50th anniversary of Nixon's resignation: this political thriller is the best movie about the Watergate scandal and won 4 Oscars

Uncovered in the 70s, the Watergate case was the corruption investigation that uncovered the theft of documents at the Watergate office complex in Washington D.C., headquarters of the United States' Democratic Party National Committee, and the subsequent Nixon administration's attempt to cover up the responsible parties.

This political scandal led to the end of President Richard Nixon's term, who at a historic and still unmatched moment, resigned from his position on August 9, 1974. Since then, movies like Nixon or Frost/Nixon; and recent series like Gaslit or The White House Plumbers have shown interest in bringing this story to the screen, but none have surpassed the one starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in 1976.

'All the President's Men'

"Follow the money trail". That line from All the President's Men is one of the most memorable in cinema history, attributed in the movie to 'Deep Throat', the anonymous informant who played a role in the Watergate scandal revelation.

Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in 'All the President's Men'

Directed by Alan J. Pakula, with a script by William Goldman, it is based on the non-fiction book from 1974 by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, and focuses on the two journalists who investigated the scandal for The Washington Post.

Redford and Hoffman play Woodward and Bernstein, respectively, beginning in 1972, when they were young journalists who started investigating the break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters in Washington. The movie follows their investigative work and the discoveries that led to the 'Watergate case', which caused President Richard Nixon's resignation.

Filming Curiosities

Although the two lead actors visited the offices of The Washington Post for months to prepare for their roles, the newspaper did not grant them access to film in their newsroom, so the offices were recreated based on real measurements, photographs, and garbage bins that were collected and transported to sets built on two Burbank Studios Hollywood stages, with a cost of $200,000.

The level of accuracy in recreating The Post newsroom even went to the extent of making replicas of old phone books and purchasing 200 desks for $500 each from the same company that had sold desks to The Post in 1971.

'All the President's Men'

Critically Acclaimed

The movie has received nearly unanimous acclaim both at its release and in the subsequent years. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 94% rating of positive reviews, with an average score of 9.10 out of 10.

At the time of its release, Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times said: "It gives the most incisive study of active journalists we've ever seen in a feature film. And brilliantly conveys the mixture of euphoria, paranoia, self-doubt, and courage that imbued The Washington Post as its two young reporters went after the presidency."

Vincent Canby from The New York Times wrote: "Newspapers and journalists have long been the favorite subjects of filmmakers, but until All the President's Men, no film came anywhere close to being a faithful image of the best American journalism."

'All the President's Men'

Charles Champlin from The Los Angeles Times described it as "more than anything, an absorbing mystery film, with atmosphere, suspense, surprise, conflict, danger, secret messages, covert meetings, heroes, villains, and a cast of main and supporting characters that could have come from an improbable collaboration of, let's say, Gore Vidal and Raymond Chandler."

The film has continued to receive praise decades after its release. Chris Nashawaty from Entertainment Weekly, reviewing the Blu-ray release, stated that it "anticipated our current era of WikiLeaks. A timeless and essential film that raises thorny issues that 35 years later we are still trying to address." 

Should Have Won the Oscar

In 2015, The Hollywood Reporter surveyed hundreds of Academy members, asking them to re-vote on controversial past decisions.

The movie received eight nominations and won four statuettes: screenplay, art direction, best sound, and supporting actor (Jason Robards). Academy members indicated in the survey that, if given a second chance, they would award the Best Picture Oscar of 1977 to All the President's Men instead of Rocky. 

*This article has been automatically translated using artificial intelligence