Secret Honor (1984)

Directed by Robert Altman. Starring Philip Baker Hall.

“Fictional meditation” designed to “illuminate the character” of newly-disgraced President Richard Nixon is a ninety-minute stream-of-conscious monologue from ol’ Tricky Dick in his private office, drinking and sweating and swearing and armed with a loaded gun. It’s a one-man show for Hall, who doesn’t particularly resemble Nixon in appearance or voice, but the twitchy cadence and Tourette’s-esque profanity-as-punctuation outbursts ring more familiar; the performance can be described as bravura, one of significant insight buried beneath all the gonzo excess. A performance is pretty much all it is—director Altman’s camera can sometimes be as restless as the resigned Commander in Chief’s rants, but it’s still just one set, one evening, one personality spewing rage and paranoia, contempt and despair, self-pity and regret. Not for everyone, and even at just an hour-and-a-half, it’s as exhausting as it is galvanizing, but worth a look for anyone interested in its complicated subject or its reliable yet oft-underused performer—this marks one of the few times the character actor assumed a lead role. Screenplay by Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone, who also penned the stage play upon which the film is based.

72/100