Maybe it is all the hype concerning the upcoming millennium, or perhaps Americans have become inured to political scandal, but the silver anniversary of Richard Nixon resigning the presidency because of his involvement in the cover-up of the Watergate burglary has not been a big media story. Although I remember sketchy details about President Kennedy's assassination (I was only six years old at the time) I can vividly recall where I was when Richard Nixon left office on August 9, 1974. That watershed moment in American history left an indelible mark on screenwriter/director Andrew Fleming who wrote and directed "Dick," a witty comedy which both commemorates, and pokes fun, at the Nixon White House years.

While on a high school tour of the White House in the fall of 1972, two DC sophomores, Betsy Jobs (Kirsten Dunst) and Arlene Lorenzo (Michelle Williams), make a wrong turn and stumble across sinister types in dark suits shredding papers. Two of the suits are the bizarre G. Gordon Liddy (Harry Shearer) and Nixon Chief of Staff Bob Haldeman (Dave Foley). Eager to keep a careful eye on these two young women, President Nixon (Dan Hedaya) befriends the girls ("Call me Dick!" he says) and appoints them official White House dog walkers. It seems as if Nixon is having trouble winning the affection of his Labrador whom the filmmakers have humorously named Checkers. (Checkers was the name of Nixon's dog when he was nearly dropped from the Republican ticket in 1952 by Gen. Eisenhower. Nixon made a moving speech in which he referred to Checkers and it saved his political career.)

The new Checkers warms up immediately to Betsy and Arlene. A grateful Nixon offers the girls seemingly unlimited access to him and appears quite avuncular. Betsy and Arlene in turn take a liking to "Dick" and even bake walnut cookies for him which they make from their "secret recipe." Unbeknownst to them, those aren't walnut leaves, but rather, marijuana leaves which is making their cookies a "hot item" at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a very funny running joke. Arlene is particularly infatuated with the leader of the free world until she runs across a secret audio tape in Rosemary Woods' office in which Nixon shows his paranoid side in which he lashes out at perceived enemies. Nixon's anti-press, anti-Semitic diatribes upset the girls who now vow to do all that they can to bring "Dick" down.

The plot of this fantasy is predictable but it is good fun anyway because Andrew Fleming has fun with all of the historical details and really nails down the feeling of America in the early '70s. Dave Foley, Jim Breuer, Harry Shearer, and Saul Rubinek do perfect impressions of Bob Haldeman, John Dean, G. Gordon Liddy, and Henry Kissinger respectively. Will Ferrell and Bruce McCullough are a hoot playing Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. They make the Washington Post's ace reporters come off as a pair of bumblers who got lucky. The film also has fun with such Watergate icons as the mysterious "Deep Throat" and "The Plumbers."

"Dick" succeeds primarily because of its winning teen actresses. Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams are thoroughly credible in their roles. I find it hard to believe that they were not even born when Nixon left office. Veteran character actor Dan Hedaya captures the essence of "Tricky Dicky" without mugging for the cameras. It was hard to stop laughing seeing Hedaya's Nixon walking along the Pacific Ocean in his three-piece navy suit. (That was an actual Life Magazine photo).

The soundtrack of "Dick" really takes you back to the days Musicradio 77 WABC was king as it features such nearly forgotten chestnuts as Blue Swede's "Hooked On A Feeling," Hot Butter's "Popcorn," Stories' "Brother Louie," Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff" and Redone's "Come And Get Your Love." Music is a key to this film's believability much as it was to the fine 1997 flick, "Boogie Nights."

Even if you never liked Nixon, you'll love "Dick."
Dick

Directed by Andrew Fleming

reviewed by Lloyd Carroll