What to make of the films watched by Richard Milhouse Nixon? A lot has been made of his love of the film Patton, which, supposedly, inspired his bombing of Cambodia to destroy the supply lines of the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. Fact is, he saw it three times in 1970; he saw Lawrence of Arabia, The Brothers Karamazov, and Around the World in 80 Days twice during his truncated-by-resignation tenure, as well, but we don't know if that had any ramifications. When I was becoming aware of these lists, it seemed people were concentrating on some of the (shall we say) "perverse" films screened at the various Nixon White Houses, like Twisted Nerve, What the Peeper Saw, The Night Visitor, and Frenzy. But, nobody mentions that he also watched Ken Russell's The Music Lovers, the very anti-war The Americanization of Emily, and—this must have been a weird night—he also watched the Day of the Dolphin, which involved a plot to use intelligent dolphins to carry bombs to kill...him.
He also liked movies about lawyers—his first profession. But, the one that amuses me is that very early in his administration he watched a movie called Play Dirty.
Of course, he did.
And he DID watch The Last Picture Show, which reminded me of an essay in the Peter Bogdanovich book "Pieces of Time" where he wrote about when he and his girlfriend at the time, Cybill Shepherd, were invited to a White House party that was heavy with Hollywood stars and types. Nixon asked if he'd seen any of Bogdanovich's films and the director prompted The Last Picture Show, and Nixon became quite effusive in his praise for the film, which he called a marvelous "production" and had high praise for the cast, especially Ben Johnson. Bogdanovich piped up, "Cybill was in it, too." And Nixon couldn't recall her, when she was standing right in front of him. "She's the one who stripped on the diving board," Bogdanovich mentioned helpfully, and Nixon became flustered, but continued his praise of the movie, and as he was moving off, he looked at Shepherd and said "And, of course, I remember YOU, my dear." Eeew.
Have I mentioned that there have been more movies depicting Nixon than any other president besides Lincoln?
The list comes primarily from Mark Feeney's book "Nixon at the Movies" (which necessitates the copyright notice at the bottom), which, again, benefited from the notes made by White House projectionist Paul Fisher, who, as Nixon's administration was being unraveled by Watergate, seemed to be taking less precise notes.
1969
The Shoes of the Fisherman 1/22
The Sound of Music 2/14
The Sand Pebbles 2/15 - 3/29
Play Dirty 4/12
Doctor Zhivago 4/19
Where Eagles Dare 4/25
Camelot 5/17
A Man for All Seasons 5/23
Mayerling 5/29
Twisted Nerve 5/30
Bullitt 5/31
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 6/4
Shalako 6/5
Support Your Local Sheriff 6/20
True Grit 6/28
The Bridge on the River Kwai 7/2
My Side of the Mountain 7/5
Sound of Anger 7/11
My Little Chickadee 7/17
West Side Story 7/18
The Odd Couple 7/26
Gigi 8/? SC
The Happiest Millionaire 8/?
Dead Run 8/?
The Guns of Navarone 8/?
The Longest Day 8/?
The Dirty Dozen 8/13
Their Finest Hour 8/14
Born Free 9/19
How to Commit Marriage 10/11
Hard Contract 10/17
Roman Holiday 10/18
The Scalphunters 10/24
Oliver! 11/1
The Bridge at Remagen 11/6
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming 11/15
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium 11/22
Cat Ballou 11/27
The Great Bank Robbery 11/28
The Undefeated 11/29
The Pink Jungle 12/13
P.J. 12/14
Marooned 12/20
Hello, Dolly 12/26
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 12/31
1970
The Sea Gull 1/1
Sweet Charity 1/3
The Robe 1/4
Around the World in 80 Days 1/5
Those Were the Happy Times (Star!) 1/6
The Sterile Cuckoo 1/7
Civilisation 1/?
Paint Your Wagon 1/24
Cactus Flower 1/31
The Secret of Santa Vittoria 2/7
No Time for Sergeants 2/12
Hawaii 2/13
Anne of the Thousand Days 2/?
Quo Vadis 3/6
To Catch a Thief 3/13
Paper Lion 3/26
Funny Girl 3/28
The Stalking Moon 3/29
Hamlet 4/3
Patton 4/4
The Caine Mutiny 4/6
My Fair Lady 4/14
The Cincinnati Kid 4/24
Patton 4/25
The Last Hurrah 5/1
The Blue Max 5/2
Sunrise at Campobello 5/6
Topkapi 5/12
A Big Hand for the Little Lady 5/13
Oklahoma! 5/14
Before Winter Comes 5/15
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 5/17
Ice Station Zebra 5/22
The Cardinal 5/23
The Train 5/29
How the West Was Won 5/30
Smith 6/6
Patton 6/12
The Battle of Britain 6/13
War and Peace 6/19
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit 6/21
The Egg and I 6/25
Flower Drum Song 6/26
Auntie Mame 7/1
Father Goose 7/3
The Professionals 7/5
Our Man in Havana 7/?
The Out-of-Towners 7/25
Bell, Book and Candle 7/26
Chisum 7/31
Swiss Family Robinson 8/2
Cromwell 8/7
The Cross and the Switchblade 8/8
The Sicilian Clan 8/15
Dial M for Murder 8/22
Born Yesterday 8/23
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here 8/24
Mister Roberts 8/25
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 8/28
Wilson 8/30
Chisum 8/31
The Roaring Twenties 9/4
The Big Country 9/5
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever 9/11
McCloud 9/12
Operation Cross Eagles 9/?
The Chairman 9/?
A Place in History 9/?
The Unsinkable Molly Brown 9/?
Giant 10/8
The Country Girl 10/9
Mildred Pierce 10/10
The Americanization of Emily 11/2
Khartoum 11/6
The African Queen 11/7
Walk, Don't Run 11/9
Goodbye, Mr. Chips 11/13
How Do I Love Thee? 11/14
Richard III 11/20
Tora! Tora! Tora! 11/26
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 11/27
The Greatest Show on Earth 11/28
Good Sam 12/5
Stagecoach 12/19
Love Story 12/24
You Can't Take It with You 12/25
Pursuit of the Graf Spee 12/26
1971
Anatomy of a Murder 1/1
Barabbas 1/2
Citizen Kane 1/5
All About Eve 1/7
Mississippi 1/8
Gigi 1/9
Torn Curtain 1/11
Doctor Zhivago 1/15
Sitting Pretty 1/16
Song of Norway 1/25
Spartacus 1/29
High Society 1/30
The Iron Petticoat 1/31
Dr. Day Revisited and A Man Named Lombardi 2/6
Four W. C. Fields shorts 2/11
The Great Chase 2/12
Gone with the Wind 2/13–14
Friendly Persuasion 2/20
Around the World in 80 Days 2/27
Lawrence of Arabia 3/3
Lawrence of Arabia, part 2 3/6
In Harm's Way 3/12
The Sundowners 3/13
The Flight of the Phoenix 3/14
Arabesque 3/27
A Man Could Get Killed 3/29
Sahara 4/2
The List of Adrian Messenger 4/3
Rio Lobo 4/4
Ryan's Daughter 4/10
A New Leaf 4/71
O'Hara, U.S. Treasury 4/71
Captain Horatio Hornblower 4/30
Houseboat 5/1
The High Commissioner 5/2
The Egyptian 5/14
Ship of Fools 5/16
The Lady from Shanghai 5/21
Take the Money and Run 5/22
Red Sky at Morning 5/23
Red Ball Express 5/24
Waterloo 5/29
Plaza Suite 5/30
Rose Marie 6/5
The Cheyenne Social Club 6/6
Broken Lance 6/18
Donovan's Reef 6/19
Zeppelin 6/25
Shane 6/26
Proudly They Came and Valdez Is Coming 7/4
All the Brothers Were Valiant 7/7
Breakfast at Tiffany's 7/8
The Apartment 7/9
The Quiet Man 7/11
Diamond Head 7/13
They Might Be Giants 7/14
Raid on Rommel 7/16
Damn Yankees 7/17
The Last Valley 7/24
That Touch of Mink 7/25
The Barbarian and the Geisha 7/31
A Fistful of Dollars 8/6
The Conqueror 8/7
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison 8/9
The Virginian 8/17
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 8/21
The Bridges at Toko-Ri 8/22
El Cid 8/23
The Fortune Cookie 8/24
The Ipcress File 8/27
Shanghai Express 8/29
Send Me No Flowers 8/30
The Alamo 9/5
Big Jake 9/11
Hud 9/17
Cleopatra 9/18–19
The Sheepman 9/20
Wild Rovers 9/24
The Grass Is Greener 10/1
To Kill a Mockingbird 10/3
The Red Tent 10/9
The Bravados 10/10
Beau James 10/15
Klute 10/24
Under the Yum-Yum Tree 11/5
Wait Until Dark 11/7
San Francisco 11/12
The Bad and the Beautiful 11/13
Suspicion 11/20
Gaslight 11/25
Cannon for Cordoba 12/3
The Badlanders 12/16
The Last Run 12/17
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers 12/19
The Night Visitor 12/22
Brian's Song 12/23
Nicholas and Alexandra 12/25
Love in the Afternoon 12/29
The Lonely Profession 12/30
1972
The Brothers Karamazov 1/7
Hotel 1/13
Papa's Delicate Condition 1/14
Lawman 1/15
The Brothers Karamazov 1/29
Romance of a Horsethief 2/4
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 2/11–12
Kotch 3/1
Nine Hours to Rama 3/2
Dr. No 3/3
Dirty Harry 3/10
The Last Picture Show 3/11
The Music Lovers 3/17
Paris When It Sizzles 3/18
The Grapes of Wrath 3/24
The French Connection 3/25
Lord Jim 4/1
Duel in the Sun 4/2
Bachelor in Paradise 4/6
Boomerang 4/7
The Godfather 4/21
There Was a Crooked Man 4/22
Diamonds Are Forever 4/27
Pendulum 4/29
Critic's Choice 5/5
Kidnapped 5/6
Funeral in Berlin 5/7
Goldfinger 5/11
The Carpetbaggers 5/12
Good Neighbor Sam 5/13
From Russia with Love 5/18
Move Over, Darling 5/19
The Prince and the Showgirl 6/2
Elmer Gantry 6/3
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 6/4
Take Her, She's Mine 6/8
The Skin Game 6/16
The Notorious Landlady 6/17
When Eight Bells Toll 6/18
The Cardinal 6/21
Hang 'Em High 6/23
The Hot Rock 6/24
Harlow 7/1
The V.I.P.s 7/3
Reap the Wild Wind 7/4
Coogan's Bluff 7/5
Irma La Douce 7/9
Gambit 7/11
Two documentaries (on Pat's visit to Africa and the Washington Redskins) 7/12
Skyjacked 7/19
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 7/22
Fort Apache 7/24
Lady Liberty 7/29
The Mouse that Roared 7/30
Frenzy 8/4
The War between Men and Women 8/5
Bend of the River 8/11
Joe Kidd 8/12
Kelly's Heroes 9/3
Crusade in Europe 9/6
Cabaret 9/8
The Groundstar Conspiracy 9/9
The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid 9/16
The Man 9/19
Yankee Doodle Dandy 9/23
Their Finest Hour 9/24
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo 9/26
War and Peace 9/30
Fiddler on the Roof 10/1
Major Dundee 10/5
The King and I 10/7
South Pacific 10/14
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing 10/20
The Sons of Katie Elder 10/24
Midnight Lace 10/?
Cancel My Reservation 10/29
Crusade in Europe 10/31
Civilisation 11/5
Victory at Sea 11/8
The Great Escape 11/9
Boys' Night Out 11/10
Fuzz 11/12
John Paul Jones 11/16
Man with a Million 11/19
Young Winston 11/22
The Emigrants 11/23
The Carey Treatment 11/26
Pancho Villa 11/27
Rio Bravo 11/28
The Heroes of Telemark 12/3
What the Peeper Saw 12/7
The Candidate 12/8
Sounder 12/9
The Poseidon Adventure 12/12
The Hanging Tree 12/17
Charade 12/20
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness 12/21
The Lady Eve 12/22
Butterfield 8 12/24
The Big Clock 12/28
The General Died at Dawn 12/29
1973
Three Coins in the Fountain 1/6
Ride the High Country 1/7
The Maltese Falcon 1/9
Mary, Queen of Scots 1/12
The More the Merrier 1/26
Tom Jones 1/27
This Gun for Hire 1/28
The Accused 2/3
So Big 2/4
A Double Life 2/8
On the Waterfront 2/9
The Last Voyage 2/10
Undercurrent 2/11
The Man Who Knew Too Much 2/13
Some Like It Hot 2/16
Keeper of the Flame 2/17
Boom Town 2/18
Vertigo 2/23
The Doctor Takes a Wife 2/24
Viva Zapata! 3/4
Picnic 3/9
Owen Marshall 3/10
To the Ends of the Earth 3/11
Texas 3/15
Sleuth 3/18
Frenchman's Creek 3/24
Anne of the Thousand Days 3/25
The Shepherd of the Hills 3/26
Three Little Words 3/30
Two Rode Together 4/1
Gideon of Scotland Yard 4/3
Meet Me in St. Louis 4/4
Kind Hearts and Coronets 4/5
Forever and a Day 4/7
Some Came Running 4/20
The Seven Year Itch 4/21
The Quiet Man 4/23
Ocean's 11 5/3
What Price Glory 5/4
Inherit the Wind 5/6
Notorious 5/10
The Long Voyage Home 5/11
Hammersmith Is Out 5/12
The War Wagon 5/13
The Searchers 5/17
A Hole in the Head 5/19
High Plains Drifter 5/20
The Wreck of the Mary Deare 5/22
Tea and Sympathy 5/23
Indiscreet 5/25
Proud Rebel 5/26
Twelve O'Clock High 5/27
Night People 6/2
Separate Tables 6/8
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 6/9
Stage Fright 6/15
The Lady Killers 6/16
A Letter to Three Wives 6/25
Love Me or Leave Me 6/26
Never Let Me Go 6/27
Pat and Mike 6/28
The Gazebo 6/29
The Citadel 6/30
Daisy Kenyon 7/1
The Railway Children 7/2
North to Alaska 7/4
Alexander the Great 7/5
Tom Sawyer 7/6
His Majesty O'Keefe 7/7
The Far Country 7/8
Rebel without a Cause 7/?
Detective Story 7/?
The Iron Duke 7/21
Life with Father 7/22
The Day of the Jackal 7/23
Centennial Summer 7/28
Vera Cruz 7/29
A Touch of Class 8/3
The Sky Above, the Mud Below 8/4
Man on a String 8/5
Run for Cover 8/8
The Nelson Affair 8/9
The Light that Failed 8/17
You Gotta Stay Happy 8/18
Lawrence of Arabia 8/23–24
Please Don't Eat the Daisies 8/25
Ivanhoe 8/26
Kentucky 8/27
On the Town 8/28
Dark Victory 8/29
All This and Heaven Too 8/30
The Postman Always Rings Twice 9/1
The Blue Dahlia 9/2
David and Bathsheba 9/8
I'd Climb the Highest Mountain 9/9
Lady Ice 9/14
Paper Moon 9/15
A King's Story 9/16
Scorpio 9/22
Key Largo 9/23
Bang the Drum Slowly 9/29
Lonely Are the Brave 9/30
Play Misty for Me 10/4
Khartoum 10/6
Zulu 10/13
Suez 10/16
The Sting 10/19
The Searching Wind 10/20
The World in His Arms 10/23
Fail-Safe 10/27
Hitler: The Last Ten Days 10/29
Live and Let Die 10/31
The Master Touch 11/3
Heaven Can Wait 11/?
The Way We Were 11/9
The Long Gray Line 11/10
The Snows of Kilimanjaro 11/22
My Darling Clementine 11/23
A Foreign Affair 11/24
The Last of Sheila 12/1
A Man for All Seasons 12/2
Western Union 12/7
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler 12/8
The Flim-Flam Man 12/?
Travels with My Aunt 12/?
Drums Along the Mohawk 12/?
Anastasia 12/?
The House of Rothschild 12/?
Jane Eyre 12/?
1974
Jan.
Garden of Evil
Buffalo Bill
Cahill: United States Marshal
Passage to Marseilles
Henry VIII and His Six Wives
They Came to Cordura
The Whole Town's Talking
An Affair to Remember
American Graffiti
Executive Action
The Long Goodbye
The Hospital
Feb.
Charley Varrick
The New Land
Serpico CD
The Clouded Yellow
A Kiss Before Dying
Harry in Your Pocket
The Sting
The Collector
England Made Me
Mame
The Day of the Dolphin
Pony Express
Destination Gobi
The Omega Man
Butterflies Are Free
Cheyenne Autumn
Mar.
Von Ryan's Express
Friendly Persuasion
A Place in History
The Way We Were
Sunset Boulevard
Magnum Force
Apr.
Becket
The Great Gatsby
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Call of the Wild
What's Up, Doc?
The Solid Gold Cadillac
The Sugarland Express
May
The Long, Hot Summer
The Paper Chase
Rio Conchos
The Seven-Ups
On the Beach
Shenandoah
The Wrong Box
June
Zandy's Bride
Holiday
Divorce Italian Style
Kitty
The Big Sleep
Jul
The Big Heat
Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round
McQ
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
Chad Hanna
Come Next Spring
Man on a Swing
Man without a Star
Double Indemnity
Two for the Seesaw
The Train Robbers
It's a Wonderful Life
Around the World in 80 Days
Copyright notice: Excerpt from pages 339-355 of Nixon at the Movies by Mark Feeney, published by the University of Chicago Press. ©2004 by the University of Chicago. All rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that this entire notice, including copyright information, is carried and provided that the University of Chicago Press is notified and no fee is charged for access. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the University of Chicago Press.
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