Movie Review: All the President's Men

This was not the first time I’ve seen the 1976 Academy Award-winning political thriller film All the President’s Men. The first time I was sixteen, a junior in high school, watching it at a party for my school’s newspaper staff. I was young, and though I was the news editor, I knew little of journalism. I enjoyed the movie: the tense and dimly lit scenes, the cracking dialogue, the way it gripped me and kept me on the edge of my seat. I chose it as my movie for my communications class because I wanted to see how taking the course had affected me. And when I watched it again, all those things still entranced me, but this time I had a deeper appreciation. Instead of simply enjoying All the President’s Men as a movie, I enjoyed it as an example of what a journalist should be. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, played by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, respectively, show the journalistic values of truth, verification, and, most obviously, watchdog journalism throughout the film.

Truth is at the heart of this film. The whole movie shows Woodward and Bernstein feverishly working to discover facts, dig deeper, and find the truth behind the break-ins at the Watergate Hotel. They potentially risk their lives to uncover the truth and refuse to stop their search for any reason. Now, many stories published by today’s news organizations do not require the journalist to risk their life, but the principle stands. Never stop looking for the truth. Never be satisfied with the half-truth. Work for it, go after it. The whole foundation of journalism is truth; you can never stop seeking it.

Another large part of the movie is watching Woodward and Bernstein struggle to verify the facts and truths they have found. This completely escaped my 16-year-old self. I didn’t understand why Bernstien would spend hours with a source (Judy Hoback, the bookkeeper for the Committee for the Re-Election of the President), just for a really difficult interview. Now, I understood the subtle interrogation and appreciated the quest for verification. Equally fantastic are the scenes where the two reporters track down independent sources to verify H.R. Haldeman’s involvement in the scandal. This all culminated with the tensest ten seconds of the movie: Bernstein calls a source and says he will count to 10. If he reaches 10 and the source is still on the line, that will verify the Haldeman is involved. The seconds tick; the source stays on the line. Truth is not enough. Journalists must verify everything.

Of course, the movie also showed the values of watchdog journalism. One of my favorite lines in the move is when editor Bill Bradlee sums up the importance of the story: “Nothing's riding on this except the first amendment of the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of this country.” Journalists are expected to serve as a fourth branch of government, and make sure the interests of the citizens are being protected and preserved.

All the President’s Men is a fantastic movie. But more than that, it is a great example of the values of journalism. Because of truth seeking, verification, and watchdog journalism, the Watergate scandal was uncovered. While such large-scale scandals may not be in our future, we can at least apply those principles to every article we work on.