Dustin Hoffman

Robert Redford

Jack Warden

Martin Balsam

Hal Holbrook

Jason Robards

Jane Alexander

Meredith Baxter

Ned Beatty

Stephen Collins

Penny Fuller

John McMartin

Robert Walden

Frank Wills

F. Murray Abraham

David Arkin

Henry Calvert

Dominic Chianese

Bryan Clark

Nicolas Coster

Lindsay Crouse

Valerie Curtin

Gene Dynarski

Nate Esformes

Ron Hale

Richard Herd

Polly Holliday

James Karen

Paul Lambert

Frank Latimore

Gene Lindsey

Anthony Mannino

Allyn Ann McLerie

James Murtaugh

John O'Leary

Jess Osuna

Neva Patterson

George Pentecost

Penny Peyser

Joshua Shelley

Sloane Shelton

Lelan Smith

Jaye Stewart

Ralph Williams

George Wyner

Leroy Aarons

Donnlynn Bennett

Stanley Bennett Clay

Carol Coggin

Laurence Covington

John Devlin

John Furlong

Sidney Ganis

Amy Grossman

Cynthia Herbst

Basil Hoffman

Mark Holtzman

Jamie Smith-Jackson

Barbara Lipsky

Doug Llewelyn

Jeff MacKay

Irwin Marcus

Greg Martin

Ron Menchine

Christopher Murray

Jess Nadelman

Noreen Nielson

Florence Pepper

Barbara Perlman

Louis Quinn

Peter Salim

Shawn Shea

Marvin Smith

Pam Trager

Carol Trost

Richard Venture

Bill Willens

Wendell Wright

Al Beaudine

Gary Bohn

Stephen Burnette

Marcello Clay

Edward Coch Jr.

Cara Duff-MacCormick

Len Felber

Mel Gold

Bart Greene

Francine Henderson

Eugene Jackson

Pauline Lum

Robert S. Mills

Ray Pourchot

John Randolph

Bill Scully

Bob Templeton

Lance Vantile Whitfield

Spiro Agnew

Walter Cronkite

Thomas Eagleton

Gerald Ford

Walter Coblenz

Robert L. Wolfe

George Jenkins

Alan J. Pakula

Alan Shayne

William Goldman

David Shire

Gordon Willis

George Gaines

Dan Perri

Lynda Gurasich

Steve Vetter

Fern Buchner

Romaine Greene

Jon Boorstin

Don L. Cash

Gary Liddiard

Bob Woodward

Carl Bernstein

Henry Millar

Michael Britton

Mike Higelmire

Clint Althouse

Bob Rose

Charles Ziarko

Ralph Gerling

Nicholas C. Washington

Bill Green

Kim Kurumada

Erika Koppitz

Roger Irvin

Robert Krume

Alan Levine

Carroll Timothy O'Meara

Joanna Ney

Robert I. Jillson

Les Fresholtz

Ray De La Motte

Rebecca Britton

Larry D. Howard

Steve Potter

Milton C. Burrow

George Szeptycki

Bernie Pollack

Guy Bushman

Bill MacSems

Ronnie Kramer

Chris McLaughlin

James E. Webb

George Holmes

Ronald L. Vargas Jr.

Karen Hale Wookey

Art Levinson

Matty Azzarone

Rick Alexander

Drama

Mystery

Thriller

All the President's Men

Wildwood Enterprises

United States of America

CinemaSerf

Based on the true, ground-breaking, investigations by the Washington Post into the seemingly innocuous break-in into the Watergate Building; this film produces two of the finest performances ever committed to film. Dustin Hoffman already had some grittier parts in his repertoire; but for Robert Redford this is more of a departure from his usual roles and the rapport between the two, initially suspicious journalists, builds as we all begin to realise that there is a hell of a lot more to this than just some unlucky burglars. Jason Robards and Martin Balsam serve as the real life editorial leads at the newspaper, but also as characters we can all use to take stock during these rapidly advancing, and incriminating developments. Alan J. Pakula subtly and deftly takes us through the chronology in an enthralling manner; exposing crossing sub-plots and personalities - as well as demonstrating the palpable risks being taken by many to uncover the truth. We all know the ending, but this film is quite possibly the reason why many still recall this momentous story.

Filipe Manuel Neto

**Fifty years after Watergate, what have we learned?**

The “Watergate Affair” was fifty years ago. For those who don't remember or weren't born, it all started with the invasion of the Democratic Party offices in the Watergate Building, in Washington D.C., by a group of men, caught while trying to install bugs and copy documents. The group's connection to the CIA became obvious and, as the inquiries progressed, the story became more bizarre: after all, everything had been done under orders coming from within the White House, from people very interested in manipulating the elections that year, in which Richard Nixon was going to run for his second term against the Democratic candidate, George McGovern.

The film tells us about this, but stops here, focusing on the contribution of journalists from The Washington Post, who investigated the matter and published relevant information. The film doesn't say what happened next, but as we know, Nixon was re-elected and quickly found himself under suspicion about his involvement in the Watergate break-in. Nixon refused to give explanations, hiding behind his office prerogatives, not even when it became known that there was a voice recording system in his office. With Congress demanding to hear these recordings under serious threats of impeachment, Nixon preferred to resign and, since then, “Watergate” has been an eternal synonym of political corruption at the highest level.

Directed by Alan Pakula and released in the years following the events, the film would have needed no further explanation. The names of those involved and the details of the story would be fresh in everyone's memory. However, more than fifty years later, who remembers the details? As the film does not give us explanations, only people who know the subject well or have read about it will watch the film without needing to go to the Internet every ten minutes. Even I, a historian, needed to refresh my memory. Aside from this problem, the film is good and is faithful to the events and what the two “Post” journalists did.

There is another problem with this film, although it is a minor problem: at this time, in the 70s, it seems that a politician was required to have bulletproof morality and a virtually untainted character. And now? We are in 2024 and democracy, instead of maturing, seems to have rotted to the point that American citizens allow a former president, who is in the grip of justice and apparently involved in a direct attack against Congress (which represents all the people) to presents himself again as a candidate without any problems, ready to be carried on shoulders to a cabinet he should never set foot in again. I am not North American, but as a European I refuse to consider such a matter a mere internal issue, taking into account the role that the USA wants to maintain on the international stage, in NATO or in the UN. Unfortunately, the degradation of democracy happens here too, and has been taken advantage of by Putin, President Xi and other enemies of the free world, a world of peace and freedom that our fathers worked hard to build together, and we are letting disappear.

Returning to the film... it's worth seeing the performance of Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford in two roles that helped a lot in the evolution of their careers. They are some of the best actors of that period and did a colossal job in this film. The supporting cast is equally remarkable and deserves our full attention. I particularly liked the work of Martin Balsam, Jack Warden and Jason Robards, outstanding actors who transformed three roles without much relevance into good additions to the general plot. And although we only learned more details recently, Hal Holbrook was an excellent choice to bring to life the mysterious “Deep Throat”, one of the decisive sources for linking Watergate with the White House.

Technically, it is a discreet film that bets everything on the rigorous reconstruction of the settings, environments and events. There are some very good sound effects (the association of the sounds of typewriters with the sound of gunshots was intelligent and well done, for example) and the lighting effects were equally well-used. Note the dark and mysterious atmosphere of the encounters with “Deep Throat”, with the light almost reduced to what is essential. The film deservedly won four Oscars (Best Sound, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Best Supporting Actor) and was one of the big contenders for Best Film.