The Assassination of Richard Nixon
| The Assassination of Richard Nixon | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for The Assassination of Richard Nixon | |
| Directed by | Niels Mueller |
| Written by | Niels Mueller Kevin Kennedy |
| Produced by | Alfonso Cuarón |
| Starring | Sean Penn Don Cheadle Naomi Watts |
| Cinematography | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| Edited by | Jay Cassidy |
| Music by | Steven M. Stern |
| Distributed by | ThinkFilm |
Release date | December 29 2004 |
Running time | 95 min. |
| Language | English |
The Assassination of Richard Nixon is a 2004 drama film, directed by Niels Mueller. It stars Sean Penn, Don Cheadle and Naomi Watts, and is based on the story of would-be assassin Samuel Byck, who plotted to kill Richard Nixon in 1974.
Plot summary
Sam Bicke (Penn), who is a salesman with a history of short-lived jobs, dreams of reuniting with his ex-wife Marie (Watts) and starting a business with a friend, Bonny Simmons (Cheadle).
When he begins working for a furniture company, his boss Jack Jones (Jack Thompson) encourages Bicke to become a better salesman by reading books such as Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking and listening to similar audio tapes. Jones also tells Bicke that he thinks Richard Nixon is the greatest salesman since he sold two election promises to the American people and reneged on them both yet remained in power.
Bicke has a business idea to start a mobile tire store, operating from a bus, with Simmons. During an interview for a small business loan, he begins to rant about how his brother's tire business was dishonest and how he couldn't tolerate that.
His unhappiness at his job grows, especially as Jones believes only in employing married men and Bicke is unable to convince Marie to pretend to be together for a company husbands-wives dinner. Bicke knows that his time at this company is running out and is relying on the small business loan being approved. He is unable to speed the process up when he arranges a meeting with the loans manager.
Watching the mailbox daily for a letter regarding the loan, he receives notification of the divorce from Marie and is upset that she didn't give them time to try to amend things. She has also moved in with another man.
He receives a letter from the loans company notifying him that they have turned down his application. He believes this is because they are racist, knowing that Bonny would be a partner.
Without the loan, he resorts to trying to deceive one of his brother's tire suppliers into giving him tires so he can start his business. It is unsuccessful and his brother (Michael Wincott) is waiting in Bicke's apartment to confront him and inform him that Bonny has been arrested for receiving stolen goods.
He descends into depression and insanity, blaming all his troubles on then-president Richard Nixon. Inspired by news reports of the February 17, 1974 actions of Robert K. Preston (who buzzed the White House with a stolen helicopter), Bicke plans to hijack an aircraft and to crash it into the White House. Stealing Bonny's pistol, he rushes upon an aircraft when he sees there are metal detectors and security. He shoots both of the pilots (one fatally) before demanding that a passenger fly the plane. A police officer shoots Bicke through the plane door window before Bicke decides to commit suicide.
Some sources state that, in the course of making the film, the producers changed the spelling of Byck's last name to avoid offending any living relatives.
Tagline: The mad story of a true man.
Originally, the movie was supposed to be a fictional story about a failed attempt on the life of Lyndon Johnson. When the director was researching assassins, he learned Sam Byck's story, and decided to make his movie about him.