All the President’s Men

An office scene from a past era with three individuals working amidst typewriters and telephones. Desks are cluttered with papers and office equipment, suggesting a busy work environment.

Once upon a time two reporters took down an American president.

The paranoia that swirled in President Richard Nixon’s White House runs through this exciting and detailed procedural drama from director Alan Pakula. Set during the 1972 elections, the film follows journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's investigation of the controversial Watergate scandal for The Washington Post, a scandal which eventually compelled President Nixon to resign from his position. Based on the titular 1974 non-fiction account by Woodward and Bernstein, the film captures in its cinematography the exhilaration, volatility, and mystery that surrounded the investigation, especially in scenes moving outside the newsroom into a murky Washington D.C.

Winner of 4 Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor, All the President's Men remains a classic of 1970's American cinema and has provided a cinematic playbook for countless other investigative dramas.

All the President's Men screens as part of our "Cornell Cinema Goes to Washington" series. Courtesy of MGM and Swank Motion Pictures.