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'Our Nixon' presents new but mostly unsurprising footage of the president

( Unrated ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

Because the Nixon years have been so thoroughly dissected already, most of the new documentary is far from startling.

Penny Lane's documentary 'Our Nixon.'
  • By Peter Rainer Film critic

You’ve heard about the Nixon White House tapes, but have you heard about the Nixon Super 8-mm home movies? Penny Lane’s documentary “Our Nixon” brings to the fore footage seized by the FBI during the Watergate investigations and then filed away for 40 years – more than 500 reels of home movies from 1969 to 1973 shot by Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, Chief Domestic Adviser John Ehrlichman, and Deputy Assistant Dwight Chapin.

The results, which Lane intersperses with heavy amounts of fairly routine archival footage, are not quite as startling as one might expect, perhaps because the Nixon years have already been well raked over. We get to see film of daughter Tricia’s wedding (her father is a surprisingly agile ballroom dancer) and other oddities. We also hear more of the famous audiotapes than usual. You’ll be interested to know that Nixon, not in praise, referred to Henry Kissinger as a “swinger.” Grade: B (Unrated.)

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