Search - Frost/Nixon: The Original Watergate Interviews on DVD

Fascinating and Surprisingly Candid

M. Baptiste | Daly City, CA United States | 04/29/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you thought you saw it all with the Watergate interview that has been available on DVD for awhile, think again! The revelations in the Vietnam section of the Complete Frost/Nixon Interviews are even more shocking and candid. Watch as Nixon explains to Frost that when a President orders something illegal, say a break in, it isn't illegal. The China/USSR Interview is fascinating as well, and surprisingly funny, as Nixon delivers some Chinese jokes and actually kids Frost about "forgetting the microphones are on in the Oval Office." The Final Days and the Last Round Up are historic, too. Every President should sit down with someone like Frost after leaving office to leave us these in depth, thought provoking insights."

What about the other 27 hours?

J. Miller | Chicago, IL United States | 12/23/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"OK...it's my own fault for not reading the description but I really thought I would have the chance to see considerably more footage of the interview. don't get me wrong, this is exceptional work. As someone not old enough to view the PBS special in it's original form, I really wanted to see more than 88 minutes."

Riveting document of a bygone chapter in American history

klavierspiel | TX, USA | 08/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The recent success of the play "Frost/Nixon" on Broadway, with its Tony-winning performance by Frank Langella, has revived interest in its dramatic source: the exclusive interviews that a talk-show host then widely regarded as a lightweight scored with the former President of the United States, three years after his exit from office under a cloud of political scandal.

David Frost's interviews with ex-President of the United States Richard M. Nixon caused great excitement at the time of their first airing in 1977. This DVD makes available the most interesting of the segments, in which Frost confronts Nixon about his involvement in the Watergate scandal which had forced his resignation from the Presidency. Alternately ingratiating and truculent, Nixon vehemently denies that he committed any illegal act, even in the face of Frost's verbatim readings from the transcripts of the White House tapes that certainly suggest that the President condoned obstruction of justice, and payments of hush money to the perpetrators of the break-in to the Democratic Party's national headquarters.

Though the haggling over legalistic issues and exact meaning of words and phrases gets a bit tiresome early on, the later payoff is more than ample compensation, as Frost draws wrenching accounts from Nixon about firing his trusted aides, Haldeman and Ehrlichman, and, in the climactic last portion, elicits from the former President the admission that he "let the American people down." Seen in the light of the continued hubris of the present administration in the face of what to many are much greater transgressions, Nixon's contrition, veiled as it is, is extraordinary. This DVD brings back a fascinating chapter in American history. Framing interviews with Sir David Frost, reminiscing about the circumstances under which the interviews were arranged and executed, are a worthy bonus."

Frost Nixon Original

M. R. Strickland | 01/06/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If you are interested in the facts from the horse's mouth, this is for you.
The original interviews went for over 28 hours, this DVD lasts only 2, but it does cover the most interesting aspects of Watergate and how Nixon was able to justify everything in his own mind.
I was not disappointed, but would have liked a longer cut of the original 28 hours."