Warner Brothers continues their fine two-disc editions with a new special edition of All the President’s Men. The movie dramatizes the first time that a media investigation takes down a sitting United States president and is also part of the Warner’s Controversial Classics Vol. 2: The Power of the Media. The movie was nominated for eight Academy awards and winning for Best Support Actor (Jason Robards), Best Art Direction, Best Sound, and Best Adaptation Screenplay by William Goldman.
Bob Woodward (Robert Redford, who also produced the movie) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) are low-level reporters at the Washington Post. One night there’s a burglary at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate Building. Woodward is assigned to cover the arraignment of the burglars. He finds out that the public defenders have found out that the four men already have a lawyer. During the arraignment he sees a mysterious man who refuses to answer his questions and basically says that he is not even there.
When one of the burglars says that he’s recently retired from the Central Intelligence Agency, Woodward’s journalism instinct kicks in and he smells a story. Their editor (Jack Warden) assigns them both to the story. As they follow the story they keep finding witnesses that just don’t want to talk to them. Some of them even change their stories in the middle of their phone calls. All the while they’re trying to convince Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards), managing editor of the Washington Post, that the story is important. Woodward also has a shadowy source nicknamed Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook) that tells him that the story goes very high up. Could the story reach all the way to the White House?
All the President’s Men is like Titanic in that we already know how the story will end. However, All the President’s Men deserves kudos for keeping the viewer interested in the story. It’s also very interesting to see the inner workings of the newspaper business (the documentary reveals that they strived to keep it just like the real thing, even using the trash from the newsroom). Another of the movie’s aces is the character of Deep Throat whose identity was kept secret until only recently. This led to a great feeling of mystery in the movie and in the actual events in that people for years have been trying to find out the identity of Deep Throat.
The movie strived to show the inner workings of the newspaper business
The movie is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Warner Brothers again puts some nice features on this two-disc set. Disc one contains a commentary by actor/producer Robert Redford. He reveals some interesting production details - such as he was actually following Woodward and Bernstein for a time while they were investigating the story (before Nixon’s resignation).
Disc two contains several documentaries, but lacks a play all feature. The first documentary runs 28 minutes and is called “Telling the Truth About Lies: Making All the President’s Men.” It has interviews with Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, screenwriter William Goldman, reporters Woodward and Bernstein, Ben Bradlee, cinematographer Gordon Willis, actress Jane Alexander and is narrated by Hal Holbrook. The second documentary runs 18 minutes and is called “Woodward and Bernstein: Lighting the Fire” and covers the reporting profession after Watergate. It has interviews with Woodward and Bernstein, Greg Krikorian (of the LA Times), journalist Linda Ellerbe, Walter Cronkite, Matthew Felling (Center for Media and Public Affairs), author Peter Schweizer, and director Oliver Stone (presumably because he directed Nixon).
The next documentary runs 16 minutes and is called “Out of the Shadows: The Man who was Deep Throat” and is about Mark Felt aka Deep Throat. It features interviews with all of the participants of the second documentary but adds Richard Ben-Veniste, former Watergate prosecutor. There’s also a 10-minute vintage featurette called “Pressure and the Press” and has some footage with President’s Men director Alan J. Pakula (who died in 1998). There is also a 7 minute excerpt of Jason Robards on the Dinah Shore show, still would’ve liked to have seen the whole episode. Finally, there’s an Alan J. Pakula thrillers trailer gallery.
Hal Holbrook plays the shadowy source Deep Throat
All the President’s Men still holds up even when we know the outcome. Redford, Hoffman, Robards, and Holbrook give great performances. All the President’s Men is an important part of the box set Controversial Classic Vol. 2: The Power of the Media, and clearly shows the media's role in the Watergate scandal. This set also contains new two-disc special editions Network, Dog Day Afternoon.
All the President’s Men Two-Disc Special Edition is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD’s database for more information.
Controversial Classics Vol.2: The Power of the Media is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.
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