Review of All the President's Men (1976) by Stuart K — 19 Jun 2012
Directed by Alan J. Pakula, this film formed the third part of an unofficial trilogy on paranoia that Pakula started with Klute (1971) and The Parallax View (1974). Based on the book by journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, adapted for film by William Goldman.
It's a slow moving but well made and ultimately suspenseful film focusing on a few months which nearly compromised the American government. In June 1972, when five burglars are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington.
The Washington Post's editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards) assigns news reporter Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) to investigate why they did it, he learns that one of the arrested men James W. McCord, Jr.
(Richard Herd) worked for the CIA, and that President Richard Nixon's Special Counsel Charles Colson, also has ties with the burglars. Bradlee assigns Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) to work with Woodward, and they work brilliantly together, but the complexity of the case makes it impossible to crack, but Woodward finds an anonymous source in "Deep Throat" (Hal Holbrook), who is able to help out.
It's a good thriller, one where there's nary any action or murders, but it manages to be uncomfortable and intriguing. Hoffman and Redford play well off each other, and it captures the paranoid mood of America at the time.
You can see where David Fincher got his inspiration for the look and feel of Zodiac (2007) from this.
This review of All the President's Men (1976) was written by Stuart K on 19 Jun 2012.
All the President's Men has generally received very positive reviews.
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