"All the President's Men" was quite a realistic display of investigative reporting. With a pair of accomplished actors (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman) as reporters, this film was bound to be a hit. Both roles were well cast and performed with intensity. The only fault in the casting was the two women characters bore a close resemblance to each other, which was confusing at times.

These two obscure reporters undertook the frustrating task of uncovering the Watergate scandal. This incident involved criminal activity and deception at the highest level of the Republican Party and the Nixon administration. Everywhere the reporters turned seemed to be a dead end. This assignment required much perseverance. The odds were against them because few people had valuable information. Their search for the truth was fruitless until their anonymous source, "Deep Throat," came through for them. The information they disclosed convinced their editor, Ben Bradlee (played by Jason Robards) to allow them time to develop the story. Bradlee showed great faith in his reporters in the face of strong pressure from the White House. This story points out the importance of a free press in our political system.

This movie is successful because it is about a historic event, probably the biggest scandal in American politics. The film is a nice change of pace from the average fictional story. Anyone who enjoys politics and current events would probably enjoy this movie, as I did. n