All The President’s Men (1976) – Film Review

Director: Alan J. Pakula
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jack Warden
Certificate: PG

By Sarah Morgan

When it comes to journalists, few, if any, have been as famous as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

The duo were, of course, instrumental in bringing down the government of US President Richard Nixon in the mid-1970s, and their names are now a byword for excellence in investigative reporting.

After exposing the Watergate scandal, the pair collaborated on the bestselling book All The President’s Men, which detailed how they got to the truth of the matter, despite continual efforts to discredit them. After reading it, Robert Redford bought the rights to turn it into a movie, and hired William Goldman to write the screenplay.

“Subtle moments”

The resulting film was a massive hit and is still, quite rightly in my opinion, regarded as one of the greatest political thrillers ever made.

Redford was at the peak of his fame and popularity at the time, and he gives one of the best performances of his career as Woodward, alongside Dustin Hoffman, who was also enjoying great success, as Bernstein. On screen pair are like chalk and cheese – as were their real-life counterparts – but there’s great chemistry between them, particularly in several subtle moments, including those involving the clean-cut Woodward’s obvious disgust at Bernstein’s slovenly behaviour. It’s also amusing to see that Hoffman plays the man regarded as the charmer, while the more conventionally handsome Redford doesn’t even seem to notice women.

Despite their excellence, it was Jason Robards who won an Oscar for his role as their boss, Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee (who, incidentally, is portrayed by Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg’s The Post, which could be viewed as a sort of prequel to All The President’s Men). Goldman also won Best Adapted Screenplay, although the film itself lost out, controversially, to Rocky.

“Plaudits”

It was Bradlee who welcomed the movie’s makers into the newspaper, believing that they would be more likely to present a factual depiction of journalistic life if they were receptive rather than putting up barriers. He was right – those in the know claim it offers the best representation of life within a real newsroom ever seen on screen.

One man who deserves more plaudits than most for the film’s success is director Alan J Pakula. All The President’s Men is the third in what’s now known as his ‘paranoia trilogy’, which also features Klute and The Parallax View. If only he were around today to shine a spotlight on the current White House shenanigans.

The movie is being made available via an impressive 4K restoration that makes it look even better than ever before, while the special features includes two new documentaries offering insights into the film’s influence and the work of Woodward and Bernstein, as told by people who knew or admired them.

Sarah Morgan( Writer )

Sarah Morgan studied film journalism at post-graduate level with the BFI and has been writing about TV and film for PA Media’s newspaper, magazine and new media customers since 1996. She’s also written for a wide range of other publications, both online and in print, including the book Offbeat and Intermission magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Talking Pictures TV podcast. When she isn’t watching movies, she’s collecting and reading vintage crime and horror paperback books or, for her sins, watching her beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

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