked it. - Mark Sanford)
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To: goodnesswins

I try to cut Ron a bit of slack because he directed Apollo 13, one of my favorite movies.


8 posted on 01/28/2009 10:45:58 AM PST by Doohickey (The more cynical you become, the better off you'll be.)
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To: keepitreal

I agree. I thought about making a very similar point by listing Carter, Clinton and Obama each as “The most brilliant man ever elected president”. The portrayal of these people by the press is just cartoony. It still staggers me that a guy with a degree from Yale, an MBA from Harvard, a man who can fly a jet, with a successful track record in state-level politics and in business, who runs two successful campaigns for president, can be portrayed as the dumbest man ever born. But there it is.


9 posted on 01/28/2009 10:47:09 AM PST by ClearCase_guy
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To: ClearCase_guy
Reagan was simultaneously mule-dumb and brilliantly cunning and evil.

Somehow, using their dented liberal brains, it made perfect sense that he could be both at the same time.

10 posted on 01/28/2009 10:49:22 AM PST by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: goodnesswins

He and his daddy andy are both red commies.

LLS


11 posted on 01/28/2009 10:50:00 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my president... NEVER!)
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To: Doohickey

I NO LONGER give slack....these people are helping this nation march toward socialism/communism....they are to be SCORNED...if not worse.


12 posted on 01/28/2009 10:51:23 AM PST by goodnesswins (Tell the truth - GOEBBELIZATION (propaganda) is what many voters suffer from.....)
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To: a fool in paradise

I heard the interview yesterday. Hugh is good at drawing people out.

Sadly, most people who see this movie will believe every word of it.


13 posted on 01/28/2009 10:59:58 AM PST by EveningStar (Socialism in the USA began in 1933. In 2009 it kicked into warp drive.)
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To: EveningStar
Sadly, most people who see this movie will believe every word of it.

__________________________________________

OTOH, nobody will see this pos who doesn't already believe every word of it.

14 posted on 01/28/2009 11:04:29 AM PST by wtc911 ("How you gonna get back down that hill?")
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To: EveningStar

Interesting to read that Ron Howard claims to have voted for Nixon (only he knows for sure and such a claim could be used to brush off his critics), that he knows that Nixon put a number of socially “progressive” programs (and judicial nomination) into place, and yet still decries his politics (claiming that Frank Langella was politically opposite, does that mean that he OPPOSED the socially progressive issues Nixon supported?).

I guess it’s just the “Republican half” of Nixon that was evil.

Perhaps he should do a film investigating LBJ’s own corruption and abuse of power.


15 posted on 01/28/2009 11:04:57 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Obama thinks spending tax $ on abortions in Mexico helps more than controlling illegal imigration)
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To: Doohickey
He slurred the contracting companies in Apollo 13 and got flack from Gene Krantz about it but he held his ground with his fake but accurate embellishment.
16 posted on 01/28/2009 11:06:23 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Obama thinks spending tax $ on abortions in Mexico helps more than controlling illegal imigration)
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To: Doohickey
he directed Apollo 13, one of my favorite movies.

Mine too...but if you listen to the dialog very carefully, Howard does have a couple of throw away lines that are jabs at what he perceives as conservative positions.

17 posted on 01/28/2009 11:06:53 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (All the oil's in Texas...but all the dipsticks are in Washington, DC.)
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To: EveningStar

I watched the Nixon/Frost interviews on TV. The movie is BS. Pretty much nobody cared at the time and nothing interesting came out of them.


18 posted on 01/28/2009 11:07:25 AM PST by Poser (Willing to fight for oil)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Jimmy Carter ALSO pronounced the word nuclear as “nukular” and he served on a nuclear submarine.


19 posted on 01/28/2009 11:08:39 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Obama thinks spending tax $ on abortions in Mexico helps more than controlling illegal imigration)
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To: ClearCase_guy

“The portrayal of these people by the press is just cartoony.”

So true. Unfortunately, those “brilliant” liberals buy it. I had a conversation with a hopelessly liberal person this week (a person with an advanced degree, thus uber-brilliant). When discussing moving Gitmo’s finest to Supermax, I argued that with the porous southern border, it would be very easy for terrorists to come up to CO, and take an elementary school hostage to try to extort the release of their buddies. This person said that if that happened it was still worth the loss so that we live up to our Constitutional principles (from a lawyer, no less). I’m still speechless.


20 posted on 01/28/2009 11:14:26 AM PST by keepitreal (Obama brings change: an international crisis (terrorism) within 6 months)
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