The more politically aware reader will already be aware that Richard Nixon was never assassinated (No such luck, they might say. Now now!). So it will hardly ruin the climax of this movie to say that it tells the tale of Sam Bick’s spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Richard Nixon by flying a plane into the Whitehouse. Those who weren’t aware of Dick’s final fate, frankly, deserve to have the ending ruined for them.
Of course, when the movie was released the headlines were grabbed by the striking similarities between the real life Sam Bick’s plot and the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington D.C. But then there are those who will search incessantly for such uncanny parallels and coincidences from Nostredamus to the diaries of the Columbine killers. They need to get out more. It’s not that outlandish a concept, and that is what this film spends two hours trying to say. The truth is that the method of the planned assassination is irrelevant. This is not a film about fanaticism or terrorism. Rather it is a film about a man falling between the cracks in Nixon’s America. A cross between Death of A Salesman and Taxi Driver, it is a scathing critique on the rampant dog-eat dog, screw-the safety-net commercialism of America and the American Dream where a well-intentioned man can be driven to such extremes. Cast aside the parallels with 9/11, this film is relevant now not as an historical document but because of its contemporary resonances with life in Bush’s America.
It all sounds strikingly familiar. A president with a hopeless economy and a quagmire of a war manages to get re-elected by the American public. Sam’s boss calls Nixon the greatest salesman in the country for managing to sell himself to the public twice, even though his product is shoddy as hell. Sam Bick is a struggling furniture salesman who has recently separated from with his wife and only gets to see his kids on Sundays. He has dreams of setting up a tire company but can’t seem to get his foot on the business ladder. He is a diffident, put-upon man whose sense of ethics only seems to get him left behind. It is his journey from this principled position to one of murderous intent that makes the film all the more shocking.
Any remaining headlines were taken up by Sean Penn’s performance. Although it is certainly impressive and powerful, it has the unfortunate problem of finding itself not a million miles away from his learning-disabled turn in I Am Sam. Yes, he even has the same name. The result, for anybody who has seen both performances, is that his Sam Bick almost seems a little too much like a simpleton. This takes away from his lucid reflections on the nature of the cruelty of the American Dream.
The supporting cast are exemplary with Naomi Watts turning in a restrained and surprisingly under-used performance as Sam’s estranged wife. Don Cheadle’s charisma just about saves his character from being the ‘token black’. Ultimately where this film succeeds where it could so easily have failed is in tone. Director Niels Mueller, sets it just right with an understated soundtrack, sombre muted tones in the cinematography and art direction and a restrained pace throughout. With most films now dining out on their concept for the first act before steadily getting worse as the film progresses, this is a rare exception that starts out with a worryingly shaky premise and tone, before steadily reeling the viewer in and delivering a knockout climax, made all the more shocking given the restraint of what has gone before.
