Epitome

Rating: 9/10 (10 February 2006)

All the Presidents Men represents everything that was great about the grand, sweeping, American films of the 1970s. This film is among the reasons people, though I would argue incorrectly, believe the period between Easy Rider and Raging Bull to be the renaissance of American cinema (let's be honest, ladies and gentlemen, any such proclamations are invariably false). Like Chinatown or Apocalypse Now, this is, simply put, unlike any major film released in America today. Something like Good Night and Good Luck comes close, but doesn't quite achieve the audacity of releasing a film representative of the malaise sweeping a nation; Good Night attacks its targets obliquely, while Presidents takes them on head first. That's certainly something to admire.
However, if that was all this film is, it wouldn't be as wonderful an achievement as it is. In addition to an overt, yet subdued, political diatribe, you find yourself face to face with, perhaps, the most realistic depiction of journalism committed to celluloid. Sure, the game of cat and mouse that takes place in the film is more akin to a detective story than your typical reporter is used to, but the fact that checking sources takes up so much of this film's running time is amazing. Pakula deserves credit for taking what could have been utterly banal and transforming it into something exciting (all of this, too, in spite of the fact that we know the end before we even start the movie).
And then there's the acting... I've never much cared for Robert Redford and have often thought of him as a second-tier actor. Yeah he has starpower and charisma, but he's no Beatty, Nicholson, or Newman; heck, he's even no Reynolds or Bronson or Eastwood. He's a little too pretty and a tad too plastic. When I see him, I think California--bright, sunny, vapid. Anyway, he's excellent here, as is the always reliable Dustin Hoffman. What's great, though, are the supporting actors--Jason Robards and Hal Holbrook in particular.
All the President's Men is slick, economical, Hollywood entertainment. It's not necessarily the most intelligent film, but it's definitely smart; it's also not the most aesthetically vibrant, but it has a nice feel to it. This is, simply, the apogee of Hollywood entertainment--a thrilling potboiler in the best sense of the word (I think of it and Shattered Glass in the same terms-- both excellent fun and great ways to spend a few hours).