Required viewing for anyone interested in Watergate

Rating: 10/10 (7 November 2005)

Over the years, I've watched "All the President's Men" several times - most recently, after the revelation of "Deep Throat" as the FBI's W. Mark Felt. The movie never loses its excitement for me, and remains one of my favorite films from the 1970s.
The tale of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they discover the true story behind Watergate could have been dry; indeed, director Alan Pakula, perhaps not entirely trusting the material, jazzes up the action by inserting ersatz "chase scenes" and other elements from standard thrillers. But "All the President's Men" excites the most when Robert Redford's Woodward juggles phone calls to glean new bits of information, or when Dustin Hoffman's Bernstein extracts names from reluctant witnesses. It calls to mind the heady days of investigative journalism, a time when brave men like Ben Bradlee ran newspapers, rather than today's corporate conglomerates.
Pakula effectively conveys the reporters' struggle through a variety of techniques. A mournful Vivaldi trumpet duo highlights Woodward and Bernstein's loneliness as they fight uphill to break their story. Shots of the two reporters against Washington's monuments - or most memorably, from the ceiling of the Library of Congress - eloquently portray the reporters' struggle against Washington's power structure.
Both Redford and Hoffman deliver subtle yet inspired performances, aided by a stellar supporting cast, which includes Oscar winner Jason Robards as Bradlee, Oscar nominee Jane Alexander as a key witness, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Stephen Collins, Ned Beatty, Robert Walden, and others. Hal Holbrook portrays "Deep Throat," delivering perhaps my favorite line from the movie: "Forget the myths the media's created about the White House. The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand." "All the President's Men" should be required viewing for anyone interested in Watergate, investigative journalism, or politics in general. In today's troubled times, with reporters going to jail to protect confidential sources and White House officials desperately trying to cover up the sources of leaks, we could use men like Deep Throat, Woodward and Bernstein, and Ben Bradlee again.