Product Description

A historic meeting so gripping and poignant it has been adapted into an award-winning stage play and major motion picture.

This program, culled from the over 28 hours of interview footage between Sir David Frost and U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, was originally broadcast in May of 1977. Never before, nor since, has a U.S. President been so candid on camera. Even more intriguing is the fact that Nixon agreed to appear on camera with no pre-interview preparation or screening of questions. The most famous of this series of interviews is in the final segment that focused solely on Watergate.

This program also contains new footage with Sir David Frost shot in 2007 discussing the historical impact of the interview along with his reactions of their famous encounter. Frost also discusses his views on Peter Morgan's interpretation and screenplay adaptation of this historical event.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17079 in DVD
• Brand: WEA-DES MOINES VIDEO
• Released on: 2008-12-02
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 88 minutes

Amazon.com
Although this DVD provides a real-life look at the landmark interviews conducted in 1977 between David Frost and Richard Nixon, it is not the entire session as originally broadcast. Rather, this is an edited, 88-minute condensation of the sections of the interviews that focused on the Watergate cover-up, Nixon's ultimate downfall. As such, it is a thoroughly gripping experience: Nixon begins the session as a wily combatant, but Frost (an experienced talk-show host, but hardly a political heavyweight) is such a dogged, indeed surprisingly forceful, questioner that he eventually corners the ex-President into facing some tough issues. The drama of this, which consists entirely of two men sitting in chairs, without any other documentary clutter, is actually much more gripping than Ron Howard's dramatized version of the event, Frost/Nixon, which labors to add melodrama to an already riveting situation. If you didn't live through the Watergate scandal, it might help to have a refresher on some of the basics before you watch (Frost briefly introduces the interviews with a spot of background), but in a way it's also not necessary, for the real punch here is watching a man of power be forced to publicly confront the fact that he abused that position. Nixon's bitter smile and his large capacity for self-pity are in full close-up view, creating a sense of pathos (even if you know the man did wrong). Those complications are richer than fiction, and give more insight into how Nixon could have brought about the circumstances that made him the only U.S. President to resign the office. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Fascinating and Surprisingly Candid
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.

Riveting document of a bygone chapter in American history
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.

What about the other 27 hours?
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.