History Main / NixonMask

* ''Film/ArmyOfThieves'': When the ''Walküre'' safe heist starts going south, Brad Cage puts a Nixon mask on and enters the banks to cause chaos for distraction in order to buy time for Gwendoline and Sebastian to escape unnoticed.

* Used by a group of convenience store robbers as a throw-away gag in ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns''. Note that this group predates ''Film/PointBreak1991'' (see below) by a full five years.

As might be [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin inferred by the title]], a Nixon Mask is a [[MalevolentMaskedMen rubber mask]] with the caricatured features of UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, specifically a large nose and creepy wide grin.

[[quoteright:300:[[VideoGame/Payday2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/payday2_mask.png]]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px-Richard_Nixon_mask.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:He is not a crook.]]

* In the video for Bow Wow Wow's "Do You Wanna Hold Me" the guitarist rocks out in a Reagan mask.

* Etiquette Hell describes [[http://www.etiquettehell.com/content/eh_wedding/vendors/evendors2002arc.shtml a wedding]] where "For reasons that were never revealed, the [=DJs=] put on mariachi sleeves and latex Richard Nixon masks(?!?!) before leading the conga line under the limbo bar [...] my date whispered to me: '[[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs LSD could add nothing to this experience]]'."

** Meg has a SlumberParty which is interrupted by her AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents. When she tells him that they if they cared for her they wouldn't show their faces for the right of the night, [[ExactWords Peter remarks that it's a good thing he's wearing a Nixon mask]] (actually a UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan mask, but Peter's not really that bright).

* A quirk of the United States election system, with the election being held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November (i.e. November 2 through 8), the election is held within at most, 8 days of Halloween. Since 1980, the candidate whose mask has sold better has gone on to become the next President. [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity It should be noted that, as it's Halloween, the primary reason to purchase these masks are to mock the candidate.]]

* ''Film/ArmyOfThieves'': When the ''Walküre'' heist starts going south, Brad Cage dons a Nixon mask and enters the banks to cause chaos for distraction so Gwendoline and Sebastian can have time to escape unnoticed.

* ''Film/ArmyOfThieves'': When the ''Walküre'' heist starts going south, Brad Cage dons a NixonMask and enters the banks to cause chaos for distraction so Gwendoline and Sebastian can have time to escape unnoticed.

** Meg has a SlumberParty which is interrupted by her AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents. When she tells him that they if they cared for her they wouldn't show their faces for the right of the night, [[ExactWords Peter remarks that it's a good thing he's wearing a Nixon mask]].

* The Nun in ''ComicBook/{{Fell}}''.

* The body in ''Film/MenAtWork1990'' is (not so cleverly concealed with) a Nixon mask.

* ''Film/PointBreak1991'' has its team of bank robbers each donning a mask of a former president (they identify themselves as the "Ex-Presidents" and declare that [[TakeThat they already robbed us when they were in office, so why not do it again now?]]), making it almost required for future criminal-themed media to reference it.
-->'''Bank-robber wearing Nixon mask:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F50QIqh8so I'm not a crook!]]
* Parodied in the French movie ''Brice de Nice'', where the title character is obsessed with watching ''Point Break''. When he tries his hand at his first own bank robbing, he's wearing a mask of Jacques Chirac.
-->'''Brice:''' Écoutezz [sic]... je ne suis pas un escroc.
* Parodied as well in the Italian movie ''Tre uomini e una gamba'', where the main characters put on masks of former Italian presidents during an attempted robbery. Notably, [[TakeThat of them mistakes the mask he's got for Karl Popper's and complains about it]], [[FromBadToWorse only to complain even more when told that it's actually Cossiga's mask.]]

Its status as the best-selling political mask of all time (and in many ways the inspiration for ''all'' political masks), as a symbol of famous counterculturists like Creator/HunterSThompson and Music/BobDylan, and as a hilarious remnant of the '70s have made it a classic go-to prop when a strange/funny mask is needed.

* A quirk of the United States election system, with the election being held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November (i.e. November 2 through 8), the election is held within at most, 8 days of Halloween. Since 1996, the candidate whose mask has sold better has gone on to become the next President. [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity It should be noted that, as it's Halloween, the primary reason to purchase these masks are to mock the candidate.]]

* The body in ''Film/MenAtWork1990'' is found wearing a Nixon mask.

Its status as the best-selling political mask of all time (and in many ways the inspiration for ''all'' political masks), as a symbol of famous counterculturists like Creator/HunterSThompson and Music/BobDylan, and as a hilarious remnant of the '70s have made it a classic go-to prop when a strange/hilarious mask is needed.