What makes it different from others?

Very well executed

Let's be realistic.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

1. I've longed hated Nixon but this movie definitely raises sympathy for him: he was a lifetime loser who got one lucky break when a committee decided to make him Senator. That one lucky break turned out to be a nightmare as he ended up a puppet in an evil plan. Some people just can't win. It's nice to see at the end when Nikon refuses to bring himself down and basically tells his enemies to go F themselves.2. Nixon's devotion to his mother is very heartwarming.3. Nixon's fumbling manner can be very funny, whether he's struggling to properly use the recording machine or telling Roberto to delete a section of his speech.4. Philip Baker Hall hardly looks like Nixon but that kind of fits with the movie to show this is just a parody and not the true story of Nixon's life.5. It's amusing to see Nixon supposedly reveal huge secrets like the Shah Of Iran being supplied with boys to please him or JFK winning the 1960 Election due to intrigue in Chile.6. Best LineNixon repeatedly saying "F--- Em" to his enemiesCons 1. I didn't care for Nixon saying various ethnic slurs. Granted he is drunk.

Here's a monologue film based on a play written by Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone about the reasons behind President Richard Nixon's departure from the Office, the motives behind Watergate and lots of other random thoughts by one of the most notorious politics of America. "Secret Honor" is a great opportunity to watch Philip Baker Hall carrying a film on its entirely, directed by one of the greatest directors of all time, Robert Altman.In this fictional account, Hall plays a drunken/angry/mad/paranoid Nixon in all his forms, the man, the president and all, most of the time hiding his mistakes, blaming other people for them. All the distorted president's stream-of-consciousness is thrown on a recorder in which he keeps urging his aide Roberto to erase the most embarrassing and nastiest parts. The man rants about John Dean, Rockefeller, Kissinger, Eisenhower, his mom, the political networks called "The Bohemian Grove" and "The committee of 100" and their involvement with Vietnam War and Watergate. The trajectory of a simple man who became the most powerful, the man who lost his soul to gain the world to at the end lose it all is well evidenced when Dick tells in his tapes how he was a winner in life quoting something like this "I dream of failure that's why I succeed it." It's difficult to select his best moments on the film, there's so many. The film is extremely difficult to follow as stream-of-consciousness usually are, it's complicated to see someone else's mind and the way they think, specially a person like Nixon, haunted by his demons while in many moments of his life. The reason of why "Secret Honors" works is purely because of the character the writers decided to follow in his darkest and bittersweet memories. To me, Nixon resulted in one of the worst nation leaders to ever walk on Earth but on film he's a terrific film character in the countless portrayals ever filmed. Hall joins a gallery of great Nixon performers like Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon" and Anthony Hopkins in "Nixon", two heavyweight dramas with solid acting from actors who played Nixon like a Shakespearian tragedy. And he is like those tragedies!In this one, Philip Baker Hall follows the same path James Whitmore walked in his Oscar nominated performance in "Give'em Hell, Harry", where he's the only actor on scene playing Harry Truman. Being the only and main force on a picture is extremely tough but Hall succeeds it, capturing all possible emotions inside of one persona, laughing, crying, shouting, babbling incoherent thoughts and words, cursing everybody and everyone. The play works because of him, way more than the drowsy text itself that among other things theorized about Nixon's escape from the Presidency in order to avoid more years of war to help his rich supporters getting drugs from Asia, and more years in the Office. His rant in the film's grand finale is amazing! Since the screenplay is often sliced in too many rants, not respecting a certain order for at least fifteen minutes presenting political figures and events all the time, this must be watched only by viewers who know Nixon's background, otherwise you'll be utterly lost. This screenplay issue bothered me in terms of tracking down Nixon's way of thinking, to put my own reflections on what he was trying to mean with what he was saying. Order and organization is my motto in visualizing an idea or a film and that's why it gets a quite low rating in my evaluation, it might change some day, on a new view. 6/10

"Secret Honor" is an actor's wet dream.This screen adaptation of a one-man play stars Philip Baker Hall as Richard Nixon on the dark night that follows his resignation from the office of President of the United States. The film makes clear from the outset that it is not a representation of facts but rather a fictional exploration of the thoughts and feelings that may have been torturing Nixon at the time. Hall has the screen to himself and gives a fierce, if rather one-note, performance. The material isn't very deep and doesn't give Hall a lot of room to explore, but I suppose it succeeds on its own modest terms.Robert Altman made this film at the apex of his disenfranchisement from the mainstream Hollywood system. He filmed it at the University of Michigan with the assistance of Michigan students, and the tiny budget and minimal resources show. It's not remotely cinematic, though Altman makes a solid effort to make it so. Though the action is confined to Nixon's private office, Altman frequently pans his camera over to a bank of security cameras that Nixon has trained on himself, so that much of the time we're watching an image of Hall on a T.V. monitor rather than Hall himself. The message is clear -- Nixon, and by extension any politician, is constantly performing, even in his most private moments. Once one takes the oath of the presidency, he can't ever stop being the president. How good a job would any one of us do under similar circumstances, and how harshly do we have the right to judge our leaders?Admittedly, much of my lack of enjoyment of "Secret Honor" is my own fault. It made me realize how little I actually know about Nixon's presidency, which was over in the years just before I was born, and I wasn't able to understand many of the film's references. As is often the case, my knowledge of the more distant past is greater than events that have occurred within my lifetime.Grade: B

(for the Laserdisc notes: aspect ratio is 4:3)It's interesting to know some background of the film. First, Secret Honor began as a stage play written by Donald Freed. Altman toured it around the country. These notes are derived form the commentary tracks on the laserdisc.The filming occurred while Altman was in residence at the University of Michigan. The set was constructed in a residence hall and video cameras were installed so that students could observe the production. Graduate students in the film program filled many of the technical positions.The play was shot on 16mm film, which was then enlarged to make 35mm release prints. Consequently, the photographic quality is rather flat. There's no denying the power and accomplishment of Philip Baker Hall's performance, however.