gentlemen, I tried

Larry Hagman "chews the scenery" in the movie Nixon.  Oh!--he relishes the role he plays, of "Jack Jones" ...who is not a real character, but rather a "composite" representing a certain type of "wealthy donor"...

The scenes with him are funny, and not because they're trying to be funny, or cracking jokes, and not because Jack Jones "IS" J.R. Ewing...I mean, he's just so much like that character....No, what's funny -- or, humorous underneath the seriousness of the conversations -- is how "Jack Jones" -- well -- how he IS.  The character is a hearty Texas glad-hander (oil-rich) who doesn't take long, once you're sitting down visiting with him, to show arrogance and even, incongruously, menace.

Plus, like many people who get involved in politics, he gets carried away and thinks he knows more than he does.  (Like the mailman on Cheers -- "Cliff Clavin" -- !  That's it!  He's J.R. Ewing and Cliff Clavin, simultaneously...! Now, regardless of dialogue -- THAT'S Funny....!)

JACK JONES:  Hell, Kennedy's pissed Cuba away to the Russians.  And he don't know what the hell he's doing in Vietnam.  These are dangerous times, Dick, especially for business ...

((Ooh - kay.  Glad we aren't billionaires, so we don't have to worry about all that -- er -- 'danger'...))

NIXON:  Agreed.

A CUBAN in an Italian suit, one part sleazy, another part dangerous, steps from the shadows.

CUBAN:  We know what you tried to do for Cuba, Mr. Nixon.  If you'd been elected president in '60, we know Castro'd be dead by now.

NIXON shares a look with TRINI.  ((Trini is an Hispanic man who is an associate of Nixon -- Trini is not part of the Jack Jones-group....))

NIXON:  Gentlemen, I tried.  I told Kennedy to go into Cuba.  He heard me and he made his decision.  I appreciate your sentiments.  I've heard them from many fine Cuban patriots, but it's nothing I can do anything about.  Now, it's a long drive back to Dallas tonight, and Trini and I have got an early flight tomorrow to New York . . .

JONES  (interrupting):  Dick, these boys want you to run.  (the "boys" mutter in unison)  They're serious.  They can deliver the South and they can put Texas in your column.  That would've done it in '60.

((LOL--this guy has so got himself mixed up with Someone who Knows Things.  Being able to write the check does not make you a campaign strategist.  He is carried away -- and it seems like it's ego more so than geopolitics or anti-communism....which is what makes it so real and so human...

"Deliver the South," my Aunt Fanny....))

NIXON:  Only if Kennedy dumps Johnson.

JONES:  That sonofabitch Kennedy is coming back down here tomorrow.  Dick, we're willing to put up a s-----t fulla money to get rid-a him -- more money'n you ever dreamed of.

NIXON:  Nobody's gonna beat Kennedy in '64 with all the money in the world.

A pause.

CUBAN:  Suppose Kennedy don't run in '64?

Nixon looks at him.  A subconscious IMAGE again...
NIXON:  Not a chance.

CUBAN:  These are dangerous times, Mr. Nixon.  Anything can happen.

Another pause.  Nixon gathers together his papers and briefcase.

NIXON:  Yes, well . . . Gentlemen, I promised my wife.  I'm out of politics.

MITCH  (insolent smile):  You just came down here for the weather, right, Mr. Nixon?

((Geez!--this guy also is fooling himself -- 'The former Vice President is meeting with us because he wants our support and advice, along with our Campaign Donations'... ! ))

NIXON:  I came down here to close a deal for Studebaker.

TRINI:  What about '68, Dick?

NIXON:  Five years, Trini?  In politics, that's an eternity.

------------------------
The main two things that make Jack Jones and some of these others feel all expansive and carried away with ideas of their own influence and power are --
1)  writing the check, and
2)  sitting around in rooms together drinking and agreeing with each other.

----------------------
Larry Hagman is in three scenes in the film, I think -- and two of those are back-to-back, so if you count those back-to-back ones as one scene, then he's in a total of two scenes.  A small role -- but he runs with it, chewing the scenery.

...("--mmee-that-chair--"
Bite.
Crunch.
"Yum."

================
{Screenplay excerpt:  Nixon, writers -- Oliver Stone, Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson.}

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