"Don't you understand what you're on to?".

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 2011)

Back in the early Seventies when the Watergate story was playing out in the press, the revelations and names just kept coming - Mitchell, Colson, Hunt, Liddy, Stans, Magruder, Haldemann, and on and on. I was in my twenties then and didn't have the patience to keep up with the daily news, but it wasn't difficult to be even semi-informed, as virtually every day there was another breaking story. When this film came out so quickly following the actual events, it was a must see, considering Redford and Hoffman in the lead roles, and supported by a strong cast of other character and leading actors of the day. Watching it present day is a good way to get a quick snapshot look at the Nixon Watergate scandal, and even if you have no interest in politics, it makes for a compelling mystery story. You're taken day by day into the world of the Washington Post and reporters Woodward (Redford) and Bernstein (Hoffman), and the obsessive investigation that resulted in keeping Watergate on the national front burner for a couple of years.
The one thing I recall from watching the film when it first came out was the use of Hal Holbrook for the character of Deep Throat. I would have thought the character would be treated more mysteriously since no one outside of the principals knew who he was. Speculation even ran rampant that Deep Throat might have been a composite of several sources for the Post reporters. It's all a moot point now, as the real Deep Throat revealed himself in 2005 to be Mark Felt, the number two man at the FBI at the time. Still, to keep that secret for thirty years was no mean feat.
Though the film purports to be fairly accurate in it's recollection of events, I guess my main criticism would be about the way the picture ends. Woodward and Bernstein were on to something big, and as shoe after shoe kept dropping, it's somewhat frustrating that the story ends before the special prosecutor is named and the Nixon secret tapes are revealed. It almost felt like, Oops!, the budget's run out and we have to wrap this up. Up till then though, the story held my interest pretty well, and as a condensed overview of the events surrounding Watergate, it's not a bad place to start.