Rent All the President's Men (1976)

The stranger in the car park - All the President's Men review by BP

This film was a real disappointment to me - I thought Spotlight and the Post were excellent movies but this one really not.

I do appreciate it is an older movie and therefore the inspiration for subsequent Journalist movies such as the above, but still...

The movie seemed to have no structure. Essentially it appeared to consist of a repetition of the following :

1) Redford and Hoffman typing furiously then walking unreasonably quickly across their office to avoid missing the daily deadline (would it really have mattered if each of their stories had appeared in the next day's paper?)

2) Redford and Hoffman Turning up at people's houses/offices to ask them questions. Initially each person is reluctant to talk. Then with minimal cajoling, then talk at length.

Despite this the protagonists make painfully slow progress until eventually the 'mystery' is resolved by Redford who visits a random stranger in a car park for the third time. The stranger, presumably as fed up as the rest of us that the movie is now 2 hours old and no sign of a conclusion, basically tells Redford the solution.

It seems a shame that the stranger didn't just say this to Redford towards the beginning and the film could have been 30 minutes long.

No film is without positives in my opinion and Jason Robards is just great.

Follow the Money, Follow the Truth - All the President's Men review by griggs

I didn’t expect a film about men on phones and typewriters to feel even tenser on a rewatch, but All the President’s Men still hums like a thriller. You already know how Watergate ends, yet watching Woodward and Bernstein inch towards the truth feels oddly nerve-racking, like you’re waiting for the penny – or the presidency – to drop.

Pakula turns newsroom grind into cinema: long takes, quiet corridors, that cavernous Library of Congress shot. Redford and Hoffman are great company, all frayed nerves and stubborn curiosity, backed by a parade of beautifully sketched side characters who seem one bad decision away from disaster.

What lands hardest now is how modern it feels. The film isn’t just about Watergate; it’s about who gets to define reality when power is cornered. In an age of spin, bots and “fake news”, its faith in painstaking, unshowy journalism feels almost radical. One of those rare films that deepens every time you return.

Political Thriller - All the President's Men review by Steve

The quintessential 1970s conspiracy thriller is also an extraordinary true story and one of the best political films ever made. It is adapted from the book by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein about their investigation for the Washington Post into surveillance ordered by the US President on the Democratic opposition, which was covered up by all the highest levels of state.

But you don't have know anything about Richard Nixon... This is so brilliantly directed by Alan J. Pakula, that the story is compelling even though there is a surplus of information to absorb. The state of the art editing, sound and photography all contribute, and William Goldman's Oscar winning script tells the complex events with clarity. And for maximum suspense.

Remember, follow the money... The portrayals of the journalists by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman are understated. There is no odd couple comedy. This is all about the politics. The support performances are muted, except perhaps Hal Holbrook as the informer. There is realistic detail of how serious newspapers once worked and how stories like this were broken.

Now it seems like nostalgia for a golden age of journalism, when the press told truth to power- but without bias. Could there even be a Watergate now, in the era of fake news? Woodward and Bernstein convey that truth and integrity are necessary for democracy to survive, but may be lost without tenacity, curiosity and toil. This now stands as a memorial to such ideals.