Will: G. Gordon Liddy

Will
The video tape cover for Will.
Directed by	Robert Lieberman
Produced by	Joan Conrad John Ashley
Written by	Frank Abatemarco
Starring	Robert Conrad John Mahoney Danny Lloyd
Music by	Mike Post Pete Carpenter
Cinematography	Paul Vom Brack
Editing by	Howard S. Deane
Distributed by	NBC[1]
Release date(s)	January 10, 1982
Running time	100 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English

The American made for television movie Will: G. Gordon Liddy first aired on NBC in January 1982. The film depicts the rise and fall of Watergate co-conspirator G. Gordon Liddy. Liddy was portrayed by two different actors: American actor Robert Conrad played Liddy as an adult and child-actor Danny Lloyd portrayed him in his youth. Other figures associated with the Watergate scandal and portrayed in this film included Jeb Magruder and John Dean. The movie was directed by Robert Lieberman and was based on Liddy's 1980 autobiography.

Plot

The film follows the rise and fall of convicted Watergate co-conspirator G. Gordon Liddy. Robert Conrad is cast as Liddy, who is sentenced to 20 years in prison. The film follows the hero through the four and half years he spent behind bars. While in prison, the film portrays Liddy as capable and able to match up to any man in the prison. The film includes several famous details from Liddy's 1980 autobiography including, the "legendary hand held over the burning flame," and Liddy's oath, "I will kill for you, Mr. President."^[2]

Background/Production

The movie was based on Liddy's 1980 best selling autobiography, Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy and directed by Robert Lieberman.^[2][3] Courtroom scenes for the movie were shot in Illinois, at the 1905 DeKalb County Courthouse.^[4] The film was a personal project of lead actor Robert Conrad; his daughter was billed as executive producer.^{[citation needed][5]}

Cast

• John Byner as voice of Richard Nixon.
• Robert Conrad as G. Gordon Liddy.
• Katherine Cannon as Fran Liddy.
• Gary Bayer as Jeb Magruder.
• Danny Lloyd as young G. Gordon Liddy. Lloyd's first and only other role was in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining as Danny Torrance. His role as the young G. Gordon Liddy would be his last role.^[6] It's rumored that he eventually worked as a teacher in Pekin, Illinois.^[7]
• John Mahoney
• Peter Ratray as John Dean.
• James Rebhorn as Peter Maroulis.
• Red West as Kaworski. West was a frequent actor in Conrad's films, in Will he played a tough prison guard.^{[citation needed]}
• Maurice Woods as Copperhead.

Distribution

The made-for-television film debuted in the United States on NBC on January 10, 1982.^[1] Copies of the film are held in the Nixon Presidential Materials collection of the U.S. National Archives.^[8]

Reception

Will was the subject of a review by John O'Connor of the The New York Times. While O'Connor praised Lieberman, screenwriter Frank Abatemarco and Conrad, he questioned the overall purpose of the film. He rebuked Liddy, stating, "What purpose is ultimately served? The basic criterion seems to be that it sells, enabling various companies and individuals, including Mr. Liddy, to make some money" and comparing it with a CBS television movie about Charles Manson and the Manson Family murders. Noting that the source for the film was an autobiography, he went on to pan the producers as "ambivalent" toward the film's subject. O'Connor concluded his review by noting the film's attempt to gloss over the darker parts of Liddy's history: "After a while, it gets increasingly difficult to remember that this law-and-order fanatic is not beyond putting himself above the law, that he seems to exist in a world of absurd macho fantasy (his book refers to 'my best Effrem Zimbalist Jr. (sic) manner' or 'I gave him Broderick Crawford in Highway Patrol'), and that his basic social and political instincts are fascistic."^[1]

In the September/October 2004 issue of Washington Free Press Dr. John Ruhland included the film on a list of "Rad Videos" summarized as "Dirty Politics in the United States." He called the film a "campy and terribly acted account of the Watergate break-in." He noted the film's value as a tool for giving a view into the workings of the United States government.^[9]

Notes

External links

• Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy (1982) (TV) at the Internet Movie Database
• Will: G. Gordon Liddy at Allmovie
• Will:G. Gordon Liddy - 1982 at Rotten Tomatoes