“All the President’s Men” (1976) is the story of what may have been the most powerful and important feat of investigative journalism in American history. The story follows reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman). The Oscar-winning film details how journalists uncovered and exposed the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
The scandal took place in 1972 only four years before the film was released. This is different from many other historical films which tend to be released decades after the fact. The real-life events chronicled by “Zodiac” (2007) actually took place from 1968-1983, and “The Post” (2017) tells the story of the Pentagon Papers leak, which took place in 1971. Because of this, the facts of the events portrayed in “All The President’s Men” were much more recent and the people the story was about were able to give details for the film adaptation, making it a more accurate piece of cinema.
At the beginning of the film, Bob Woodward is given a small story, covering a court hearing of the men who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.
At the trial, Woodward discovers that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the break-in and is sent on what seems like a wild goose chase to figure out what actually went down the night of June 17, 1972. Soon, though, the story gets bigger than a small court piece on a break-in and becomes national news, leading the editor of the Washington Post to assign a second writer to the story. Woodward is paired with rival journalist Carl Bernstein as they uncover that members of the president’s administration were involved.
The two journalists keep hitting dead ends as the people who may have knowledge of what really happened refuse to talk. Eventually, people begin to talk, including an anonymous government source who went by the code name “Deep Throat.”
While the two journalists continue the investigation into the Nixon administration and its actions at Watergate, Nixon gets reelected to his second term as president. This only makes Woodard and Bernstein more determined to uncover the truth. The movie ends with the two typing up the full story that will end the President’s career even while Nixon takes the oath of office for what will be a short-lived term.
However, this story is not about Nixon, or even the Watergate scandal itself. Rather, this is a rare story where those who cover and write the news become the story themselves. The two men end up within the scandal as each piece has their names on it and those who they are investigating know their names.
The story, though, does not just follow the writers, but also their process. The film tells their story as an example of the skills and integrity they possess in verifying facts. Woodward and Bernstein had to be careful in order to make sure that they maintained public respect for journalism while keeping both themselves and The Washington Post from becoming embroiled in the scandal.
The film shows the positive impact that journalism can have on society along with the importance of the freedom of the press that is enshrined in the Bill of Rights.