The Assassination of Richard Nixon
It’s 1974 and Sam Bicke has lost everything. His wife leaves him with his three kids, his boss fires him, his brother turns away from him, and the bank won’t give him any money to start anew. He tries to find someone to blame for his misfortunes and comes up with the President of the United States who he plans to murder.
The film earned $4.4M at the global box office.
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004) showcases strategically placed narrative architecture, characteristic of Niels Mueller's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 14-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 35 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 6.9, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Sam Bicke struggles as a low-level office furniture salesman, alienated and unable to connect with his estranged wife Marie and their children. He records audio tapes to Leonard Bernstein expressing his disillusionment with American society.. Notably, this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 12 minutes when Sam is fired from his furniture sales job after a disastrous sales call where he refuses to lie to customers. His boss Jack tells him he doesn't have what it takes. This devastating rejection eliminates his primary means of supporting himself and proving his worth to Marie.. At 13% through the film, this Disruption is delayed, allowing extended setup of the story world. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
At 48 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 50% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Structural examination shows that this crucial beat Sam's SBA loan application is denied due to his lack of creditworthiness and Jack's negative reference. This false hope collapses - the legitimate path to redemption is closed. The denial confirms Sam's belief that the system is rigged against honest people, pushing him toward more extreme thinking., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 71 minutes (75% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, Sam learns Marie is seeing another man and has definitively moved on with her life. In a final confrontation, she rejects any possibility of reconciliation. Sam's last connection to normal life dies. He has lost his job, his business dream, his family, and his friend - he has nothing left to lose., illustrates the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 76 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 80% of the runtime. Sam makes the definitive decision to hijack a plane and crash it into the White House to assassinate President Nixon. He acquires a gun, studies flight paths, and prepares his final tapes explaining his actions. He transforms his powerlessness into a concrete, violent plan - his final act of agency., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
The Assassination of Richard Nixon's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 14 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs systematic plot point analysis that identifies crucial turning points. By mapping The Assassination of Richard Nixon against these established plot points, we can identify how Niels Mueller utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish The Assassination of Richard Nixon within the drama genre.
Comparative Analysis
Additional drama films include Eye for an Eye, South Pacific and Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Sam Bicke struggles as a low-level office furniture salesman, alienated and unable to connect with his estranged wife Marie and their children. He records audio tapes to Leonard Bernstein expressing his disillusionment with American society.
Theme
Sam's boss Jack tells him during a sales meeting: "You have to sell yourself before you can sell anything else." This encapsulates Sam's fundamental struggle - his inability to compromise his ideals or present a false version of himself in a society built on appearances.
Worldbuilding
Establishment of Sam's fractured life: his failing marriage with Marie who has a restraining order against him, his menial job selling office furniture, his friendship with mechanic Bonny, his obsessive letter-writing to celebrities and politicians, and his growing paranoia about the Nixon administration and systemic dishonesty in America.
Disruption
Sam is fired from his furniture sales job after a disastrous sales call where he refuses to lie to customers. His boss Jack tells him he doesn't have what it takes. This devastating rejection eliminates his primary means of supporting himself and proving his worth to Marie.
Resistance
Sam desperately searches for a new path forward. He becomes fixated on starting a mobile tire business with Bonny as a way to achieve independence and win back Marie. He applies for a Small Business Administration loan, seeing this as his chance to succeed on his own terms without compromising his integrity.
Act II
ConfrontationMirror World
Sam's relationship with Bonny deepens as they work on the tire business together. Bonny represents a simpler, more accepting friendship, but also enables Sam's increasingly detached view of reality. Their partnership becomes the emotional anchor as Sam's family connections disintegrate.
Premise
Sam pursues the tire business dream while his mental state deteriorates. He becomes increasingly obsessed with societal injustice and Nixon's corruption. He makes awkward attempts to reconcile with Marie, attends Black Panther meetings seeking community, and continues recording paranoid manifestos, all while waiting for loan approval.
Midpoint
Sam's SBA loan application is denied due to his lack of creditworthiness and Jack's negative reference. This false hope collapses - the legitimate path to redemption is closed. The denial confirms Sam's belief that the system is rigged against honest people, pushing him toward more extreme thinking.
Opposition
Sam's grip on reality weakens as every avenue closes. Marie makes it clear she won't reconcile, seeking divorce. Bonny grows distant and uncomfortable with Sam's intensity. Sam's paranoid political obsessions intensify, fixating on Nixon as the symbol of everything wrong with America. He begins to formulate a desperate plan.
Collapse
Sam learns Marie is seeing another man and has definitively moved on with her life. In a final confrontation, she rejects any possibility of reconciliation. Sam's last connection to normal life dies. He has lost his job, his business dream, his family, and his friend - he has nothing left to lose.
Crisis
Sam sits in complete isolation, recording his final tapes. He processes the total collapse of his life, cycling through grief, rage, and delusion. His thoughts crystallize around the idea that Nixon embodies all the lies and corruption that destroyed him - if he can't fix his own life, he'll make a grand statement against the system.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Sam makes the definitive decision to hijack a plane and crash it into the White House to assassinate President Nixon. He acquires a gun, studies flight paths, and prepares his final tapes explaining his actions. He transforms his powerlessness into a concrete, violent plan - his final act of agency.
Synthesis
Sam executes his plan: he dresses in a makeshift uniform, drives to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and attempts to hijack a Delta flight. He shoots and wounds two pilots but is ultimately unable to start the plane. Police surround the aircraft and Sam takes his own life inside the plane.
Transformation
The screen shows Sam's dead body in the cockpit as authorities swarm the plane. Text reveals his plan failed - the plane never took off, Nixon never knew of the attempt. Sam's grand gesture became just another footnote, a desperate man's failed attempt at meaning, his idealism completely destroyed by his inability to reconcile his authentic self with society's demands.