Review of All the President's Men (1976) by Daniel K — 11 Mar 2011

4: I decided to switch this back to a 4. It is the quintessential political thriller/investigative journalism/political scandal picture. I criticized it because it doesn't tell the whole story, in that it focuses just on Woodward and Bernstein, but a film with a wider focus would likely end up being weighed down and less focused on the details, which is exactly where this picture excels.

I'd like to see the other, more comprehensive film, as well, but this is as good as it gets for this slice of the story. The famed newsroom sound design was certainly made for Blu-Ray: it's never sounded better.

The score is hypnotic and constantly drives the story forward. The story and script are brilliant, but it made me wonder how much of it is misleading. Based solely on this film, once could imagine that Woodward and Bernstein are almost singlehandedly responsible for bringing down Nixon, but one wonders if this is a bit overblown.

Apparently, it isn't; or at least that's the way it appears on this end of history. Without their reporting, the story likely would have floundering and been forgotten and the investigations would never have gotten started.

However, perhaps Deep Throat would still have acted. There were numerous criminal investigations being undertaken throughout their journalistic investigation, but they seem to have keyed off of the reporting and not pre-dated it.

I'd like to know for sure. What is left out? I suspect I'd have to read at least one or a few volumes of non-fiction to find out. One the surface the story seems so incredible that one thinks there must be a fair amount of Hollywood exaggeration here.

At the very least, exaggeration through omission. It was the criminal investigation and court proceedings that brought down Nixon, and without the words of the Woodward and Bernstein, this would not have taken place.

This makes it a monumental achievement on the part of journalism and one that has not been equaled since. It is a brilliant and powerful film about what seems to be a fairly unprecedented event, perhaps not in terms of the corrupt activities of those in power, but at least in terms of the power of the press to expose this corruption.

I can't help but be specially fascinated by these events and the intelligence communities role in the corrupt policies of the Executive Branch, as we are constantly hearing about events just like this in the historical examples put forth in our annual intelligence oversight training.

I think I currently have three different types of intelligence oversight training I have to complete on an annual basis. I'm pretty sure I have the relevant executive orders, DoD regulations and Air Force instructions memorized by now.

The performances are superb and the visual sensibility perfectly in tune with the sensibilities of 1970's American cinema (i.e. drab and dreary for the most part). I definitely had no notion of the magnitude of Robert redford's role in bringing both the film and the novel to the world.

One could call him the author, force, architect, and/or inspiration for both works. It is a brilliant masterpiece that captures this particular story and this particular world like no other film has. One can't help but wonder how many similar stories, whether involving government officials, big business, etc, are missed on a routine basis.