Movie #918: All the President's Men

All the President's Men is a political drama starring Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards, Jane Alexander, and Stephen Collins.

So there's this burglary at the Watergate Hotel, and some of the dudes caught with totally normal burglar's tools like electronic surveillance devices have the number of one Howard Hunt in their possession - turns out Hunt is former CIA and now works for President Nixon's special counsel.

The Washington Post puts two fairly new reporters - Bob Woodward (Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Hoffman) on the story, and they slowly unravel the fact that this burglary was actually part of a much larger, longer conspiracy to destroy the Democrat opposition to Nixon, because Republicans have been pretty much like they are now all along, they just got dumber and more overtly fascist recently. 

Anyway, the movie mainly consists of the two of them talking to people and trying to get them to talk about shit that they know they shouldn't talk about, and slowly realizing exactly how far up the chain this goes. Woodward calls on his source in the executive branch, whom he refers to as Deep Throat (Holbrook), and they meet in a darkened parking garage; all very cloak and dagger. We end as we know it does, with the Post breaking the story that this conspiracy goes all the way to Nixon and, eventually, with the fucker resigning. 

All the President's Men is interesting for a number of reasons. First of all, the acting is fantastic. Redford and Hoffman play off each other amazingly, and they nicely bring to life the dynamic between Woodward and Bernstein (to wit, they were very different men and didn't really like each other much at first, but they worked really well together). Jason Robards worn an Oscar for his portrayal of Post editor Ben Bradlee, and Jane Alexander got a nom for a very brief scene playing a bookkeeper who gives them information early on. (And of course, noms for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, etc. - it lost Best Picture to Rocky, wtf.)

But past that, it's a movie of two men talking to people very quickly and a lot of names being thrown at you, but it manages to be really tense and engaging for all that. I'm sure that it was even more so when it came out and Nixon had only resigned 12 years ago; names like John Mitchell and George McGovern aren't exactly household terms now, but I'm sure would have meant more back then. 

As is true of a lot of older political thrillers, though, parts of it almost seem quaint, like the corrupt and evil Presidential administration that actually tries to hide what it's doing...but also the media outlet that pursues the truth and reports it even when there are obviously powerful people who wish they didn't. 

My Grade: A
Rewatch Value: Low

Next up: The Abominable Dr. Phibes