The Assassination of Richard Nixon is a 2004 drama film directed by Niels Mueller and starring Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, Jack Thompson and Naomi Watts. It is based on the story of would-be assassin Samuel Byck, who plotted to kill Richard Nixon in 1974. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. The last name of the main character was changed to Bicke.

Empire gave the film four stars out of five, stating, "it's great to see the courage of '70s Hollywood meeting the conviction of 21st-century indie cinema in this stark, bold drama."

Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars and wrote, "Does the film have a message? I don't think it wants one. It is about the journey of a man going mad. A film can simply be a character study, as this one is. That is sufficient. A message might seem trundled in and gratuitous."

Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post wrote: "It grinds on without mercy. You're in the cross hairs. There is no escape. Where is that Secret Service when you need it?"

In 2018, in a discussion of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, Donald Clarke wrote in The Irish Times that "[t]he most interesting cinematic analysis of any character featured in Assassins may, however, be Niels Mueller’s fascinating, underappreciated The Assassination of Richard Nixon from 2004."

See also

  • List of American films of 2004
  • List of films based on actual events
  • Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, a 2018 novel by Penn similar in content

References

  • Official trailer