Even the best Richard Nixon movies suffer from one handicap: it's impossible to find someone, however talented an actor, who convincingly resembles our 37th President. Lane Smith fares best in The Final Days (1989), lending credibility and gravitas to a workmanlike TV movie. Based on Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's book, The Final Days chronicles the last year of Richard Nixon's (Lane Smith) presidency. As the Watergate scandal unfolds, Nixon becomes enmeshed in the cover-up. Chief of staff Alexander Haig (David Ogden Stiers) keeps the government afloat, while attorney Fred Buzhardt (Richard Kiley) struggles to shield Nixon from investigators. But the President's defiant, erratic behavior only increases scrutiny. After the Supreme Court forces Nixon to release incriminating White House tapes, his aides push him to resign.
Watergate's been covered in many films, but The Final Days provides a wealth of clinical detail. Veteran television director Richard Pearce shows a government under siege, with aides battling media and Congressional scrutiny. Despite White House stonewalling, revelations pile up: John Dean's damning testimony, Alexander Butterfield discloses the taping system, the President defies Congress. Nixon sacks Archibald Cox and a roundelay of Attorneys General, an act of overreach which shocks America. Afterwards, his downfall becomes inevitable.
Woodward and Bernstein's book is a mixture of inside baseball and gossipy speculation that often seems like score settling by proxy. Pearce and writer Hugh Whitemore modulate its juicier elements, with narration from Nixon and others offering distanced recollections. Even so, the portrait isn't pretty. Nixon rages, drinks heavily and muses about suicide; in a low moment, he breaks down crying with Henry Kissinger (Theodore Bikel). Haig and other aides, convinced the Presidency is untenable, disarm Nixon behind the scenes while preparing Gerald Ford's (Alan Fudge) succession.
Lane Smith resembles Nixon better than anyone else, but doesn't stop at impersonation. Smith's modulated, emotional acting conveys Nixon's paranoia, defiance and mentally unwinding, guarded even in deeply private moments. Only at the end, in his breakdown with Kissinger and a wrenching monolog to Buzhardt, does he allow insecurities to slip through. It's an impressive performance, with Smith showing humanity within the oft-caricatured Tricky Dick.
Among the supporting cast, David Ogden Stiers' tough, pragmatic Haig becomes protagonist almost by default, though Richard Kiley's flustered Buzhardt is more sympathetic. Ann Hearn gets several choice scenes as Nixon's loyal daughter Julie. Theodore Bikel's game Kissinger impression is wasted in a walk-on part and Susan Brown's Pat Nixon barely has dialog. Gary Sinise has an early bit playing a government prosecutor.
Like many TV films, The Final Days is adequate but underwhelming. Oliver Stone's Nixon restaged several scenes almost verbatim, benefiting from Stone's dynamic direction and big name stars. The Final Days must be content as an adequate film with a commendable central performance.
