All the President's Men

The Gist: After a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National headquarters in Washington DC, two Washington Post reporters are assigned to report on the seemingly ordinary story. What they find however, seems to point to illegal wrongdoings orchestrated by the Republican Party in order to gain an edge in the upcoming presidential elections. Their investigation leads higher and higher, ultimately implicating the White House, and will result in the resignation of the President.

While what you just read sounds like a fantastic political thriller coughed up by a masterful screenwriter, the film is a dramatization of the actual events that led to the resignation in disgrace of President Richard Nixon.

Alan J. Pakula directs Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in two roles they were born to play. The stellar cast also includes Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards, Jane Alexander, Meredith Baxter, Ned Beatty, and Stephen Collins among many other great actors.

The Bottom Line: All the President's Men is a fantastic story, perfectly directed, admirably portrayed, full of suspense and jaw-dropping twists. A classic and a masterpiece of American cinema.

Grade: 9