Proof Positive That Truth Is More Compelling Than Fiction

Rating: 9/10 (9 March 2006)

It is amazing how compulsively watchable this 1976 non-fiction political thriller is given we already know the outcome and how the two Washington Post reporters spotlighted, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, thrived afterward. What is even more impressive now versus three decades ago is how dramatically resonant the labyrinth plot is relative to what is being reported on the current administration. Having just read Bruce Bartlett's "Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy", the author draws strong, irrefutable analogies between Bush and Nixon. Now having watched this superbly rendered historic film, the parallels are almost eerie in how the plot developments foreshadow the clandestine activities highlighted in a bevy of contemporary political books including Bartlett's.
Based on the 1974 book written by Woodward and Bernstein, the movie follows the two ambitious, unproven reporters from their breaking coverage of the Watergate break-in to the final headline on the AP wire of Nixon's resignation. Unsurprisingly, all this is done without the direct involvement of the incriminated officials, yet their off-screen presence casts a vast, impenetrable shadow on the investigation covered. The result is a suspenseful storyline that winds tighter and tighter as new evidence comes to light and the evasive participants come forward in the most elliptical manner. The cast is terrific but secondary to the intricacy of William Goldman's compelling screenplay and the documentary-style realism of the setting all masterfully directed by Alan J. Pakula. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman play "Wood-stein" convincingly and for the most part unobtrusively, though Hoffman's naturally manic personality seeps out periodically and for good reason. Jason Robards plays Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee with his trademark authority as he begrudgingly moves forward in supporting the boys.
Stalwart character actors Jack Warden and Martin Balsam play the other key figures in the press room giving the green light to the increasingly controversial news stories. In lesser roles and cameos, Pakula populates the film with a number of familiar faces from TV and movies - Ned Beatty, Hal Holbrook, Stephen Collins, John McMartin, Penny Fuller, Meredith Baxter, Neva Patterson, Polly Holliday - and they all register one way or the other. The standout is Jane Alexander as a fearful accountant working on the staff of the Nixon re-election committee - in just two brief scenes, she skillfully alternates between stonewalling, cowering and divulging in front of the intrepid reporters with ebbing fury. Through the course of the film, names from the past - Haldeman, Liddy, Hunt, Mitchell, Magruder, Segretti - come back with their infamy intact, as the covert CIA operations threaten to rock the Nixon administration beyond repair. Truth be told, unless you have a familiarity with the Watergate scandal, you will be swimming in the plethora of facts presented, but the propulsive pacing more than compensates for such presumptions.
Now in a 30th anniversary two-disc set, the movie has been justifiably revitalized for a new generation with some wonderful extras. Redford's commentary is first-rate - illuminating from his perspective as both actor and producer. There is a Holbrook-narrated documentary, "Telling the Truth About Lies: The Making of All the President's Men", on the book-to-film transition, and another short about the impact of Woodward and Bernstein's legacy on present-day investigative reporting (though no mention of Woodward's current controversy in withholding information in the Plame scandal). There is an invaluable profile on W. Mark Felt, the FBI's then-second-in-command who has been disclosed as the real "Deep Throat". A 1976 making-of featurette has been included as well.