Cheap All the President's Men (DVD) (Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford) (Alan J. Pakula) Price

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Customer Reviews of All the President's Men

"Denial denial"
The title of this rewiew - "Denial denial" -was a phrase used by President Nixon's staff when they couldn't think of anything else to say to the press. The President's men also introduced the word, "mis-spoke" to the lexicon. Transcripts of White House conversations - and they had been taped by the President himself - pursuant to the Watergate investigation taught us yet another new phrase, "Expletive deleted". Since nobody knew what "Expletive deleted" meant, journalists had to consult dictionaries, and English Professors. The President's men probably offered a hundred different definitions of "Expletive deleted", dependent upon the nature of the question being put to them. In real life, I guess the American people saw the unfolding of the Watergate drama as a jigsaw puzzle inwhere none of the pieces fit. Also, the loss of 18 1/2 minutes of taped conversation that was missing from the tape was called "A poverty of mechanisms". Then, a mysterious figure who called himself "Deep Throat" - which was the title of a well known porn movie of it's day - meant with Washington Post reporters in late night rendevous's in parking ramps, dark hallways, and back alleys. The reporters, Woodward and Bernstien listened to Deep Throat attentively as he gave them information about the cover-up taking place. But Deep Throat would deliver yhe information in the way of riddles, jokes, conundrums, funny stories, and always close with the tagline, "Follow the Money". We all know that the money eventually led to President Nixon's resignation. A lesser known product of the Watergate drama was the emergence of a list of "Enemies of the State", scrawled by Nixon himself, and listed Joe Namath and Lucille Ball as Enemies #1, and #2. He also didn't trust NPR reporter Daniel Schoor who was, at the time, a young reporter for CBS. The list contained other names as well, names of people who didn't exist. <
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>As good a project as "All the Presidents Men" is, and very accurate, I gave this super-powerful filmed adaptation of a real life event 4* instead of 5* because it fails to provide the the viewer with the comic tone of the Watergate investigation. As serious an event as it was, it also turned into a circus side-show that moved under the Big Top. Let us not forget that in the midst of this investigation, the FBI arrested VP Agnew for Extortion, Bribery, Kickbacks, Tax violations, etc...and this shocking event was relegated to a one colmun article on page 3. Few people even remembered is a short month later. In closing though, "All the Presidents Men" is a triumph in the genre of real life political thrillers. And with deadeye perfect casting.

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Required viewing for anyone interested in Watergate
I've always been fascinated with Watergate, possibly because it's the first major news event I can remember. I was five years old; while watching TV with my Mom one day in August 1974, I was flabbergasted to see a podium with The Great Seal of the President of the United States. Before I reached for the dial, my mom said, "Watch this - it's important. You'll be glad you did someday." I didn't really understand the significance of Nixon's resignation at that age, but those events are burned into my memory. <
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>Over the years, I've watched "All the President's Men" several times - most recently, after the revelation of "Deep Throat" as the FBI's W. Mark Felt. The movie never loses its excitement for me, and remains one of my favorite films from the 1970s. <
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>The tale of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they discover the true story behind Watergate could have been dry; indeed, director Alan Pakula, perhaps not entirely trusting the material, jazzes up the action by inserting ersatz "chase scenes" and other elements from standard thrillers. But "All the President's Men" excites the most when Robert Redford's Woodward juggles phone calls to glean new bits of information, or when Dustin Hoffman's Bernstein extracts names from reluctant witnesses. It calls to mind the heady days of investigative journalism, a time when brave men like Ben Bradlee ran newspapers, rather than today's corporate conglomerates. <
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>Pakula effectively conveys the reporters' struggle through a variety of techniques. A mournful Vivaldi trumpet duo highlights Woodward and Bernstein's loneliness as they fight uphill to break their story. Shots of the two reporters against Washington's monuments - or most memorably, from the ceiling of the Library of Congress - eloquently portray the reporters' struggle against Washington's power structure. <
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>Both Redford and Hoffman deliver subtle yet inspired performances, aided by a stellar supporting cast, which includes Oscar winner Jason Robards as Bradlee, Oscar nominee Jane Alexander as a key witness, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Stephen Collins, Ned Beatty, Robert Walden, and others. Hal Holbrook portrays "Deep Throat," delivering perhaps my favorite line from the movie: "Forget the myths the media's created about the White House. The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand." <
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>"All the President's Men" should be required viewing for anyone interested in Watergate, investigative journalism, or politics in general. In today's troubled times, with reporters going to jail to protect confidential sources and White House officials desperately trying to cover up the sources of leaks, we could use men like Deep Throat, Woodward and Bernstein, and Ben Bradlee again.

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One of the best Redford films
Well what more can you say, excellent cast and acting, very good directing,a truly classic film.