Up until Election Day on November 4th, we'll be taking a look at one movie every day that involves an election, which gives us seven great political movies to discuss. With 4 days to go, let's start with movie #4!
All the President’s Men (1976)
This is the second movie on our countdown directed by Alan J. Pakula. All the President’s Men is his direct follow-up to The Parallax View, a re-visitation of the same theme of crooked cover-ups that follow illegal acts meant to affect the outcome of the democratic process. Except this time, the story is real.
The film recounts the series of events that make up the Watergate scandal, from the initial break-in to the revelation of the incriminating Nixon tapes, leading to the eventual resignation of President Richard Nixon only a year into his second term. The story is told from the perspective of two Washington Post journalists (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman) who in the process of reporting a potential scandal find themselves entangled in a conspiracy much more sinister than they thought, centering on Nixon’s questionable re-election. The film keeps its focus low to the ground, with two reporters clearly in over their heads, giving a claustrophobic feeling of suspense to the dramatization of the events. It really leaves you with a sense of “Damn, this is insane” at every turn.
Resonance: The vast conspiracy depicted in the film only fuels the already paranoid state of America on the tail end of Nixon’s betrayal. With this film, the Watergate scandal isn’t just an uncanny event unfolding on the news. Redford and company relentlessly demonstrated just how downright creepy the government can be when they think they’re behind closed doors. It also popularized the mystique of Deep Throat, which inspired subsequent (fictional) political thrillers to create their own mystery anonymous source.
Unforgettable Scene: In what has become an iconic scene in American film history, this pivotal moment is when Bob Woodward finally gets Deep Throat to reveal how far the cover-up goes. The look on Redford’s face says it all… This is the exact moment when the Big Government backlash is born, when all the nutty conspiracies and cynical outlooks are all but confirmed. Welcome to Paranoia.
Remember: after you're done watching movies, don't forget to vote!
