The power of the pen.

Rating: 8/10 (30 November 2005)

All the President's Men was both a commercially and critically successful film which chronicled the investigation of the Nixon administration by two zealous young reporters. Woodward and Bernstein are still household names to this day, and Redford and Hoffman are sensational as them. The film throws a blizzard of names and dates at the audience, so the film may require more than one viewing to understand it all.
The film begins with some stock footage of Nixon addressing Congress then we see five hired thugs break into the Democratic headquarters in the now famous Watergate Hotel. Redford (playing Woodward) is assigned to cover the story after the men are arrested, and almost immediately he notices some odd things about the men, and how they are being represented. He and Hoffman (Bernstein) are soon digging up anything they can find and piecing together any available leads to build a story implicating members of the Nixon administration. Over the course of the film, the reporters learn that a large slush fund of money sent in to re-elect Nixon has been parceled out to pay for various dastardly deeds. It looks like virtually everyone in the administration had something to do with it. As we all know, this investigation ultimately led to Nixon's resignation.
Redford is particularly outstanding in this film. He also produced it, so you knew he'd come out looking pretty good. Hoffman is terrific as always, and the supporting cast is truly amazing. This film even got Martin Balsam and Jack Warden from 12 Angry Men in the same room once again! Hal Holbrook plays the infamous "Deep Throat" whose identity was recently learned by all. The film is pretty much all dialog, and most of it is fascinating. I loved the scenes with Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee where he as the editor evaluates whether or not the story is good enough. It must have truly been an exciting experience to work at a newspaper, especially back in those days when people under 60 actually read them.
The movie looks a little to dark and grainy for my taste. I've only seen it once on DVD, and it looks a little better, but old VHS copies look pretty murky. There are also a few too many names thrown around that we don't necessarily need to hear about. Those would be my only beefs, though.
The Watergate scandal, and the resulting resignation of President Nixon is still considered by many to be the crowning achievement of print journalism. In some ways you could call it the last victory of the Old Media. Nowadays, blogs and the internet have changed the way journalism happens. Consider the way in which the public learned about Monica Lewinsky's semen-stained dress via the Drudge Report. The means of journalism may have changed, but one thing will never change. Politicians will always be untrustworthy, and every new day is the chance for a new scandal.
8 of 10 stars.
The Hound has spoken.