This Day in Pop Culture for November 17

1973: “I Am Not a Crook”

The Nixon years were a tough time for our country and through the whole Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon rejected the notion that he was responsible for any wrongdoing.

On this day in 1973, he made the infamous speech on television where he said, “People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I’ve earned everything I’ve got.” In short order, more allegations were heaped on the president which he vowed to fight. However, one of the Watergate tapes proved that Nixon had been aware of the White House connection to Watergate and had plans to stifle the investigation. It became known as the “smoking gun tape.”

On August 5, 1974, Nixon accepted blame for misleading the country. He resigned from office on August 9, 1974. (Image: Wikimedia)

2017: ‘Justice League’ Superhero Movie was Anything but Super

It is estimated the director Zack Snyder shot as much as 85% of Justice League (the fifth movie in the DC Extended Universe) when he stepped down to from the project in May 2017 to cope with a death in the family. Joss Whedon took his place and completed the film sixth months later. Although Snyder’s name was still listed as the sole director, he has stated that much of his footage was removed from the final film. Whedon shared a credit for co-screenwriter along with Chris Terrio.

The movie starred a who’s who of DC Comics superheroes including Batman (Ben Affleck), Superman (Henry Cavill), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher).

Other character shared the screen like Lois Lane (Amy Adams), Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons), Martha Kent (Diane Lane), Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), Commissioner James Gordon (J.K. Simmons), Princess Mera (Amber Heard) and Silas Stone (Joe Morton).

The villain of the story is Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) was first featured in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Hailing from the planet Apokolips, Steppenwolf leads an army of Parademons bent on destroying Earth as we know it.

The movie opened in theaters on this day. It received mixed reviews and lower than expected ticket sales. The change in tone between this movie and the ones before it took some of the blame. Whedon’s reshooting schedule changed the portrayals of some of the characters too. A “director’s cut” of the movie was made using a lot more of Snyder’s work for an additional $70 million and debuted on the HBO Max streaming service in 2021.

Initially, Warner Bros. planned to produce a sequel, but after the two versions of the movie, it was scrapped along with an announcement that Snyder would not be directing any more DC Comics movies. It soon became clear that the studio had no plans to continue using the same actors for future movies either. A Superman reboot, directed by Jame Gunn, was released during the summer of 2025.

2017: ‘The Star’ Shines Brightly

Produced by Sony Pictures Animation, with a partnership from Walden Media, Affirm Firms and The Jim Henson Company, The Star, the first animated movie about the nativity story was released in theaters on this day in 2017.

The script was originally developed after the success of another talking animal movie: Babe. The film featured the voice talents of Steven Yeun, Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Keegan-Michael Key, Kelly Clarkson, Patricia Heaton, Kristin Chenoweth, Tracy Morgan, Tyler Perry, and Oprah Winfrey. The film’s main song was sung by Mariah Carey.