The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)

Cast: Sean Penn (Samuel Bicke), Naomi Watts (Marie Anderson Bicke), Don Cheadle (Bonny Simmons), Jack Thompson (Jack Jones)

Director: Niels Mueller

Genre: True crime/ drama/ history



Samuel J. Bicke is a forgotten name- not that it should be remembered in the first place- that has not even been added to the list of such people as John Wilkes Boothe, Lee Harvey Oswald, James Earl Ray, or even John Hinckley, Jr. Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, or whether you were alive during the Nixon administration and supported Nixon or not, hopefully you're willing to appreciate that this Presidential assassination that never took place. I wonder if Sean Penn would!

I am not a fan of Sean Penn. I just want to make that clear. Still, I am willing to give credit where credit is due. With roles like this, however, I can't help but being skeptical as to why Penn would take on a role like this, knowing what his politics are!

Sam Bicke was a real person. According to the movie, he was a man unsure of himself. It seemed he was accustomed to being told what to do more so than making his own decisions. He was separated from his wife as they were trying to improve their marriage. His boss at an office furniture store would consistently harp on him to improve himself as a sales rep with too much harsh criticism at any Bicke’s flaws. Anytime he wanted someone to hear his problems, it seemed nobody really cared to listen.

He discovered that his wife was seeing someone else despite his best efforts to better their marriage. He made a sincere effort to approach the situation with his wife, but she unexpectedly filed for divorce. This hurt him straight to the core. In the meantime, he got all the more fed up with the harsh criticisms of his boss, who also constantly compared Bicke to his better co-worker. He even demanded Bicke to shave his mustache, which Bicke begrudgingly did. All his stress, depression, and bitterness towards the unfairness of life and society, he narrowed down to President Richard Nixon. To better the treatment of the everyday working man who works hard, and strives to be faithful only to end up shafted unmercilessly, was to take out the one man who had to answer for it- the president.

Bicke snapped. He came up with a plan to assassinate the president. The plan was to hijack a plane and crash into the White House. It seemed easy to Bicke at first, but it didn’t quite end up that way.

This film was certainly a depressing one. Penn generally played the role well, making the audience sympathize with Bicke's pain while seeing the harshness and violence that can result in untreated depression.

The movie was very informative, but seemed to move through the events a little too quickly. It was more like a “show & tell” rather than something historic. There was room for improvement. It didn't go into too much detail with his frustrations over Nixon, but just enough to have the title make sense. In the long run, it just seemed to be another of Penn's lame political commentaries on an era the liberals such as Penn himself cannot seem to take their heads out of.