All The President's Men

Introduction

In terms of major political scandal, I suspect that in the grand scheme of things there is nothing to touch the Watergate scandal. Never before had any kind of scandal led to the resignation of a serving US President and Watergate is so synonymous with political scandal that just about every political scandal that comes along finds itself suffixed with 'gate'.

So what was Watergate about? In essence it was about serving Republican US President Richard Nixon about to move into a re-election campaign and worried about the strategies of his Democrat rivals. On the evening of June 17 1972, there was an attempted break-in at the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) office in the Watergate Complex, a group of five buildings in Washington DC. Documents were photcopied and wiretaps placed on telephones of Democrat officials, but the burglary was interrupted and 5 men arrested. All 5 men were subsequently linked to the 1972 Committee to Re-elect the President (sometimes referred to as CReeP).

Novice reporter Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) is young inexperienced reporter at The Washington Post newspaper who is hungry for success and attending the initial arraignment of the 5 men, sees something is not quite right. Initially the Watergate burglary was deemed to be a minor incident, but he finds that top lawyers have already been assigned to the case. His suspicions aroused, he starts to write a story about it, catching the eye of Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman). Bernstein is senior to Woodward in that he's been at The Post for a while longer but is hardly setting the world ablaze, in fact was actually close to being fired. Bernstein and Woodward's styles are completely at odds with each other, but the two have a real passion for the story and quickly learn to get along. As the story starts to gather pace, the political editors want to put more experienced hands on the story but are kyboshed by Editor-in-Chief Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards) who starts to feel confident about where the two are taking the story, expertly supported by editor Harry Rosenfeld (Jack Warden) who initially gave the duo their chance.

The two reporters slowly start to piece together the story and are helped after a fashion by information leaked to Woodward by one his confidential sources, a high-ranking member of the administration nicknamed Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook), who ultimately came forward in 2005 as FBI Deputy Director William Mark Felt, Sr. Deep Throat is reluctant to provide detailed information, rather requesting Woodward to tell him what he knows so that he can confirm it and pointing them in another direction. Evidence builds and the story gets bigger and bigger as high-ranking officials within the Republican Party are implicated until it eventually points directly at the man at the very top: President Richard Nixon...

Picture

The picture on this blu-ray release is superb but, yes, it does retain some grain for those anti-DNR fanatics. I didn't notice any degradation of the picture anywhere and the contrast between the harsh light of the newsroom and dark scenes set outside and for the Deep Throat rendezvous is quite stark. The dark levels are good with the blacks being black and managing to keep all the detail within the shots.

Extras

Quite a few extras on this release but in truth probably not too much different from the 2006 DVD release. The one extra that release didn't have is the glossy colour booklet that comes built into the case design, and a rather nice addition to this release.

Telling The Truth About Lies: The Making Of - a half hour documentary on how the film (and book) came about.

Woodward & Bernstein: Lighting The Fire - a featurette that compares journalism at the time of Watergate and now
 
Out of the Shadows: The Man Who Was Deep Throat - an indepth look at the most famous anonymous source and the overall role of such sources

Pressure & The Press: The Making Of - the original 1976 Making Of featurette

5/27/76 Dinah! with Jason Robards - TV interview on a show called Dinah! was a rather dapper looking Jason Robards discussing the film

Overall

I've been waiting for a blu-ray release of this film for ages, it's one of my absolute favourite films. Finally it's here, but sadly only as a US import although thankfully not region protected. Based on a true story, it has to be said that it isn't the most dynamic film with it essentially being two reporters traipsing all over Washington DC and piecing together a story without being shot at or involved in car chases. Despite it therefore being rather pedestrian in pacing, the tension throughout is palpable and the excitement intoxicating as Redford and Hoffman make each subsequent breakthrough in the story.

What surprised me about this film is that it was all Robert Redford's idea at first and he saw the crux of the Watergate scandal as being the two reporters in the middle of the story trying to uncover the evidence rather than the then faceless bureaucrats trying to cover it up or Nixon. It was Redford's intervention and purchase of the rights that led Bernstein and Woodward to change the style of their then unpublished book from a dry narrative of events to the more familiar story based upon their own actions, from which the screenplay evolved. Redford was effectively told by the studio that he had to star in the film, but also realised that for the film to work, the two main characters had to be balanced - only another major actor would work, and therefore persuaded Dustin Hoffman to co-star and one of the greatest partnerships on the silver screen was formed.

The supporting cast is superb, but Jason Robards, Jack Warden and Jane Alexander stand out in particular. Hal Holbrook pays the mysterious informer Deep Throat in a way that has influenced TV and cinema ever since. The X-Files used almost a direct descendant, in name at least, with Deep Throat, helping FBI agent Fox Mulder uncover the truth in much the same frustrating way, making it clear that some of the events and characters have moved from current affairs into popular culture.

Whilst I'm pleased that this film has finally made the transition to blu-ray, I'm a little disappointed that fans from the UK will have to import it - for now at least. On the plus side though, a rather fantastic film has a release it deserves.