I’m not sure how Our Nixon ended up in my queue. Maybe Our Nixon was listed as one of the top twenty-five documentaries ever made. If it was, I have to respectfully disagree. Our Nixon primarily consists of Super 8 home movies shot by H.R. Haldeman, Nixon’s chief of staff, John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s domestic affairs advise, and Dwight Chapin, a special assistant and is supplemented by interviews with each man, including Haldeman’s interview with Phil Donahue, the Oprah of his time, and news reports. Our Nixon is framed as a light-hearted sitcom, but ultimately bored me.
I know the essentials about Nixon, but I think that you have to know the minutiae, particularly the exact dates of notable dates, about his Presidency to understand the significance of the mundane moments in Our Nixon. I do not so I found the majority of Our Nixon as interesting as most home movies–not at all. There is literally one gasp, clutch your pearls shocking moments with The Ray Conniff Singers otherwise there weren’t any surprises. Our Nixon largely succeeds in reminding the viewers that these political movers and shakers were just deeply insecure men with boundary issues. Unfortunately Haldeman still comes off as an immoral bastard whereas Ehrlichman has enough hindsight common sense to redeem himself and Chapin seems like a young man embarking on a career that would flame out as soon as it begun as a convenient scapegoat.
My mom, who actually remembers Nixon as a part of daily life and not as a disgraced historical figure, really enjoyed Our Nixon. Our Nixon is must see viewing if you are like my mother, otherwise skip it and read a book instead.