All the President's Men (1976)

Reporters Woodward and Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Nixon's resignation.

Director:

Alan J. Pakula

Writers:

Carl Bernstein (book), Bob Woodward (book),

Stars:

Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jack Warden

Won 4 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 20 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dustin Hoffman	...	Carl Bernstein
Robert Redford	...	Bob Woodward
Jack Warden	...	Harry Rosenfeld
Martin Balsam	...	Howard Simons
Hal Holbrook	...	Deep Throat
Jason Robards	...	Ben Bradlee
Jane Alexander	...	Bookkeeper
Meredith Baxter	...	Debbie Sloan
Ned Beatty	...	Dardis
Stephen Collins	...	Hugh Sloan
Penny Fuller	...	Sally Aiken
John McMartin	...	Foreign Editor
Robert Walden	...	Donald Segretti
Frank Wills	...	Frank Wills
F. Murray Abraham	...	Arresting Officer #1

Storyline

In the run-up to the 1972 elections, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward covers what seems to be a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National headquarters. He is surprised to find top lawyers already on the defense case, and the discovery of names and addresses of Republican fund organizers on the accused further arouses his suspicions. The editor of the Post is prepared to run with the story and assigns Woodward and Carl Bernstein to it. They find the trail leading higher and higher in the Republican Party, and eventually into the White House itself.

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Plot Keywords:

watergate | nixon | reporter | newspaper | washington post | 

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Taglines:

At times it looked like it might cost them their jobs, their reputations, and maybe even their lives.

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Genres:

Drama | History | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

9 April 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Todos los hombres del presidente

Filming Locations:

2600 Virginia Avenue NW, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$8,500,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 2,279,442 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Wildwood

Technical Specs

Runtime:

138 min 125 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film reunites Martin Balsam and Jack Warden, who previously appeared together as jurors in 12 Angry Men (coincidentally, sitting at ends of the table directly opposite one another.) It also reunites Balsam with Jason Robards, his co-star in A Thousand Clowns, the film for which Balsam won an Oscar.

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Goofs

When Bernstein is handed a photo, the woman who hands him the folder looks toward the camera as she walks off, as if to make sure she's no longer in the shot.

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Quotes

[Asking for background information about Howard Hunt]
Bob Woodward: It's just profile information, mostly. We know, for example, that he works for Mullen and Company, or did work for Mullen and Company, as a writer. He's also a novelist; we know that he works in the office of Charles Colson at the White House...
Bennett: ...and the CIA.
Bob Woodward: And the CIA.
Bennett: Well, if you're conducting that kind of investigation, certainly it comes as no surprise to you that Howard was with the CIA.
Bob Woodward: No, no surprise at all.

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Crazy Credits

The opening Warner Bros. Zooming \\' logo is in black and white.

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Connections

Featured in The Spirit of America (2001)

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Soundtracks

"Concerto in C for two trumpets"
(RV 537)
Written by Antonio Vivaldi

User Reviews

Required viewing.

If you were to imagine yourself as a newspaper journalist, one of the best conspiracies you could ever find yourself stumbling upon would undoubtedly be the infamous Watergate Scandal. And reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) were the two men who found themselves head-above-water in an elaborate cover-up that went all the way up the chain of command to the United States President himself.

On June 17th, 1972, Watergate hotel security guard Frank Wills spotted a possible break-in at the Democratic Party's National Committee. Some apparent CIA agents were arrested for breaking and entering, and later held at a trial, where Bob Woodward first found out that they were more than mere intruders. They worked for the government.

After researching into the matter, Woodward soon realized that one of the intruders had the name of a political figure scrawled in a notebook located within his shirt pocket.

And with the help of Carl Bernstein, a fellow Washington Post reporter (and a veteran of the field), Woodward followed the slight tracks, and the two men soon found themselves unearthing a shattering conspiracy that did indeed lead all the way up to President Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States of America, himself.

Based on Woodward and Bernstein's own memoirs, William Goldman's Oscar-winning script makes for a brilliant subtle mystery; a true-life story as amazingly honest and forthright as it is entertaining and engaging. It would always remain the late Alan J. Pakula's greatest film, and its standing as one of the top films of all time on many various "great movies lists" is certainly merited.

It's a shame that both Hoffman and Redford were snubbed by the Academy Awards for their performances here. As Woodward and Bernstein, the two are amazingly convincing and bounce dialogue off of each other with striking clarity and realistic quality. Hoffman, who is top billed, appears in the film less than Redford, but gives just a performance just as amazing. He would gain an Oscar twelve years later for his portrayal of Raymond Babbitt in "Rain Man," his finest performance to date, but his role in "All the President's Men" is of a different caliber. Woodward and Bernstein are two complete opposites, and at first they rub each other the wrong way -- Bernstein, a veteran reporter, takes one of Woodward's articles and starts making revisions. "I don't mind what you did," Woodward says, "I just mind how you did it." Even though it's not anything special, this if my favorite scene in the movie, and perhaps the best example of just how well these two actors are able to bring their characters to life.

The movie is a mystery but not in the traditional sense. Almost all of us watching the film already know how the story is going to turn out, but the way it makes its dynamic revelations seem surprising and its story tense and exciting is one of the greatest examples of compelling filmmaking.

For the film's opening sequence, in which Woodward and Bernstein's condemning news is written on a typewriter, Pakula used sounds of gunshots to clarify each separate key of the device striking downwards. The 37th President of the United States of America was sentenced to a sort of death with the publishing of that article, and the bold gunshots add an extra depth and meaning to this fact.

"All the President's Men" has no hidden morals, messages, meanings. It's just a true story about something that happened, brought to life on the big screen by a great director, an influential screenwriter and two of the best actors of all time. No, it's not going to have you thinking after it's over, but if anything, it's the type of movie that will generate a lot of talk instead. And more often than not, that's a good thing.

5/5 stars.

• John Ulmer