It seems to me that I’m a Peter Morgan fan. I liked The Last King of Scotland, I liked The Queen, and I enjoyed Frost/Nixon a great deal. But per Kevin Drum and Becks it’s important for people to understand that this film is terrible history. Not just in the sense that, like many historical films, it gets some facts wrong. The whole premise is wrong. Read Elizabeth Drew for a lengthy explanation, but to make a long story short the movie leaves out the fact that Nixon and Frost had a deal whereby Nixon was entitled to 20 percent of the proceeds from the interviews. They were business partners, not antagonists, and Nixon knew he had to “make news” with some kind of dramatic Watergate statement.
Meanwhile, I should say that I’m not normally a strickler for accuracy in these sorts of things. I thought it was a good movie — well-acted, and given a good, if false, story. But in my role as a political blogger I think it’s important that people learn the facts.