Hoffman and Redford energizes investigation

Rating: 9/10 (28 January 2015)

It's 1972 and there has been a break-in at the Democratic Party National headquarters at the Watergate hotel. Washington Post editor Howard Simons (Martin Balsam) assigns new reporter Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) to cover the minor story. He is surprised to find top lawyers defending the burglars despite none of the them made a phone call. The burglars claim to have CIA connections and he soon connects them to the White House. Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) is a rough and tumble veteran local reporter who is also working the case. Simons wants to give it to more experienced writers but local news editor Harry M. Rosenfeld (Jack Warden) defend the pair. Executive editor Benjamin Bradlee (Jason Robards) keeps pushing them to dig harder. Woodward contacts his reluctant connection "Deep Throat" (Hal Holbrook). The two lowly reporters keep plugging away with no other paper willing to follow the story.
This is a movie about real journalism or what we hope real journalism actually is. It's a lot digging, phone calls and investigating. It could have been very dry story but Hoffman and Redford energizes the movie. The movie doesn't jazz up the investigation with car chases or gun fights. This is a hard slough newspaper work. Despite the Byantine labyrinth, the investigation is still coherent for novices with a brain.