Review of All the President's Men (1976) by Ross B — 04 Aug 2013

Alan J. Pakula directs this gripping political thriller based on the non-fiction account by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward as to how they investigated the Watergate scandal for the Washington Post. Woodward (Robert Redford) and Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) are two Washington Post metro reporters who are low on the food chain until they start investigating some peculiarities involved with the break in by five burglars at the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate hotel.

The two delve deep into what turns out to be a conspiracy involving the highest levels of government including the President himself. The film was released only around two years after Nixon resigned over the scandal, so the events were still fresh in everyone's mind.

Redford and Hoffman are great together as journalists who suddenly keep falling down the rabbit hole. No matter how many dead ends seem to appear, the two are still persistent and continue to push for a story that seemed like nothing and rumor at first.

The film is a brilliant celebration about the power of the First Amendment right to freedom of the press and has inspired investigative journalists for the last 30 something years. A great political thriller that is made even better when you continue to realize that this actually happened.