All the President's Men (1976)

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After watching Lincoln, I wondered what were the other movies considered in the Top 10 by the National Constitution Centre. All the President's Men happens to be the first, the top-ranked film about presidents. So I decided to watch this film when I saw it on Netflix.

At first, I thought that this Alan Pakula film was just a different version of The Post. After all, Ben Bradlee was there and Katharine Graham was mentioned because All the President's Men is also about the Washington Post. However, Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman portrayed journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, respectively. These were characters I haven't heard before. And then I realised that this movie was really about their coverage of the Watergate Scandal!

It began small enough; Woodward, a relatively new journalist in the Post, was covering the trial of the burglars who broke into the Democrat office in the Watergate Complex. However, things escalated really quickly. When Bernstein, a more experienced reporter, was paired up with Woodward, they uncovered that the scandal reached all the way up to the office of the president. Bradlee wanted to make sure that the information was solid before running their story.

As Nixon was being sworn into office and the rest of the reporters were glued to the telly, Woodward and Bernstein were busy typing up their story about the scandal. Just before the credits rolled, the headlines about the indictments and Nixon's subsequent resignation were shown.

This is the third movie I've seen that is situated in the Nixon era, after The Post and Frost/Nixon. I know Nixon resigned because of the Watergate scandal but I don't understand exactly what happened; except that there was grave abuse of power and obstruction of justice done by the people surrounding the president. But what I have noticed is that all these movies I've seen are all about the power of the press to call out the government. The First Amendment of the Constitution is alive and well during the Nixon administration.

All the President's Men is indeed a riveting film. It is a classic. I now understand why it's in the top 10. But I have to disagree with the ranking. I think that Lincoln outranks this film.

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