All The President's Men (film)

''All the President's Men'' is a 1976 American biographical political thriller film about the Watergate scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon. Directed by Alan J. Pakula, with a screenplay by William Goldman, it is based on the 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the two journalists investigating the scandal for ''The Washington Post''.

The film stars Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Woodward and Bernstein, respectively. It was produced by Walter Coblenz for Redford's Wildwood Enterprises.

The film was nominated in multiple Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA categories; Jason Robards won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Ben Bradlee. In 2010, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

On June 17, 1972, a security guard at the Watergate complex finds a door's bolt taped over to prevent it from locking. He calls the police, who find and arrest five burglars in the Democratic National Committee headquarters within the complex. The next morning, ''The Washington Post'' assigns new reporter Bob Woodward to the local courthouse to cover the story, which is considered of minor importance.

Woodward learns that the five men— James W. McCord Jr. and four Cuban-Americans from Miami—possessed electronic bugging equipment, and are represented by a high-priced "country club" attorney. At the arraignment, McCord identifies himself in court as having recently left the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the others are also revealed to have CIA ties. Woodward connects the burglars to E. Howard Hunt, an employee of President Richard Nixon's White House counsel Charles Colson, and formerly of the CIA.

Carl Bernstein, another ''Post'' reporter, is assigned to cover the Watergate story with Woodward. The two young men are reluctant partners but work well together. Executive editor Benjamin Bradlee believes that their work lacks reliable sources and is not worthy of the ''Posts front page, but he encourages further investigation.

Woodward contacts a senior government official, an anonymous source he has used before and refers to as " Deep Throat". Communicating secretly, using a flag placed in a balcony flowerpot to signal meetings, they meet at night in an underground parking garage. Deep Throat speaks vaguely and with metaphors, avoiding substantial facts about the Watergate break-in, but promises to keep Woodward on the right path to the truth, advising Woodward to "follow the money".

Woodward and Bernstein connect the five burglars to corrupt activities involving campaign contributions to Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP or CREEP). This includes a check for $25,000 paid by Kenneth H. Dahlberg, who Miami authorities identified when investigating the Miami-based burglars. However, Bradlee and others at the ''Post'' still doubt the investigation and its dependence on sources such as Deep Throat, wondering why the Nixon administration should break the law when the president is almost certain to defeat his opponent, Democratic nominee George McGovern.

Through former CREEP treasurer Hugh W. Sloan Jr., Woodward and Bernstein connect a slush fund of hundreds of thousands of dollars to White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman—"the second most important man in this country"—and to former attorney general John N. Mitchell, now head of CREEP. They learn that CREEP was financing a " ratfucking" campaign to sabotage Democratic presidential candidates a year before the Watergate burglary, when Nixon was lagging behind Edmund Muskie in the polls.

While Bradlee's demand for thoroughness compels the reporters to obtain other sources to confirm the Haldeman connection, the White House issues a non-denial denial of the ''Posts above-the-fold story. Bradlee continues to encourage investigation.

Woodward again meets secretly with Deep Throat and demands he be less evasive. Very reluctantly, Deep Throat reveals that Haldeman masterminded the Watergate break-in and cover-up. He also states the cover-up was not only intended to camouflage the CREEP involvement, but also to hide "covert operations" involving "the entire U.S. intelligence community", including the CIA and FBI. He warns Woodward and Bernstein that their lives, and those of others, are in danger. When the two relay this information to Bradlee and tell him of the depth of the conspiracy, Bradlee realizes that a constitutional crisis is coming, but tells them to move forward with the story.

During second inauguration of Richard Nixon on January 20, 1973, Bernstein and Woodward type the full story, while a television in the newsroom shows Nixon taking the oath of office for his second term as president. A montage of Watergate-related teletype headlines from the following years is shown, ending with the report of Nixon's resignation and the inauguration of Gerald Ford on August 9, 1974.

Cast

Differences from the book

Unlike the book, the film covers only the first seven months of the Watergate scandal, from the time of the break-in to Nixon's second inauguration on January 20, 1973. The film introduced the catchphrase "follow the money" in relation to the case, which did not appear in the book or in any Watergate documentation.

Production

Redford began asking about the Watergate break-in while promoting ''The Candidate'', then read Woodward and Bernstein's Watergate stories in ''The Washington Post'', while waiting to start filming ''The Way We Were.'' Redford first spoke with Woodward in November 1972, after the reporters' well-publicized mistake about Hugh Sloan implicating Haldeman in his testimony to the Watergate grand jury.''The Legacy of "All the President's Men"'' with Robert Redford, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (April 21, 2011)
LBJ Presidential Library on YouTube

Redford bought the rights to Woodward and Bernstein's book in 1974 for $450,000, with the idea to adapt it into a film with a budget of $5 million. Ben Bradlee, executive editor of ''The Washington Post,'' realized that the film was going to be produced regardless of his approval, and believed it made "more sense to try to influence it factually". He hoped the film would show that newspapers "strive very hard for responsibility".

Redford hired William Goldman to write the script in 1974. Goldman has said that Woodward was extremely helpful to him but that Bernstein was not. Goldman wrote that his crucial decision regarding the screenplay's structure was to discard the second half of the book. After he delivered his first draft in August 1974, Warner Bros. agreed to finance the film.

Redford was not happy with Goldman's first draft. Woodward and Bernstein read it and also did not like it. Redford asked for their suggestions, but Bernstein and his girlfriend, writer Nora Ephron, wrote their own draft. Redford showed this draft to Goldman, suggesting that it might contain some material he could integrate, but Goldman later called Redford's acceptance of the Bernstein-Ephron draft a "gutless betrayal". Redford later expressed dissatisfaction with the Bernstein-Ephron draft, saying, "A lot of it was sophomoric and way off the beat." According to Goldman, "In what they wrote, Bernstein was sure catnip to the ladies." He also said that one of Bernstein and Ephron's scenes was included in the final film; a bit in which Bernstein deceives a secretary in an attempt to see someone, which was not factually true.

Alan J. Pakula was hired to direct and requested rewrites from Goldman. In a 2011 biography, Redford claimed that he and Pakula held all-day sessions working on the script. Pakula spent hours interviewing editors and reporters, taking notes of their comments.

In 2011, Richard Stayton wrote an article for '' Written By'' magazine following his comparison of several drafts of the script, including the final production draft. He concluded that Redford's and Pakula's contributions were not significant, that Goldman was properly credited as the writer, and that the final draft had "William Goldman's distinct signature on each page".

Casting

Redford first selected Al Pacino to play Bernstein, but later decided that Dustin Hoffman was a better fit for the role.

Jason Robards was always Redford's choice to play Ben Bradlee. However, Bradlee had recommended George C. Scott for the role, and he was somewhat unimpressed when Robards visited the ''Post'' offices to develop a feel for the newsroom. In advance of the shoot, Bradlee told Robards, "Just don't make me look like an asshole." At first, Pakula was worried that Robards could not carry Bradlee's easy elegance and command authority. Karl Malden, Hal Holbrook (who would ultimately play Deep Throat), John Forsythe, Leslie Nielsen, Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quinn, Gene Hackman, Burt Lancaster, Robert Stack, Robert Mitchum and Telly Savalas were also considered for the role.

Character actor Martin Balsam played managing editor Howard Simons. According to Bradlee, Simons felt that his involvement with the real story was greatly diminished in the script.

Bradlee teased ''Post'' publisher Katharine Graham about who would play her in the film. "Names like Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall and Patricia Neal were tossed out — by us — to make her feel good," Bradlee said. "And names like Edna May Oliver or Marie Dressler, if it felt like teasing time. And then her role was dropped from the final script, half to her relief."

Redford and Hoffman divided top billing, with Redford billed above Hoffman in the posters and trailers, and Hoffman billed above Redford in the film itself (in precisely the same manner in which James Stewart and John Wayne had divided top billing for John Ford's '' The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' in 1962).

Filming

Hoffman and Redford visited ''The Washington Post'' offices for months, attending news conferences and conducting research for their roles. Because the ''Post'' denied the production permission to shoot in its newsroom, set designers took measurements of the newspaper's offices and took many photographs. Boxes of trash were gathered and transported to sets recreating the newsroom on two soundstages in Hollywood's Burbank Studios at a cost of $200,000. The filmmakers went to great lengths for accuracy and authenticity, including making replicas of outdated phone books. Nearly 200 desks were purchased for $500 each from the same firm that had sold desks to the ''Post'' in 1971. The desks were painted the same color as those of the newsroom. The production was supplied with a brick from the main lobby of the ''Post'' so that it could be duplicated in fiberglass for the set. Principal photography began May 12, 1975, in Washington, D.C.

Release

MPAA rating

''All the President's Men'' was initially assigned an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) due to multiple uses of the word "fuck" and its derivatives. Warner Bros. and Robert Redford appealed the decision, arguing that the film's subject matter and historical importance warranted a lower rating. The MPAA Appeals Board, requiring a two-thirds majority to overturn a rating, agreed and reclassified the film as PG (the PG-13 rating did not exist at the time, as it was created in 1984). MPAA president Jack Valenti later stated that the film would have received a G rating if not for the profanity. According to MPAA official Richard Heffner, the Appeals Board considered the language to be contextually appropriate given the film's journalistic and educational significance. The decision exemplified the MPAA's ability to exercise discretion in its ratings process, particularly for films regarded as culturally or historically important.

Reception

Box office

''All the President's Men'' grossed $7,016,001 from 604 theaters in its first week, placing it atop the U.S. box office. It eventually grossed $70.6 million at the box office.

Critical reception

The film has received near-universal acclaim from many film critics, both on its release and in the years immediately following it. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 94% rating based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 9.10/10. The website's consensus reads: "A taut, solidly acted paean to the benefits of a free press and the dangers of unchecked power, made all the more effective by its origins in real-life events." On Metacritic, which gives a weighted average score, the film has a score of 84 out of 100, based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Contemporary reviews

At the time of the film's release, Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' awarded the film 3½ stars out of 4, writing: "It provides the most observant study of working journalists we're ever likely to see in a feature film. And it succeeds brilliantly in suggesting the mixture of exhilaration, paranoia, self-doubt, and courage that permeated ''The Washington Post'' as its two young reporters went after a presidency." ''Variety'' praised the "ingenious direction ..and scripting" that overcame the difficult lack of drama that a story about reporters running down a story might otherwise have. Gene Siskel gave the film four stars. In his ''Chicago Tribune'' review, he wrote, "Director Alan J. Pakula duplicates the surprise and suspense of his ''Klute'' while avoiding the overstatement and pandering paranoia of his more recent political thriller, '' The Parallax View''. Pakula's greatest achievement is the way he unobtrusively weaves outside events into narrative of the reporters' story." Siskel also named it the best film of 1976 on his year-end list.

Vincent Canby of ''The New York Times'' wrote, "Newspapers and newspapermen have long been favorite subjects for movie makers—a surprising number of whom are former newspapermen, yet not until ''All The President's Men'', the riveting screen adaptation of the Watergate book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, has any film come remotely close to being an accurate picture of American journalism at its best." Rex Reed wrote, "Just to think about Watergate (and there are those, I'm told, who prefer not to) is to chatter the brain with a million details, telephone conversations, notebook jottings, investigations and technical problems that could be very dull indeed on film. Awesomely, and with tremendous intelligence, Alan Pakula, the director, has assembled each element with the panache of a mystery novelist. The result is a movie that literally keeps the audience glued to the edge of the seat with nail-biting tension and excitement." Kathleen Carroll of the ''New York Daily News'' gave the film a full four-star rating and wrote that it "offers a rousing argument for the preservation of freedom of the press that precious right that allows reporters like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to ferret out the truth." Charles Champlin of the ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "quite beyond anything else, an engrossing mystery movie, with atmosphere, suspense, surprise, conflict, danger, secret messages, clandestine meetings, heroes, villains and a cast of leading and supporting characters that might have emerged from an unlikely collaboration of, let us say, Gore Vidal and Raymond Chandler."

Desmond Ryan of ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' called it "not only a stunningly accurate account of the way big-city newspapers operate, down to the last paper clip and derisive curse, but it is also a superlative movie by any standard. The acting from Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein is immaculate and understated, and it is matched right down to the last bit part. It is equalled by Alan Pakula's high-tension direction and William Goldman's tautly accurate screenplay." Stanley Eichelbaum of the ''San Francisco Examiner'' wrote, "People should enjoy it, since it has the knockout force of an American ''Z'', without the heavy doses of manipulative melodrama. It's eminently entertaining, providing much the same fascination and wry humor as '' The Front Page'', a romantic treatment of the same aspects of competitive, relentlessly aggressive journalism. The film's brilliance largely emanates from the lean, astringent, compellingly realistic, quasi-documentary style brought to it by director Alan J. Pakula (''Klute'', '' The Parallax View'', etc.) and screenwriter William Goldman. Like the book, the film has the hypnotic impact of a detective thriller in its sharp, subtle retelling of the involved story of the Watergate break-in and Woodward and Bernstein's role in unraveling the cover-up."

Susan Stark of the ''Detroit Free Press'' wrote, "The circuitous, sometimes perilous, nearly always frustrating adventure of the two newsmen who broke the conspiracy of silence about the Watergate scandals makes one terrific chunk of material for a movie, Wisely, Robert Redford, who acquired screen right to the book even before it was published, stuck to his gum, leaning hard on the dramatic, as opposed to the political elements in the material. The hard dramatic approach of the film, envisioned by Redford and executed with consummate skill by Alan J. Pakula, works wondrously well, from just about any point of view. In aesthetic terms, it works because the film carries no unnecessary expository baggage. No one is preaching here; no one is pushing a message, except by implication." Joe Pollack of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' wrote, "Making a movie hero out of an investigative newspaper reporter is an extremely difficult task. Investigative reporting simply isn't very exciting, nor very dramatic. It involves a lengthy search for sources and tedious checking and cross-checking of facts, combined with an amount of telephone-calling and door-knocking that can become very dull. ''All the President's Men'' has turned these potential minuses into gigantic pluses, and comes through as a wonderful motion picture, one that explores the abuses of power and the work of the free press with a mighty magnifying glass. It glorifies the work of the reporter without making it glamorous." Sally Smith of ''The Atlanta Constitution'' said, "A 'reporter' movie in the tradition of the '30s and '40s it is not. There are no fast-talking, cigar-chewing editors, no screaming telephones and no thundering presses. 'Scoop' is never mentioned. Instead, the film is close to a dramatized documentary. For those in the audience expecting an emotional catharsis it may be slightly disappointing, but this low-key realism as opposed to being a shrill polemic against Nixon is why the movie works."

Clyde Gilmour of the ''Toronto Star'' called it a "fascinating movie from Warner Bros. hatvividly but scrupulously dramatizes the almost mythological exploits of the men who uncovered the Big Cover-Up. And it does this while portraying the often-distorted world of a big-city newspaper with an honesty and fidelity seldom, if ever, approached in previous films about the press." Martin Malina of the ''Montreal Star'' called it "the biggest and the best portrait of newspaper reporting that Hollywood has yet achieved." Dave Lanken of the Montreal ''Gazette'' called it "a good picture and one that will undoubtedly do very well. It will both satisfy and create continuing interest in the comeuppance of the world's highest elected crime overlord." Michael Walsh of ''The Province'' wrote, "Watergate challenged the free press and produced one of journalism's finest hours. ''All the President's Men'' insures that its lessons will be understood and remembered."

Internationally, Patrick Gibbs of ''The Daily Telegraph'' wrote, "Mr Pakula planes implicit confidence in this story, tightly scripted by William Goldman, with only an occasional fictional touch and in his experienced actors led by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as the two reporters, though no great feats are called for in the way of interpretation." Colin Bennett of ''The Age'' wrote, "Documentary is the best way to tackle a story that's so incredibly close, if it is to be made into entertainment at all. So it's a handicap that two film stars, rather than unknown faces, were deemed necessary to mime Woodstein's astonishment as each new fragment of thread in the pattern is revealed. Characterisation is totally unimportant, however; and the two actors play it straight, sans heroics, concentrating on the stunning business in hand, the only business that really matters." Romola Costantino of ''The Sun-Herald'' remarked, "This movie is sure to be a great success, but it won't necessarily be because of its brilliant reconstruction of the Watergate story. Most people have forgotten about that by now. As for the impressive skill of direction, the realistic, clear dialogue, or the fact that it relives, with mounting suspense, one of the most incredible scandals of this century not even these could have ensured this film's success away from America. There's no sex, no violence, and most of it is telephone calls or takes place behind office desks. But it can't miss, because it also offers two hours in the company of those charismatic stars, Dustin Hoffmann and Robert Redford, as the dedicated newspaper reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, from the Washington Post, who were responsible for the whole shake-up."

Retrospective reviews

The film continued to receive acclaim long after its release. Chris Nashawaty of ''Entertainment Weekly'', reviewing Blu-ray releases of both this film and ''Network'' in 2011, called it "a victory lap for American journalism — the triumphant flip side to ''Networks self-loathing take on the media. It also anticipated our current WikiLeaks era, with Robert Redford (Woodward) and Dustin Hoffman (Bernstein) milking anonymous sources and burning shoe leather to speak truth to power. These films are timeless and essential, raising thorny questions we're still struggling to answer 35 years later. That must have been heavy stuff to be hit with at the multiplex in 1976. Maybe that's why ''Rocky'' walked away with Best Picture." In a rare dissenting review published in 1985, Dave Kehr of the ''Chicago Reader'' was critical of the writing, calling the film "pedestrian" and "a study in missed opportunities".

Accolades

* In 2015, ''The Hollywood Reporter'' polled hundreds of Academy members, asking them to revote on past controversial decisions. Academy members indicated that, given a second chance, they would award the 1977 Oscar for Best Picture to ''All the President's Men'' instead of to ''Rocky''.
* It became one of the seven films to win Best Picture from three out of four major U.S. film critics' groups ( LA, NBR, NY, NSFC), along with ''Nashville'', ''Terms of Endearment'', '' Goodfellas,'' ''Pulp Fiction'', ''The Hurt Locker'' and Drive My Car (film), ''Drive My Car''.
* In 2007, ''Entertainment Weekly'' ranked ''All the President's Men'' as one of its 25 Powerful Political Thrillers.

American Film Institute

* AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills – #57
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains:
** Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein – #27 Heroes
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – #34
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition), AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies: 10th Anniversary Edition – #77

''"All the President's Men" Revisited''

Sundance Institute, Sundance Productions, which Redford owns, produced a two-hour documentary titled ''"All the President's Men" Revisited''. Broadcast on Discovery Channel, Discovery Channel Worldwide April 21, 2013, the documentary focuses on the Watergate case and the subsequent film adaptation. It simultaneously recounts how ''The Washington Post'' broke Watergate and how the scandal unfolded, going behind the scenes of the film. It explores how the Watergate scandal would be covered in the present day, whether such a scandal could happen again and who Richard Nixon was as a man. W. Mark Felt, deputy director of the FBI during the early 1970s, revealed his identity as Deep Throat in 2005, and this is also covered in the documentary.

Footage from the film is included, as are interviews with Redford and Hoffman, as well as with real-life central characters, including Woodward, Bernstein, Bradlee, John Dean, Alexander Butterfield and Fred Thompson, who served as minority counsel to the United States Senate Watergate Committee, Senate Watergate Committee, in his first major public appearance. Contemporary media figures, such as Tom Brokaw (who was NBC News' White House correspondent during the scandal), Jill Abramson, Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart are also featured in the documentary, which earned a 2013 Emmy Awards, Emmy nomination for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.The Primetime Emmys – ''All The President's Men Revisted''
The Emmys

See also

* The Final Days (1989 film), ''The Final Days'' (1989 film)
* The Post (film), ''The Post'' (film)
* ''All the Prime Minister's Men'', 2021 documentary

References

Bibliography and further reading

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''All The President's Men''
essay by Mike Canning at National Film Registry
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Ann Hornaday, "The 34 best political movies ever made" ''The Washington Post'' (Jan. 23, 2020)
ranked No. 2

External links

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1976 drama films
1976 films
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Biographical films about journalists
English-language buddy drama films
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Films about elections
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Films directed by Alan J. Pakula
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