What a waste of my time!!!

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

With today being Presidents Day, I thought I'd watch movies of past presidents to honor the occasion. So having previously watched Wilson-about the 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson and Give 'em Hell, Harry!-about the 33rd President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, I just now watched this, The Final Days-about the 37th President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon. It chronicles his days during the Watergate hearings and all the troubles surrounding him and his cabinet during them, just before his fateful decision to eventually resign from office. While there are some funny scenes, like his car ride with the Russian premier, it mostly takes a serious tone whenever those tapes are discussed especially when Nixon himself listens to them and repeats one particular passage over and over again in one chilling scene. Lane Smith embodies Nixon quite compellingly as does much of the supporting cast concerning their real-life counterparts. So on that note, I highly recommend The Final Days.

Just want to state early on that this film is indeed low-cost and the production quality reflects it. Except that point, this is one of the best political films ever produced. I have been interested and studied about Mr. Richard M. Nixon, his administration, and the Watergate affairs quite thoroughly. I can judge this film to be one of the most accurate, impartial, and humanly dramatized films out there. What it is done right in the first place is to approach the story and all of the characters with compassion. There is no Republicans, Democrats, Nixon lovers, or Nixon haters when it comes to a human tragedy. This is indeed a tragedy of power and people who are enslaved by it. Richard Nixon in this film has been portrayed not as good or bad, but as a humanly flawed and indeed tragic character. In "Nixon" and "Frost/Nixon" of later years and productions, we had to be dragged back into Mr. Nixon's younger years, so we could appreciate his agonizing thirst for power and success and to understand his subsequent behavior. This film does not need to do that. Just by showing the "real-time" Nixon in scene after scene, we can relate to his pains and agony of losing power. How he most desperately wooed people towards him in order to gain their support, respect, liking, or even love is almost unbearable to watch. I for one dread Mr. Nixon's negative impact to the world around him, and yet deeply sympathize this man to the core. Lane Smith became President Richard M. Nixon without any disbelief. He must have understood his character most deeply, otherwise such a performance could never have been conceived. Other characters of Alexander Haig, J. Fred Buzhardt, Leonard Garment, Pat Nixon, Rose Mary Woods, Archibald Cox, John Sirica, etc. never physically resembled whom they played, but we subscribed to all of them because of their flawless performances. Richard Pearce's direction is also without a missed fire. Too bad it is low-cost and meant only for television consumption, otherwise "The Final Days" would have been lauded as the gold standard of the Nixon films that came and will come.

The thing about a film like "The Final Days" is that how much you enjoy the experience depends directly on your general interest in the subject matter. Myself, I'm not terribly interested in the character of Richard Nixon. This is one of several portrayals I've seen of the man, all of which I watched for alternate reasons (either the director, actors, or the general accolades directed toward it). I watched this film because I'm a fan of director Richard Pearce (Threshold, Country, The Long Walk Home, A Family Thing). Fred Murphy's cinematography is also very nice, though you'd hardly know it from some of the terrible VHS copies available.There are certainly some great performances here. Lane Smith is totally believable as Nixon - a person who's honestly more of a caricature than anything else. David Ogden Stiers plays his role with a much stronger confidence than usual. The periodical approach of having a short paragraph of narration by various characters is engaging, giving you valuable insight. Eventually, the story begins to feel crushed under its own weight. At well over two hours, it demands a seriously engaged interest on the part of the viewer. Still, there are extremely powerful passages that keep it all together. Don't let the fact that this was produced for television fool you - Pearce creates a higher feeling that would be expected from such. If you're interested in the story of Nixon and Watergate, this is undoubtedly the film to see. All others pale in comparison.

Lane Smith who played Perry White on the Superman TV series is positively riviting as Nixon. He has Dickie's mannerisms down pat and is even better than Anthony Hopkins was in Stone's "NIXON". This is a great follow-up to All The President's Men and shows how it all fell apart around Dick at the end. The scene of Nixon & The Russian Premier in the Lincoln Continental at Camp David is priceless.