All the President’s Men (1976) Review

Lucas Versantvoort / August 23, 2013

All the President’s Men sounds like the kind of story that wouldn’t translate well to film: two journalists endlessly going door to door, making countless phone calls, sifting through files, etc. In fact, this is the very thing which makes this film so enjoyable and re-watchable: the journey, not the destination which anyone with a functioning brain would already know.

            In case (for some reason) you aren’t familiar with the subject matter, here’s a short summary (or a book…). All the President’s Men shows the two journalists for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. They are sent to cover the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters within the Watergate complex. Five men were arrested with bugging equipment. Though it didn’t seem to be a big deal at the time,  Woodward connected some dots and this led him and Bernstein to discovering one of the biggest cover-ups in American history and subsequently altering American history. Unsurprisingly, All the President’s Men has since symbolized a high standard for all of journalism.

            One of the great decisions in making this film is the lack of predictable melodrama. Merely showing the investigative parts and not including any conventional human drama for the audience to latch onto might mean the audience will become bored. That is why many films featuring a large investigation include scenes showing how the investigation affects the main character’s increasingly troubled relation with his wife/girlfriend, such as Oliver Stone’s JFK. These scenes have become rather annoyingly obligatory, so it’s nice to see All the President’s Men rely almost solely on the appeal of its investigation.

            Director Alan J. Pakula has directed a classic here and one of the reasons why is the way he frames Woodward and Bernstein, making them seem tiny and insignificant against a backdrop of large political buildings, symbolizing the powers that be, invisible conspiracies, etc. Take the scene where editor Bradley calls them to his office. There’s a wide shot of the office when suddenly the two pop up in the distance and eventually walk past the camera. These kinds of shots emphasize how Woodward and Bernstein are basically two ‘little’ journalists who through sheer hard work and determination eventually changed the country’s future.

            The last scene is nothing short of a celebration of the journalistic craft. Nixon is taking the Oath of Office and some of the Washington Post employees are watching it on TV. Woodward and Bernstein, not interested in the historic event, are typing away furiously at their typewriters. Cannons are fired on TV and slowly but surely the camera zooms in on Woodward and Bernstein as the sound of their typing increases in volume. As we see what they’re typing, the cannon fire has been symbolically drowned out by the typing sounds and we understand the immense power that journalists are capable of using for good.