Assassination attempt on Richard Nixon
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Assassination attempt on Richard Nixon |
| Original title | The Assassination of Richard Nixon |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2004 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Niels Mueller |
| script | Niels Mueller, Kevin Kennedy |
| production | Alfonso Cuarón |
| music | Steven M. Stern |
| camera | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| cut | Jay Cassidy |
| occupation | |
| |
The Assassination of Richard Nixon is a film directed by Niels Mueller in 2004. In the starring Sean Penn , the figure Samuel Bicke that of the would-be assassin Samuel Joseph Byck was inspired that on 22 February 1974, the Baltimore-Washington International Airport attempted a hijacking of a plane in order to steer the machine into the White House and thereby kill the US President Richard Nixon .
action
Samuel Bicke has been separated from his wife and three children for over a year. While his wife has already distanced herself from him, he still hopes that the family will reconcile. After he took up a job as a salesman in a furniture store and earned his first money, he contacted the family more often, but met with increasing rejection from his wife.
The work doesn't prove to be fulfilling either. Samuel is more and more disgusted by the lying salesman mentality and makes plans for his own business. However, his plan for a mobile tire dealership requires seed capital that he needs to borrow from a bank. The bank reviews the application, but ultimately rejects it.
Rejected by his wife, who has since filed for divorce , he also loses his job and, after the loan application has been rejected, is left without any possessions or future. In his personal defeat he sees more and more an injustice of the social system, the mendacity of which Richard Nixon represented at that time: While he had promised the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam before his election victory , he subsequently sent more soldiers to war. Left alone with himself and the television pictures at home and in bars, Bicke increasingly intensifies his perception of injustice until he finally begins to plan an assassination attempt on Nixon. He intends to fly into the White House on a plane.
Overwhelmed by nervousness, he storms the plane at the gate, shoots the copilot a little later and shoots the pilot in the shoulder before he himself is struck down by shots from outside by a police officer. Eventually he kills himself with a shot in the head. The assassination attempt fails.
The recorded statements from a tape run like a red thread through the film, which Bicke addresses to the conductor Leonard Bernstein . Inspired by the feeling of doing something good, he asks him to tell the world the "truth" about Samuel Bicke and the motivation for his deeds.
background
The plot of the film is basically the same as some parts of the real story of Samuel Byck , but also differs significantly in other details. Byck did indeed send some tapes to Leonard Bernstein , but he sent the detailed tapes regarding his planned assassination attempt to the journalist Jack Anderson .
Byck's plan to pilot a plane into the White House is also mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report on the 9/11 incident:
"As part of his 34-page analysis, the attorney explained why he thought that a fueled Boeing 747, used as a weapon," must be considered capable of destroying virtually any building located anywhere in the world. "DOJ memo, Robert D. to Cathleen C., "Aerial Intercepts and Shoot-downs: Ambiguities of Law and Practical Considerations," Mar. 30, 2000, p. 10. Also, in February 1974, a man named Samuel Byck attempted to commandeer a plane at Baltimore Washington International Airport with the intention of forcing the pilots to fly into Washington and crash into the White House to kill the president. The man was shot by police and then killed himself on the aircraft while it was still on the ground at the airport. "
Reviews and feedback
Roger Ebert described the film as a character study without a message ("message"), which was completely sufficient. He compared the protagonist to Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver .
Michael Wilmington awarded 2.5 out of 4 stars for the Chicago Tribune . He too sees the film in the tradition of 1970s films such as Taxi Driver .
Lexicon of international films : “An impressive intimate play and a remarkable study of the inhumane (American) social structures that all too easily make perpetrators out of their victims. Played the main role impressively. "
Cinema : “With agonizing intensity, Penn shows the suppressed anger and madness of everyone who slowly derails. A disturbing chamber play based on a little-known case. Conclusion: disturbing outsider drama. "
In the United States, the film grossed less than a million dollars at the box office, but it was only shown in 59 theaters.
Web links
- The Assassination of Richard Nixon in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Assassination of Richard Nixon atRotten Tomatoes(English)
swell
- ^ Certificate of release for the assassination attempt on Richard Nixon . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2006 (PDF; test number: 106 417 DVD).
- ↑ rogerebert.suntimes.com
- ↑ metromix.chicagotribune.com ( Memento of the original dated August 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Assassination attempt on Richard Nixon. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Cinema.de: film review
- ↑ boxofficemojo.com
