All the President’s Men 4K Ultra HD Review

THE MOVIE — 4½/5

Plot Synopsis: In the Watergate Building, lights go on and five burglars are caught in the act. The night triggered revelations that drove a U.S. President from office, Washington reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) grabbed the story and stayed with it through doubts, denials and discouragement. All the President’s Men is their story.

Beyond the historical elements the film brings – released in 1976, only a few years after the scandal and even before the book for which it’s based upon – the film is a fascinating look at the world of newspapers and investigative reporting. Some might find the film to be tedious because in today’s world you’d have some crazy car chase scene, added in to provide a touch of “excitement” to keep the audience awake supposedly, a couple sex scenes and a lame romantic interest to keep them titillated, and embellishing certain areas to give it that extra punch studios believes a movie needs to be more marketable. The thing is, the story itself be it for the scandal that rises up to the highest position in all the land or the actual investigative techniques to get to that point, it’s a movie that propels itself without a push from the studio.

All the President’s Men is also a courageous production in that, as I mentioned, it was made not too long after the story had broken as Nixon resigned in August 1974 while the movie was released in April of 1976 (filming started in June of ’75). This could’ve been a colossal failure given its reported $8.5 million budget (~$33.5 million today) so it’s no small amount of change starring two big stars for their time in Hoffman (3-time Academy Award nominee) and Redford (nominated for The Sting in 1974). The film would go on to be nominated for 8 awards including Best Picture, Director, Editing, Supporting Actress and winning for Supporting Actor (Jason Robards), Art Direction, Sound and Screenplay (William Goldman). And unlike a lot of award winners I’ve seen over the years, it deserved every one of them… in fact I’m surprised that neither Redford nor Hoffman got nominations.

Overall, while in today’s Hollywood, the writer probably would’ve invented a chase scene or two because the studio felt it was needed to spice it up or a “sex” scene (clothed so it could secure a PG-13 rating) and add some star actress (Rachel McAdams no doubt). Thankfully because it was made not too long after the scandal it had a certain focus to it and thus today is reference material shown to journalist students as it manages to show the tedious and often frustrating work for investigative reporters yet still is interesting enough to keep the audience involved right to the end.

I guess if I had one complaint it would be the very end where they show, over the newswire, what happened in history (all those indicted and convicted and the resignation of Nixon). I think some of it, such as Nixon, could’ve shown via archive footage but I get what Pakula was after in fading out the film with the rising noise of the newswire typing just as the film similarly opened.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 3½/5

This release comes with a matted slip cover. While there are two new featurettes, the commentary track with the late Robert Redford is missing…

• All the President’s Men: The Film and its Influence (7:56) — In this new featurette, it looks back on the movie and how it’s held up.
• Woodward and Bernstein: A Journalism Masterclass (7:36) — A profile on the two reporters and their journalistic talents.
• Woodward and Bernstein: Lighting the Fire (17:53) focuses on the impact All the President’s Men has had over the years especially in the realm of journalism and those going into journalism school.
• Telling the Truth About Lies (28:21) — The featurette, narrated by Hal Holbrook, features behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with members of the cast (Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford), crew and the real people involved.
• Out of the Shadows: The Man Who Was Deep Throat (16:21) — covers the real informer – Mark Felt – that helped break open the story and has interviews with Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward and others.
• Jason Robards on “Dinah!” (7:09)

VIDEO – 4¾/5

All the President’s Men debuts onto 4K Ultra HD and is presented here with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 2160p high-definition transfer. There’s no mention on the back cover or the press release of a new transfer so I assume the studio took this from their vaults and scanned it into 4K. As it is, it’s a solid looking picture, detail is sharp and well defined while colors are distinctly have that late 70s/early 80s texture. There is a good natural film grain still present and I did not notice any obvious signs of aging, artifacts or other flaws.

AUDIO – 3/5

While the Mono DTS-HD Master Audio is pretty basic, given the movie is almost all dialogue driven – except for the typewriter sounds to open and close out the film – it’s obviously pretty flat coming only out of the center channel.

OVERALL — 4¼/5

All the President’s Men is one of those rare movies that stand the test of time in both quality and subject matter. Not only is the story fascinating but the components of the film itself top notch from the performances from the stars and supporting actors to the screenplay and direction.