ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976)

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Alan J. Pakula

SCREENWRITER: William Goldman

FILM STARS: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards, Jane Alexander, Stephen Collins, Ned Beatty, Meredith Baxter, Penny Fuller, Penny Peyser, Lindsay Crouse, F. Murray Abraham

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward

TYPE: Non Fiction

PUBLISHER: Futura

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1977

COUNTRY: Australia

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1974

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Political Drama

WORDS: This is one of those “must see” films from the 1970s.

Must see, but only once.

It was nominated for 8 Oscars and won 4 – Best Supporting Actor, Screenplay (based on material from another source), art direction and sound.

It missed out on Best Picture and Best Director and the leads were not nominated but in a year of Rocky, Network, Bound for Glory, Taxi Driver, Marathon Man, Carrie, The Shootist, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Voyage of the Damned, Obsession, The Front, it had its work cut out for it (do we see lists of films like this at the Oscars anymore … rhetorical question)

But the film won heaps of other wards and did well at the box office (Budget $8.5 million, Box office $70.6 million (US)).

Topical and well made it was.

It’s a true story political thriller about Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) investigating the 1972 Watergate break-in, uncovering a massive political conspiracy and cover-up that leads directly to President Richard Nixon and ultimately (amongst other things) forces his resignation. The film, based on their book, portrays their dogged pursuit of leads, secret meetings with the anonymous source “Deep Throat”, and the process of piecing together clues that expose corruption reaching the highest levels of government, highlighting the power of investigative journalism.

The subject matter to non-Americans (and perhaps contemporary Americans given Presidents of all stripes who have followed) is a little ho hum. Sure, Nixon’s actions during Watergate may have caused a scandal in the US but compared to (many) other leaders around the world, democratic or not, his actions are sandbox stuff.

One thing the film did do was set the template for all investigative journalist films that followed: Spotlight (2015), Salvador (1986), The Paper (1994), Cry Freedom (1987), State of Play (2009), A Private War (2018), Veronica Guerin (2003), Philomena (2013), The Post (2017), Nothing But the Truth (2008), Bombshell (2019).

And, a more smug bunch of films you will not find.

And ones, I suspect, full of half truths.

Noble reporters doing noble things have (largely) been the norm since the coming of sound (Foreign Correspondent (1940), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Call Northside 777 (1948), Park Row (1952)) but films with journalists chasing a story, and perhaps manipulating the truth, so they can make a buck or feed their narcissism (The Front Page (1931), Ace in the Hole (1951), Scandal Sheet (1952), Citizen Kane (1941), Slander (1957), Sweet Smell of Success (1957)) largely (but not exclusively – Shattered Glass (2003), Truth (2015) (arguably)) disappeared after All the President’s Men, which is quite odd as that cynicism would seem to be a good default on the journalism profession today.

Interestingly, the successful film Network in the same year as All the President’s Men took a different view of “journalism” but that was television journalism not the reputable written kind (sarcasm in that last line) and television journalism was always, though perhaps justifiably, the sacrificial lamb when journalism was under attack.

The film is a straightforward account which is very well done but really only excels in the casting coup of Hoffman and Redford who are at the top of their game, aided by Jason Robards (who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar), and stalwart supporting actors Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook, and Ned Beatty (… it’s a mans world) and the Oscar winning screenplay by William Goldman. The reason this film becomes a political thriller rather than just a political drama is because of Goldman. Though he won the best screenplay Oscar for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) his schtick was thriller-ish political or conspiratorial shenanigans: Masquerade (1965), Harper (1966), The Stepford Wives (1975), Marathon Man (1976), Absolute Power (1997), The General’s Daughter (1999). He can make a drama into a thriller without being outlandish and without losing track of the characters. I suspect that comes in part from his background as a novelist No Way to Treat a Lady (1964), Marathon Man (1974),  Control (1982), Heat (1985).

To wrap it up you had a sympathetic director. Political thrillers, conspiracies, cover ups and liberal sentiments were second nature to Alan J. Pakula who directs this like a police procedural film and who also directed Klute (1971), The Parallax View (1974), and later Rollover (1981), Presumed Innocent (1990), Consenting Adults (1991), and The Pelican Brief (1997).

The book reads like investigative journalism which is what it is. It provides a detailed, factual account naming sources (like Hugh Sloan) who were anonymous in initial articles, explaining the participation of fringe and many minor characters, while the film truncates, or merges two characters into one to save on time and make the thing easier to follow for audiences whilst using cinematic techniques (split-screen, suspense) to dramatize the reporting process as a detective story, making it more accessible and thrilling. The book also covers the entire story through Nixon’s resignation and the tapes’ revelation while the film covers only the first seven months (break-in to Nixon’s second inauguration) for dramatic focus and famously introduces the “follow the money” line not in the book.

Interestingly the film doesn’t go into great depth showing all sides of the relationship between Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Throughout most of the movie the duo is shown as a buddy team playing off of each others leads, working in near perfect harmony. Apparently though (according to the book) Woodward and Bernstein had a rocky relationship (especially at the start), often fighting and disagreeing on the details of their stories. In the film the “disagreements” are merged into one event.

The book was successful and still is something of an unofficial text on journalism. Bernstein once said: “The book itself is like a primer on basic reporting. You see what’s the most important decision we make as reporters? To go out at night and to visit people who work for Richard Nixon and his reelection in their homes, knock on their doors, have the doors you know, slammed in our faces, except for the few that didn’t.” https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/woodward-bernstein-reflect-watergate-reporting-50-years-after/story?id=111154531

Given the state of print journalism today, perhaps it’s a “best practice” wishful thinking manual rather than a text.

See the film (once), read the book if you are into US political history or you are a journalist wondering what journalists are supposed to do.

Notes:

• The book’s events led to a sequel book by Bernstein and Woodward, The Final Days (1976), covering the end of Nixon’s presidency, which the first film didn’t cover.

Other Versions:

UK (1976)

UK (1981)

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