The Final Days

TV Movie
1989
PG
2h 30m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Chronicle of Nixon's last months in the White House. A paranoid power-abuser, all too human - a confused, narcissistic individual who cannot fully comprehend how, in less than one year, he l... Read allChronicle of Nixon's last months in the White House. A paranoid power-abuser, all too human - a confused, narcissistic individual who cannot fully comprehend how, in less than one year, he lost everything he has worked for in a lifetime.Chronicle of Nixon's last months in the White House. A paranoid power-abuser, all too human - a confused, narcissistic individual who cannot fully comprehend how, in less than one year, he lost everything he has worked for in a lifetime.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

469

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 4 Primetime Emmys
- 7 nominations total

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The Pat Nixon character speaks not even one word of dialogue. She gets a fair amount of screen time (as well as a few close-ups); but she never utters a single word until the very end where she speaks the final words of the film. This was edited out after the original airing.

Goofs
In actuality, the infamous 18 1/2 minute gap in the Nixon tape consisted of at least five separate erasures, possibly as many as nine, not the mere two as presented in the movie.

Quotes
Richard Nixon: Fred doesn't drink. I call him "the baptist".

Connections
Featured in The 42nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1990)

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Review

Featured review

a vivid and faithful telling of the fall of Pres. Richard Nixon with remarkable performance by Lane Smith

This is an excellent drama based on the fall of Richard Nixon. Other than a bit of condensation of some of the events and characters this is a remarkably faithful retelling of the Watergate melt-down. All of the actors are well cast as characters from our recent history but Lane Smith as Nixon deserves special praise. Physically he is far more convincing than Anthony Hopkins in NIXON and, like the British actor, he really gets into his character's complicated psyche. Smith manages all the physical tics and vocal infections we recognize as Nixon but never veers into caricature. Without excusing Nixon's crimes or motivations he succeeds in creating a sympathetic portrait. There's even some welcome comic relief when the jittery president is victimized by a joy-riding Brezhnev at Camp David. This is an excellent historical drama without the Oliver Stone hokum.