All The President's Men
At times it looked like it might cost them their jobs, their reputations, and maybe even their lives.
In the Watergate Building, lights go on and four burglars are caught in the act. That night trigged revelations that drove a U.S. President from office. Washington reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) grabbed the story and stayed with it through doubts, denials and discouragement. All The President's Men is their story.
Directed by Alan J. Pakula and based on the Woodward/Bernstein book, the film won four 1976 Academy Awards (Best Supporting Actor / Jason Robards, Adaptation Screenplay / William Goldman, Art Direction and Sound). It also explores a working newspaper, where the mission is to get the story - and get it right.
Member Reviews
All The Truth - NewLucas
Hadn't seen this since Nixon was alive so watched it with my teenage son. You can debate the quality of the film-making (the cinematography is fantastic, the acting taut, the supporting cast a who's who) but what you can't debate is that you're watching the truth. No fantasy. No fiction. Just a great history lesson told with craft and suspense.Enthralling, well done, interesting - snowbird
This film is a fascinating look at the events surrounding the Watergate Hearing from the perspective of the journalists who uncovered the story to the world. It is brilliant watching the facts unfold alongside them, as they investigate and muse about the pieces of the puzzle. I did not know much about the Watergate Hearings before watching this film, so I did find it a little bit difficult to keep up with what occurred, but it was an excellent introduction both to the historical events, as well as to the journalistic perspective.An Interesting Story That Stumbles A Bit At The End - revsdd
Not so much a political thriller, this movie (and the book on which it's based) serves as an excellent introduction for the viewer to the inside workings of investigative journalism, as Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein struggle to put together the pieces of the Watergate break-in, and get led progressively higher and higher into the members of Richard Nixon's administration. It's truly fascinating to watch the scandal as it unfolds from a minor and puzzling break-in to a major political scandal implicating the White House itself. There's a good study of the initial suspicion of Woodward and Berstein toward each other, which quickly evolves into them working as a team, a good look at the battle within the Post itself about how far to go with the story, and a revolving door of possible contacts and sources, all of whom try to weasel out of saying anything concrete for the record.
Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman put on very strong performances as Woodward and Bernstein respectively, and were totally convincing in the roles. Remember that this movie doesn't focus on the scandal itself but on the investigation into the scandal, so it lacks any sustained "excitement" but certainly comes across as extremely interesting. I thought the ending was too abrupt. We basically get to the point of Woodward and Bernstein implicating Nixon's chief of staff Bob Haldemand in the scandal, and then to Nixon's second inauguration, after which the fates of all the major players (including Nixon himself) are relayed as headlines coming across on a teletype machine. To me, that represented a weakness. There was surely far more investigative journalism over the next year and a half as the scandal that led eventually to Nixon's resignation was fleshed out. So, the ending stumbled a bit. Still, it's enjoyable and interesting.
Member Reviews
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All The Truth - NewLucas
Hadn't seen this since Nixon was alive so watched it with my teenage son. You can debate the quality of the film-making (the cinematography is fantastic, the acting taut, the supporting cast a who's who) but what you can't debate is that you're watching the ...Enthralling, well done, interesting - snowbird
This film is a fascinating look at the events surrounding the Watergate Hearing from the perspective of the journalists who uncovered the story to the world. It is brilliant watching the facts unfold alongside them, as they investigate and muse about the pieces ...An Interesting Story That Stumbles A Bit At The End - revsdd
Not so much a political thriller, this movie (and the book on which it's based) serves as an excellent introduction for the viewer to the inside workings of investigative journalism, as Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein struggle to ...