Plot Summary: Two green reporters and rivals working for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), research the botched 1972 burglary of the Democratic Party Headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex. With the help of a mysterious source, code-named Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook), the two reporters make a connection between the burglars and a White House staffer. Despite dire warnings about their safety, the duo follows the money all the way to the top.
*Recognition: Nominated for Best Picture, Director (Alan J. Pakula), Editing, Supporting Actress (Jane Alexander); Won for Best Supporting Actor (Jason Robards), Adapted Screenplay, Sound, and Art Direction; In 2007, it was added to the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) list at No. 77. It was No. 34 on AFI's America's Most Inspiring Movies list and No. 57 on the Top 100 Thrilling Movies. The characters of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein shared the rank of No. 27 (Heroes) on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains list. In 2015, The Hollywood Reporter polled hundreds of Academy members, asking them to re-vote on past controversial decisions. Academy members indicated that, given a second chance, they would award the 1977 Oscar for Best Picture to All the President's Men instead of Rocky.
What is this movie is about?: No one should be too powerful to "get away" with criminal behavior, and the sheer importance of relentless journalism.
Best Performance: Robert Redford (Woodward)
Best Secondary Performance: Jason Robards (Bradlee)/Jack Warden (Harry Rosenfeld)
Most Charismatic Award: Robert Walden (Donald Segretti)/Jason Robards (Bradlee)
Best Scene: Paranoid Woodward meets Deep Throat/Bradlee Teaches A Final Lesson
Favorite Scene: Segretti confesses to "ratfucking"/Deep Throat chastises Woodward on Bob Haldeman
Most Indelible Moment: Final Meeting Deep Throat in the Parking Garage
Best Line:
Ben Bradlee: You know the results of the latest Gallup Poll? Half the country never even heard of the word Watergate. Nobody gives a shit. You guys are probably pretty tired, right? Well, you should be. Go on home, get a nice hot bath. Rest up... 15 minutes. Then get your asses back in gear. We're under a lot of pressure, you know, and you put us there. Nothing's riding on this except the, uh, first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f*** up again, I'm going to get mad. Goodnight.
Deep Throat: Follow the money.
Honorable Mention:
Bob Woodward: Segretti crisscrossed the country, at least a dozen times. And always stayed in cities where there were Democratic primaries.
Carl Bernstein: So if the break-in was just one incident in a campaign of sabotage that began a whole year before Watergate...
Bob Woodward: Then for the first time the break-in makes sense.
Carl Bernstein: This isn't so crazy. This whole thing didn't start with the bugging of the headquarters.
Bob Woodward: Segretti was doing this a year before the bugging.
Carl Bernstein: And a year before, Nixon wasn't slaughtering Muskie, he was running behind Muskie, before Muskie self-destructed.
Bob Woodward: *If* he self-destructed!
Funniest Line:
Carl Bernstein: Boy, that woman was paranoid! At one point I - I suddenly wondered how high up this thing goes, and her paranoia finally got to me, and I thought what we had was so hot that any minute CBS or NBC were going to come in through the windows and take the story away.
Bob Woodward: You're both paranoid. She's afraid of John Mitchell, and you're afraid of Walter Cronkite.
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 9.5
Impact/Significance: 8.5
Novelty: 8.5
Classic-ness: 9.25
Rewatchability: 8.75
Audience Score: 9.2
Total: 53.7
Remaining Questions:
None, this is historical, and we've basically had a chance to ask all of these questions in reality.