I believe this is the movie that kick started my interest in any drama with great performance and script. If not for this, I would never have enjoyed The Candidate, JFK, Nixon, Glengarry Glen Rose and whatnots. Movie buffs will definitely know this movie - the one about the early seventies Watergate scandal in US that led to President Nixon's resignation.

In Film Personality section of this site, you may find my write-up on the scriptwriter William Goldman. He wrote this movie and made life easier for all of us. Why? You should have read the book.

I saw this movie first, liked it, got a bit confused, and thought it might do my brain a favour if I take a look at the source book. But I was lost in the book. So many names. So many incidents. Halfway through I threw the book away. No, wait, I just put it down and thought about screaming. So, I watched the movie again. Plenty of things made sense. After a few months, I watched it again and more things made sense.

That is, unfortunately, the only downside to this movie. And this downside only work on semi-literates like me. Otherwise, it also works as a taut and fast moving thriller.

For those who never heard of this movie, here what it is about. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, two reporters with Washington Post, who uncovers the Watergate scandal. Their intensive and persistent investigative method finally led to the resignation of the President himself.

When Goldman was given the book to do as a screenplay, he had the same headache I confessed above - too many incidents and names. Of course, unlike me, he knew what was going on, so he managed to squeeze the whole book into a filmable screenplay. That is the talent of this guy. He also complained of the unpleasentness of the whole process (trouble even after finishing a few drafts) and wished that All The Presidents Men never happened in his life, even if he had won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay. You can read all about it in his book, The Adventures In the Screen Trade.

Despite all that, Alan J. Pacula, managed to make a riveting movie. Imagine the difficulties of turning what happens to be scenes full of phone conversation and interviews into something dramatic. Quite a task. Not to mention the performance of the lead, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford, and the supporting cast like Jason Robards Jr (won best supporting actor Oscar), Jack Warden and Hal Holbrook who plays the mysterious Deep Throat.

Since everyone knows the climate, it doesn't mean that there is no suspense. Watching the movie again and again, I realise that suspense is not much on anticipation of what will happen next, but how the scene is crafted out for the audience. Its there constantly, no matter how many times you watched it. Such is the magic of wonderful scriptwriting and professional directing. Oh, I forgot, Gordon Willis was the cinematographer, so it goes without saying about the cinematograpy. Remember, he shot the Godfather films.