"Frost/Nixon"
This column was written by CBS News Early Show Co-Anchor Harry Smith.
Richard Nixon. Another 90,000 pages of Nixon notes were released to the public from his library this month along with another 200 hours of tapes.
Even at this late date, Richard Nixon still occupies a significant space in our national psyche; especially in the minds of baby bombers.
So it was with some trepidation that I viewed Ron Howard's new film Frost Nixon.
Any of us who remember the long national nightmare that was Watergate also have very definite opinions about the time and the man.
So to make a film out of what was a brilliant play takes some guts. Howard more than delivers and the performances of Frank Langela as Nixon and Michael Sheen as David Frost are spellbinding.
When he was in office, Nixon was a boogie man; a caricature of evil. Howard and Langela bring a human being to the screen. Complicated, brutal, profane.
So effecting is this film that by its conclusion you almost feel empathy.