RyothChatty
ridiculous rating
ChicRawIdol
A brilliant film that helped define a genre
Billie Morin
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Married Baby
Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
thedarkknight-99999
Alan J. Pakula made a very smart decision by not making this movie longer. Because I think Oliver Stone made a mistake by making the runtime of JFK three hours and nine minutes, and the director's cut even longer by 17 minutes! The result, in the case of JFK, was that the movie focused more than it should do on some subplots that really didn't add too much to the story. All the President's Men, instead, made a good use of every minute in it with its reasonable runtime. All the President's Men can be described as a "Hitchcockian" political thriller. Its tension and suspense are unprecedented in this sub-genre. The Oscar-winner script, with all its cleverness, isn't the only powerful aspect about the movie. Alan J. Pakula directing is very entertaining. Besides building the tension, he shot many long scenes that really deserve to be of the most iconic scenes in film. The performances are all great; Redford has the most of the screen time, and I wouldn't have been surprised if he had an Oscar nod. He has a particular scene in which he changed his face expressions so gracefully. Hoffman is one of my favorite actors and he gave one of his best performances in this movie; his character is so energetic and impulsive and he just got it right. But the performance that really standout is Jason Robards' performance as Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of The Washington Post. Robards, without a doubt, deserved his Oscar for best supporting actor.At the middle of its third act, I think the movie suffered a little bit moving between two sub-plots; it moved very fast between them and I think it should have made a small breather to keep me gripped, and to make me invested in the new sub-plot from its beginning.There were many secondary characters in this movie and they were all great, except one character that I felt it should have given some more depth because it has an important role near the end, and a background could have filled some logical gaps. With that being said, this character is very interesting and you may be interested to search about it after watching the movie.(8.5/10)
Leofwine_draca
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN is not only a stunning addition to the 1970s wave of conspiracy thrillers but also a great film dealing with the subject of journalism, up there with SPOTLIGHT as the best of its type. The story, which all true and about how two Washington Post reporters broke the Watergate scandal, is completely riveting, one of those suspense-fuelled movies that works despite not relying on generic action cliches or even an exciting score. The completely likeable Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffmann are perfectly cast as the intrepid reporters who refuse to take no for an answer, but the whole cast is spot on here. It's a film which just runs and runs and runs, ever complex yet easy to follow, that might just be one of the most important movies of the decade.
writers_reign
One of the problems about making films about major real events - the assassination of JFK for example - is that everyone goes to see them on their release which, by definition, is as soon after the incident in question as possible, and then they become curiously 'dated'; presumably once the audience who were alive at the time begin to die out these films will have a new historical value so that around now any film made in the aftermath of the shooting in Sarajevo would acquire a new interest/audience. So, to watch this film, made in 1976, a couple of years after Watergate, is not such compulsive viewing as it would have been on release. I'm a great admirer of both the Goldman brothers (Bill and James) both as novelists and screenwriters and neither has ever let me down in either capacity - I do, in fact, wish that someone would get out a DVD of Soldier In The Rain, an early Bill Goldman novel filmed in the early sixties with Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen) so this was a must for me as a Goldman completist. I loved the 'in-joke' of casting Robert Walden in a minor role. Walden played Joe Rossi, the star 'investigative' reporter in the Lou Grant TV series. The proprietor, Mrs. Pynchon,, of the fictional LA Newspaper where Lou Grant was City Editor, was based on Kathleen Graham, the wife/widow of the owner of the Washington Post, which for me constituted a great tie-in. Overall, the film had a fine, gritty 'feel' and is well worth seeing.
Irishchatter
I was recommended from a classmate that I should watch it since I've never seen it nor heard of it before. A few days ago, i got to finally watch it. My god, Dustin Hoffman looked so different with his long boyish hair. I'm more use to him having short hair in his later years. Himself and Robert Redford were absolutely brilliant together. They really should've done more movies with each other, it would make more sense!In relation to this movie, it really opens your eyes of how Richard Nixon was such a crook. Sure every poliction you meet is a greedy crook anyway so he ain't the only one in that sense! The case really interests you as in how everything went bellyup and out of control. The real Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward didn't have an easy life in their careers. They pretty much had like a rough time to get the information that needed from Nixons people to be on the Washington Post. At the same time, they are well capable men and they knew well what to do in order to get Nixon and his crooners down. Seriously, even if its a long movie, you would enjoy watching it if you were in a politic mood!