Film Festival Week 1: All the President’s Men
Not one day into summer and it’s already time to start our yearly film festival! If you didn’t see our post last week detailing this year’s lineup, be sure to check it out so you can follow along with the festivities over the coming months. Also, be sure to remember that aside from two films, all of this year’s picks are available on Netflix Watch Instantly.
To kick off the festivities is the 1976 classic All the President’s Men, based on the true story of the Washington Post reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal. Nominated for eight Academy Awards including best picture, the film has gone on to become an American classic, the standard-bearer for all future conspiracy films. The film stars Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman star as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, two journalists for The Washington Post who began investigating the break-in at the Democratic National Comitte offices in June of 1972. As they dig deeper into what at first seemed to be a simple case of breaking-and-entering, they uncover a vast conspiracy that leads all the way up to the President himself.
The amount of tension that builds as a result of the dialogue-driven scenes that comprise this film should make it a pre-requisite for any class on directing or screenwriting. We the audience are given the same evidence as the reporters, and are allowed to put together the peices along with our protagonists. However, we aren’t force-fed the information. Unlike many modern directors, Alan Pakula simply presents us with the same information as the characters, letting them–and the audience–draw their own conclusions.
The film is also notable for its art direction, which won it the Academy Award. Production designers George Jenkins and George Gaines painstakingly re-created the newsroom at The Washington Post down to every detail, including customized versions of out-of-print phonebooks and to-scale offices. They even made sure the finish on the desks were the exact same color as they were in the actual Washington Post offices. The result is a set that feels like a living, breathing newsroom inhabited by real journalists working to a deadline. The film is not overly stylized or puncutated with action sequences. Unlike modern thrillers, All the President’s Men draws tension from the people involved, not gratuitous chase sequences. It is a terse, smart film that doesn’t take the audience for granted.
Table of contents for 2009 Robot Panic Summer Film Festival
- Film Festival Week 1: All the President’s Men
- Film Festival Week 2: The Wind That Shakes the Barley
- Film Festival Week 3: Dear Zachary
- Film Festival Week 4: Bottle Rocket
- Film Festival Week 5: Primer
- Film Festival Week 6: JCVD
- Film Festival Week 7: The Maltese Falcon
- Film Festival Week 9: Paris, Je T’aime
- Film Festival Week 10: Unforgiven
- Film Festival Week 11: Oldboy
- Film Festival Week 12: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
- Film Festival Week 13: Le Cercle Rouge
- Film Festival Week 14: Let the Right One In
- Film Festival Closing Ceremony
Related Posts
Tags: All the President's Men, Dustin Hoffman, film festival, Robert Redford
June 1st, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I cheated and watched this one last week. Great film with a boatload of tension. That scene where Redford is walking away from his meeting with Deep Throat and thinks someone is following him is fantastic.
My one gripe about it is that it just sort of ends with them thinking they could be off’d at any moment. From there, it just gives a quick, “And here’s how the story unfolded” montage of newspaper headlines. Granted, everybody knew how the story ended, but at that point in the film I thought we had another 45 minutes to go. Next thing I know: credits.
Regardless, this movie is just another reason I love 70s cinema. It was raw, daring, and incredibly realistic. I love watching films from the 70s, and part of it is so I can see just how shitty that decade was and how I’m glad I didn’t really have to experience any of it.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:27 pm
@John, I completely agree, it’s how I felt when I watched it…It’s done? Gotta love Hoffman, he’s puts some much of himself in a role.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:41 pm
I remember thinking about how realistic the newsroom was in the movie – I thought they had taken over the actual Washington Post on “slow” days for the filming! They really used that set quite a bit too, from many different angles. I loved the times when there were things happening both in the foreground with Redford and/or Hoffman making a phone call or writing and everyone in the background is glued to a TV, watching something happen.
I’ll echo John and Ryker, the movie ended before it should have. Once the credits started rolling I wondered what they had skipped, and why.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Yeah, I watched this one last week as well. Damn, it’s good. I’m amazed at how much I can feel tension with I already know the ending. Very cool.
And now I see where the X-Files got the whole look and feel for those Deep Throat and Mr. X moments in the series.
Hoffman and Redford are brilliant in this film. Did you notice how much Redford makes dialing the phone seem interesting? Watch it again sometime and notice just how much he’s putting into such a simple action. What could be boring scenes really come alive with these wonderful actors.
Agreed on the ending. Way to early with too much cool stuff being left to typed words. Boo.
June 1st, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Yeah, I think that the “It ended too soon” comment will be a common one. I was ready for things to start really ramping up riht when it ended. I agree with Hilden, every moment of this film is fascinating, even if it’s the most mundane activity. Also, Robert Redford was a real looker.
June 1st, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I’m glad someone else thinks Redford is hot. Now I’m free to express my undying man crush on that guy.
Has anyone read this book? I’d be curious if it has any more details on the stuff that happened after the movie ended.
June 2nd, 2009 at 6:26 am
I have never read the book or seen this movie before now. I watched it twice to see what it is like the second time round and got to say I liked it just as much as the first time.
The acting is fantastic, Redford gives of an air of control even when he is not sure of what is going on. Hoffman knows what he is doing and how to do it but lets eccentricity get the better of him at times.
My only problem was nothing to do with the movie really. It was just after the star trek marathon, whenever I seen sloan all I could think of was the hot bald chick in the short dress calling him the “Deckar unit”.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:42 am
I also echo the “ending out of nowhere” sentiment. My favorite scene out of the film was how Hoffman was all hyped up on coffee trying to pry as many little tidbits of info as possible out of that lady, and then how he proceeded to describe it to Redford…gold!
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:29 am
Just a reminder that if the post for this week’s film gets buried, you can always find it by hitting the RP Summer Film Festival link in the sidebar. The latest post will always be copied there, and a link to the original post will be there for posting, etc.
June 20th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Just watched it, good film.
I agree about the ending too fast thing but…I think sometimes it’s not bad to leave a bit up to the viewer’s imagination. We can imply what happened after that with the lag in time and the typed headlines–certainly a unique way to convey the story given the context of the newspaper business.
I really loved the scene where Redford confronts Deep Throat and he finally gives in. You could feel the desperation in Redford’s face and tone. The follow up scene where they type back and forth to each other was also brilliant.