A NOVEL DRINK OF WATERGATE; TEENS OF `DICK' PUT NEW SPIN ON NIXON'S DEMISE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

What would the movies do without Richard Nixon?

The 37th president has been a source of menace and mirthful burlesque since before his resignation, 25 years ago next week, as a result of the Watergate scandal. From ``All the President's Men'' to, pretty much, the complete works of Oliver Stone; from Vietnam-era trashings such as ``Millhouse: A White Comedy'' to the arch allegory ``Nasty Habits'' and the psychodramatic inquiry ``Secret Honor,'' the disgraced chief executive has traumatized Hollywood almost as much as he did Washington.

What's left to explore about Nixon on film? Well, how about his relationship with two bubble-headed 15-year-old girls during the height of the Watergate imbroglio?

That's the imaginative comic premise of ``Dick,'' the new film that stars ``Cheers'' alum Dan Hedaya as the tricky title prexy and teen stars Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams as the White House dog-walkers who all but unconsciously bring down his administration.

The brainchild of director Andrew Fleming (``The Craft,'' ``Threesome'') and co-writer Sheryl Longin, ``Dick'' lampoons everyone involved in the scandal, including the self-mythologizing heroes of the investigation, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

Spoofing Watergate in a way it never has been before proved surprisingly easy, Fleming says. Basically, just stick to the facts and add adolescents.

``We got the idea first - What if Deep Throat was two teen-age girls? - and that sort of made us giggle,'' Fleming, who was about 10 when Nixon resigned, says. ``The more we learned about the actual events and the general attitude of high jinks in that administration, we felt like we had more permission to be satirical.

``I mean, some of those people were so broad - G. Gordon Liddy, Martha Mitchell - that the sober version of events usually ends up being unintentionally funny. And the funny thing about Nixon is that, in strict terms, he is the ultimate tragic character. There was a fatal flaw in his personality, he was at the height of power, and he brought his own self down and the country with him. But ... he was also just funny. Everybody remarked upon how disconnected he was, how out of touch.''

Hedaya, who often brings an eye-popping, goofy brand of comedy to his work, mostly played Nixon straight. And, true to Fleming's words, he was all the more effective for it.

``It's fun to say the things he does, in that kind of voice,'' Hedaya notes. ``But there are certain sections of the movie that could really be lifted out of a drama. They're extremely serious and unsettling, especially when the girls confront him with his vulgarity and anti-Semitism and deceit. He lies, denies and resorts to outbursts of arrogance; I didn't feel good after doing those scenes.''

Whether or not audiences feel good after attending ``Dick'' remains to be seen. The film comes to market somewhat demographically challenged. In form, it's a giddy teen comedy aimed at young females who hadn't been born when Watergate was news. In specifics, it riffs on minute details of the crisis and other cultural references you sort of had to have been around in the early '70s to appreciate.

Williams, a star of TV's controversial hit series ``Dawson's Creek'' and daughter of a two-time Senate candidate, is concerned that today's youth may be too politically apathetic and historically uninformed for ``Dick.''

``My father always stressed the importance of history and government, so I grew up with a good grasp of the subjects,'' Williams, 18, explains. ``But I'm disappointed that so many of my peers don't care about any of that. I can't believe it; how can you not be passionate about what goes on in the world around you and how it affects you?''

Of course, Williams learned a few new things making ``Dick.''

``My dad was a hard-core Republican, so it was amazing to find out that Nixon was a bad man,'' she cracks.

Dunst, who's essentially been too busy with a hot child acting career (``Interview With the Vampire,'' ``Little Women,'' a stint on TV's ``ER'') for the last 10 years to care about politics, figures her ignorance only added to her characterization.

``I was born in '82; don't you feel old?'' Dunst chirps like Betsy, her on-screen featherbrain. ``I understood little things in the movie, like erasing the 18-1/2 minutes of tape, but I didn't know everything. They really didn't teach me a lot about Watergate in school, but the movie is about these two girls who didn't know absolutely anything about it. I mean, it actually helped me more not knowing everything that went on, because these girls are just so oblivious, it's not even funny.''

``Dick's'' producer Gale Anne Hurd, who's best-known for making action blockbusters such as ``Aliens'' and the ``Terminator'' movies, hopes the more modest ``Dick'' will attract the younger crowd and pique their elders' interest.

``The big problem that we were concerned about was whether or not our target audience, especially teen-age girls, would even care,'' Hurd admits, ``or whether they would find this so unconnected to their daily lives that they wouldn't want to see the movie.

``Hopefully, the movie will still be in theaters three weeks after it comes out. At that point, I think, the word-of-mouth will be such that the people who generally don't show up on opening night, 30- and 40-year-olds, will then be convinced that they should go see a movie that stars two teen-age girls.''

Actually, concurrent events might inadvertently have given ``Dick'' more relevance to today's moviegoers. But the eerie echoes of a much more recent and publicly disdained White House scandal are also another X factor in the comedy's marketability.

The Clinton-Lewinsky contretemps broke out just weeks after Columbia Pictures gave the green light to Fleming's production, and revelations of the current president's peccadilloes shadowed the film's Toronto shoot through the spring and summer of last year.

``When the first story broke, all these people would call me and say, `It's so great for your script!' '' Fleming recalls with a laugh. ``It was a very absurdist notion that suddenly became less absurdist and more relevant. But we didn't change anything; we wrote it before the story broke and just went with it. We did not try to capitalize off of Clinton's situation.''

The producer, understandably, was a bit more alarmed.

``We actually freaked out,'' Hurd admits. ``The idea that a young girl was poised on the brink of bringing down a presidency - in a completely different context than our movie - was frightening. We weren't sure whether people would become so jaded or so cynical that this film wouldn't or couldn't be perceived as fun anymore.''

The fact that Williams' Arlene develops a powerful, unreciprocated crush on the chief executive may not be some people's idea of fun now. Then again, it could attract some patrons who think they're seeing a completely different story.

``Every time I mentioned I was making a movie called `Dick,' and it takes place in the White House, people would go, `They're making a movie about the whole Monica thing already?' '' Williams reports. ``But, obviously, Arlene's relationship with Nixon is nothing sexual at all. It's more a fantasy of having this powerful father figure in her life.''

Whatever its peculiarities, ``Dick'' is the kind of smart, singular project that creative types of all ages yearn to make.

``I don't want to be part of all those huge, teen-scene movies,'' Dunst admits. ``Those aren't really about the people in them, just how much money they can make. I prefer movies that have good characters and challenges; `Dick' was just so much fun that way, it was like going to play every day.''

``I don't think about demographics when I'm writing, quite frankly,'' Fleming says. ``I just think you have to follow your instincts about what's amusing. And I like the mixture of daffiness and sobriety in this movie. The girls are all spontaneity and energy and the guys are very serious about what their doing.''

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6 Photos

PHOTO (1--2--Cover--Color) COME ON IN, THE WATER(GATE)`S FINE

Nixon scandal revisited in snickering `Dick.'

Richard Nixon after resigning from the presidency, left, and Dan Hedaya, above, as the chief executive in the film `Dick.'

(3) Director Andrew Fleming and producer Gale Ann Hurd

(4) `He lies, denies and resorts to outbursts of arrogance; I didn't feel good after doing those scenes.'

Dan Hedaya, on portraying Nixon

(5) `My dad was a hard-core Republican, so it was amazing to find out that Nixon was a bad man.'

Michelle Williams, plays Arlene Lorenzo

(6) `It actually helped me more not knowing everything that went on, because these girls are just so oblivious, it's not even funny.'

Kirsten Dunst, plays Betsy Jobs