An altogether remarkable achievement.

Rating: 10/10 (4 March 2019)

Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford are aces as real-life Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, who set out to solve the "Watergate" mystery of the 1970s, which had very far-reaching implications; major White House players were involved, and it ultimately led to 37th President Richard Nixon resigning from office.
All the stars align in this impeccably written (by William Goldman, based on the factual book by Bernstein & Woodward) and directed (by Alan J. Pakula) film. It's a very long (two hours, 19 minutes) but utterly engrossing combination of newspaper stories, detective stories, and exercises in straight suspense. It's one film that can actually rely on its story to generate tension; David Shires' score is just fine, but it's only sparingly used. Goldman and Pakula use dialogue and performances to hold the viewers' attention from scene to scene. There is no shortage of characters that have been morally compromised in some way, and "All the President's Men" works as something of a procedural as our two protagonists follow all leads and interview ANY person who is WILLING to talk to them.
Hoffman and Redford make a great team; Hoffman is the somewhat more colourful character, but he never overplays this aspect; the result is that they do feel like two very real people. They're literally surrounded by top actors, starting with Jason Robards as WP editor Ben Bradlee; Robards and Goldman won two of the films' four Oscars. (The others were for art direction / set decoration and sound.) The non-stop parade of talent includes Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook (playing that mysterious informant, Deep Throat), Jack Warden, Jane Alexander, Ned Beatty, John McMartin, F. Murray Abraham, Dominic Chianese, Nicolas Coster, Lindsay Crouse (in her film debut), Richard Herd, Polly Holliday, James Karen, Allyn Ann McLerie, James Murtaugh, etc.
One does have to pay attention to the story so they don't get lost, but the rewards are substantial; this great piece of work still stands over 40 years later as a part of the entire Watergate legacy. Text at the end reveals the fates of the key players in the conspiracy, for those who may not already know these details.
Key to the pictures' success is that even people who lived through this era and this story have said that they were often on the edges of their seats.
10 out of 10.