Philip Baker Hall delivered an exceptional performance as President Richard Nixon in Robert Altman's Secret Honor.
The Big Picture When you think of Robert Altman, you probably think of movies like Nashville or The Player which feature rich, vast ensembles and interlocking narratives. His reputation as the master of the ensemble film is well-earned, but makes it all the more shocking that in 1984, Altman directed a film with only one cast member. Secret Honor stars Philip Baker Hall as Richard Nixon, years after being disgracefully exiled from the political world.
Secret Honor puts a massive spotlight right on a solitary Hall, who so effectively embodies the manic state that Nixon is in that you'll almost believe he is in conversation with someone other than himself at some points. The performance is so lived in, and avoids slipping into the pitfalls many actors stumble into playing historical figures. Often, an actor will go big in a way that feels like a caricature; a bad Saturday Night Live impression.
Why 'Secret Honor' Is a Different Kind of Robert Altman Movie Close Filmed at the University of Michigan as part of a course Altman taught, Nixon's exile strangely reflected a career position Altman found himself in. Feeling exiled from the Hollywood system after the disastrous production of his previous film, O.C.
Does 'Secret Honor' Make Sense of Richard Nixon's Legacy? Approaching Richard Nixon's post-scandal life in this real-time manner makes for a narrowly focused movie, but the intense emotional unraveling of Nixon carries the weight of a biopic that spans decades of life lived. In an attempt to make sense of Nixon's complicated political legacy, Secret Honor humanizes a controversial historical figure in a way that does not read like an endorsement.
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