PENN UNIMPEACHABLE AGAIN.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

`HE'S THE GREATEST salesman in the country. He made a promise. He didn't deliver. Then he sold us on the exact same promise again. That's believing in himself.''

Name that president. Too many possibilities, you say? That's one of many disquieting elements in Niels Mueller's striking debut feature, ``The Assassination of Richard Nixon.'' Mueller wrote this movie five years ago, before W, before Iraq, which just goes to show, of course, that political swindling continues to be ingrained in the fabric of our country and it always will be. People watching ``Assassination'' 100 years from now will still marvel at its relevance.

Mueller's movie isn't really political, though, even if its topicality is sometimes unnerving. At its core, it's more a portrait of one man's descent into alienation and madness, part ``Death of a Salesman,'' part ``Taxi Driver.'' The central figure is Samuel Bicke (the ever-astonishing Sean Penn), a real-life footnote in the list of would-be assassins who tried to hijack a plane and crash it into the White House in 1974. (Yet another disturbing present-day parallel that predated the movie's origins.)

In the film, Bicke's motivation derives from a misguided desire for revenge (the Man is keeping him down) and celebrity (``a man is only remembered for his work''). Mostly, though, it comes from a growing feeling of impotence and betrayal. A failure as a salesman (Bicke refuses to lie, a quality both endearing and ridiculous) and a husband, Bicke believes he's outside the American dream, looking in.

``The meek shall not inherit the earth,'' he muses. ``The earth belongs to the bullies who do not care how they get to the top as long as they arrive.''

That Bicke comes off as a tragic figure is a testament to the writing as well as Penn's tour-de-force performance. The volcanic Penn could probably capture Bicke's simmering rage in his sleep. (There's a classic scene with Penn, pacing like a caged animal, screaming at the evening news, ``It's all about money, Dick! It's all about money!'')

But it's Bicke's heartbreak over losing his wife, Marie (the marvelous Naomi Watts, reuniting with her ``21 Grams'' co-star), and children that really gets to you. Bicke wants to provide for his family, but he can't get past his pesky ideals to do so, and Marie has long given up any hope that her soon-to-be-ex husband will ever change. Watch Penn lovingly touch the tree in front of the home he once shared with his family - from that point on, you can't help but empathize with the guy, no matter where he goes.

Bicke is hoping to start his own business with his one and only friend, a clear-eyed auto mechanic played with great understanding by Don Cheadle. But to get a loan, Bicke must go through bureaucratic channels, and he doesn't have a strong enough hold on reality to do that. As the pressure to succeed builds, Nixon himself seems to be taunting him on the nightly news. The rest, as they say, is history.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON - Three and one half stars

(R: language, scene of graphic violence)

Starring: Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, Naomi Watts.

Director: Niels Mueller.

Running time: 1 hr. 43 min.

Playing: Opening Wednesday at Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood; Landmark's NuWilshire in Santa Monica.

In a nutshell: Disquieting portrait of alienation, marked by Sean Penn's bravura lead turn and the material's disturbing topicality.

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Sean Penn and Naomi Watts cope with a troubled marriage in ``The Assassination of Richard Nixon,'' in which Penn's unhappy character seeks the 37th president's murder.