The first letters of the typewriter on white paper in the opening seconds sounding like gunshots are bookended with the last seconds of the film when the 21 gun salute of Nixon being sworn in and that sound is overtaken with the sound of typewriter keys. Brilliant
All the Presidents Men is one of my all-time favorite films....I've read the book many times and seen the film over 10 times! The film never gets old and is a fantastic depiction of one of the darkest times in our nation's history. Oh, wait! I take it back, I'll wait for the film about the January 6th insurrection.
Amazing on multiple levels. Riveting. The final 15 minutes is must hear. To hear the differences between 70s journalism / 70s American culture, as compared to todays ,and the effects of that dynamic explained by these 3 gentlemen is the best sourcing imaginable. Bernsteins 3 minutea on it was stunning. Bravo. Thank you.
These are the types of journalists i grew up used to, not todays journalism, (copy& paste jobs) i also adore Redford watched all his films. For some presidential legacies i'd pay cold hard cash to see a blockbuster movie about. Lol
Redford's instincts on this were absolutely right. The process of the story and how Woodward and Bernstein got to it WAS the story. And that is interesting. Redford KNOWS where the story is when so many Hollywood executives simply don't understand where the interest lies.
I'm a big fan of Redford's politically-inspired movies, ATPM, The Candidate, Three Days of the Condor and also of Lions for Lambs and The Conspirator. IMO the best of that bunch is The Candidate, such an honest and brave movie. I wish he had made more like that.
I am not American, but I like the image of the USA these gentlemen delivered here. I think that this kind of citizens are the ones that can let the rest of the world know about people in this country rather than governments. That would certainly contribute to peace in the world as it was seen by president Kennedy. If only we could know all the truth about his assassination ...
It was a great movie. And I love all three people in stage, with all my heart. I saw this movie when I was in Iran, the country under the Shah, as a young employee of IBM. I had seen "Three days of Candor" a couple of years before, and admired Robert already. This movie, "All the Presidents men" , reminded me of that one. I already knew that the Shah of Iran was continuously putting down all the opposition groups with brutality, and was admiring the freedom of the press in the USA, that allowed to journalists, and a newspaper, bring down the presidency of the United States. No one n Iran would have even dared to think about such thing, Of course two years later, the Shah was overthrown and went into exile and died a year after that. Thanks all of you guys for giving us the courage to say no to autocracy.
This is a profound piece! Shocked I never spotted it before! What Redford said: "America seems to be a country that doesn't learn from its past mistakes because it's not interested." (slightly paraphrased). Maybe that's why solid objective journalism today is dead.
There is good journalism today by veey smart people. Rachel Maddow...Ari Melbor..Ronan Farrow..and many others who fight for the truth and expose the craziness of others with moral compass. It is ashame tho of the decline of newpapees and traditional journalism. The atlantic and New York magazines still have many important pieces. It is hard to navigate if you get on the wrong side of what can be believed and what is outrageously false and opinionated. Journalism shout continued as " Facts without ooinion" and big money and ideologies have brought us to a dangerous world. Its seems we also have been manipulated by our global adversaries.
Robert Redford really seems to have shown a keen interest in Investigative Journalism. He also went on to play one in Up, Close and Personal. I don't think he is too old to play Bob Woodward again should there ever be a need to film one of his other books.
They were really young when this happened too. Interesting and very familiar to current day politics.. "America doesn't seem to learn from it's own history!" says Bob. Man, he's really said a mouthful! Gotta go watch the movie again now. Wow, Carl is so prophetic re: the news.
There are many videos that look back on Watergate and, "All The President's Men." This is the finest I've seen as it clearly demonstrates the partnership of Woodward & Bernstein in what it actually is in conjunction with the screen adaptation of their reporting in The Washington Post. Robert Redford discusses his, "obsession" with Watergate and the creative desire to make the film. Interesting to observe how the reporters and a film actor found a way to come together and eventually find a mutual respect for one another in their individual fields of expertise as well as a desire to tell the truth. The film and the events of Watergate continue to fascinate me. Though many may feel that these events are purely for the history books, we can still learn a lot from the way people sought the truth and apply it to these troubled times.
Wow. What a great discussion of a great movie by the principals involved. The sad truth is, as Carl Berstein inferred, the "news' has become so cacophonous & polemic that not only would the shenanigans of Watergate not even raise an eyebrow if perpetrated today (which more than likely has been 100 times over), but most of us would bring an idealogical subjectivity to it as a result of watching "news" that (in Berstein's words) " is information"..."intended to confirm what we already believe."
I'd always wondered why Mrs. Graham wasn't in the movie, never knew that it was her decision not to be depicted. Would have been interesting to see Geraldine Page portray her. Beatrice Straight also could have played her.
Actually maybe a play about it first, then a movie down the line at some point later. Like other recent plays, e.g. "Frost-Nixon", "The Kings Speech", etc...
Like a wheel within a wheel, or like those surrealistic paintings of a painter painting a painter painting a painter painting etc etc. Why, are you applying for the job of playing Redford ?
Thanks for this. I've watched this many times. It has been so enjoyable listening to their discussion. I love stuff like this and it is great to listen to intelligent conversations especially when I have no one to discuss anything with. It almost feels like being at the event. Love RUclips for watching lectures and events like this.
Interesting, at 47-49 minutes, where Redford describes the 17-18 seconds of a blank screen; ironically chimes with 18 minutes missing from one of the Watergate Tapes!
1:12:55 or so. I get this. Even when I was a kid my parents explained that Nixon's pardon was really the best thing for our nation. Now, I'm in the military and have served in nations that have jailed their heads of state, particularly, Egypt and Korea. After seeing that and talking with many folks from those countries, I think that President Ford took the tough high road in my humble opinion. Like a lot of others have, I've watched all that I could on Watergate. This is the best presentation I've seen to date. It's hard to imagine how W&B felt along with just a few others in the know. Must've felt like the weight of the world!A highly intriguing video and nearly as good as the movie that ranks as one of the very best I've ever seen. I did not know that the actual investigation and the idea of an eventual movie were all happening at the same time. Amazing pieces of history here!
Woodward & Bernstein were fed by a leaker. (Deep throat) All they really did was report it. They were made hero's by Hollywood. Today Woodward & Bernstein are Communist working for CNN to overthrow our beloved Constitution
It’s pure fiction and part of the Lefts propaganda campaign of distraction. Assistant FBI director Mark Felt ( deep throat) was a butthurt criminal leaker with an agenda and a vendetta who played those two clowns, Woodward and Bernstein as well as the Wapo like fiddles. Ben Bradlee saw no wrong in his buddies JFK and RFK wire-tapping MlK and blatantly abusing executive authority and wiping their butts with the Constitution in hounding their opponents with the DOJ and FBI, yet Nixon, who never knew about the Watergate break-in got treated 100x worse than Stalin or Mao by the US press.
'That book' reads like a typewriter hammering it out. From the burglary the BBC Radio put out an almost daily bulletin. Then it became more than a bulletin. I used an earpiece every morning as I walked the dog.
In the end, Nixon had the two redeeming qualities Trump does not have - a sense of personal shame and an authentic love for his country. How noble Nixon’s resignation now appears when compared to a president who refuses to concede an election loss, even at the risk of destroying the republic.
The expansive press room of the Wash. Post was re-created as a set down to the wastebaskets, the typewriters, paperwork all over, the lighting, on and on. Workers schmoozing, talking in the background,etc. Check out the haircuts and the threads! All that polyester!
@Todd Schneck It is and has been for a while. Woodward & Bernstein brought down a President with jotter pad, pencil, typewriter and landline telephone. Today journalists have the internet with instant global reach and smartphone technology......the US badly needs another Bernstein & Woodward.
Karma , bad history shd be buried, The ppl of Lydda& Sharon were surprised tht Aeneus became alive by the Holy Spirit with Peter’s mighty healing Powers ,Take Good messages such,ByThe Way, im a Methodist
Yes, listening this morning to an NPR piece w Amish Alcindor interviews with folks on inside of Trump's last months in office , after election defeat So similar in each presidents belief in an imperial presidency and how hard each pushed their staff and military to keep the illusion of their sanity and control
A terrific picture. Definitely one of my favorite of all times. Thanks for uploading the conference! It just bothers me that Redford (who I admire much) keeps talking as if he directed the picture and not the great Alan Pakula.
In would Like to know what Robert Redford think about the current situation in June 2020, with the Bunkerboy. Does he think it is a much bigger story than Nixon? Or our democracy is under THREAT?. What about the forgotten Impeachment, with all the evidence?
And you are okay with Hillary Clinton stealing and destroying public and classified documents, and the FBI giving her a pass? Your selective interest in justice ignores the critical balance of power and our Constitution. You wrote this a year ago, before top FBI and DoJ officials were fired.
Wow! Can you imagine what they’d get on PINOCCHIO BIDEN today? Who knows, when the dust settles on this historic fraud, a movie will be made and the stars will be the true news reporters. Have a good day.
The Internet: as a new medium in the Social Media Landscape, it's important to use a broad brush to create the diameters on this format. I suggest a broad brush so enough people have the opportunity to recognize and develop opinions of the format. As in many news stories, the facts are separated from the opinions, by the writer's slant. By stating the facts first, the reader will have a better read of what the situation might be. This is the best way to describe the marriage of the news and the internet. Readers have become spoiled and rely on news personalities for what they believe to be true. If voters don't vet our candidates, people like Donald Trump happen.
No mention of the movie's screenwriter William Goldman?? Redford just says, "The first draft didn't work, and the writer went on his way." "The writer"?? Goldman won an Oscar for his screenplay. His script's been published and it's available online, so anyone can read it. And if you do, you'll see it's very close to the finished film.
Yeah, you're correct in calling that out. That was Redford's somewhat selective memory on that aspect of the film. It may be fair to say that there was a _lot_ of rewriting and input from others, but in the end, we have Goldman to thank for the terrific screenplay as it was finally carved out.
I don't agree. I bought a copy of Goldman's published script, and what struck me was how UNLIKE the finished film it was. Goldman's dialogue for Ben Bradlee was relatively intact, but apart from that it comes across as a distant cousin to the motion picture that ultimately emerged.
This style of journalism doesn't exist anymore. There are no reporters interested in peeling the veneer off of stories today. They'd all just want to tow the line and get along. No balls anymore.
Where do you live... there are many who have balls.. Popular media is owned by the corrupt Forces .. so the courageous journalists are forced to write books... they do alternative media .. they do it and to many get murdered for it.. look up journalist and writers killed after 911..
What journalists no longer take advantage of anonymous tips designed to screw over the tipster's boss? Really? Because that's pretty much 90% of the "journalism" that's been mobilized against Donald Trump. Of course recently we found out that Obama had officials giving them information on their politicial opponents gained in wiretaps. The mainstream press pretty much ignored it.
I'm glad to hear that Redford in fact didn't want to play the role, and I fully agree with him the movie would have been much better with two lesser known actors. Redford's flashy appearance somehow disturbed the movie, even though I'm sure many female viewers won't agree. But gosh, Jason Robarts indeed was fantastic as Bradlee.
+Benoit Vanhees1 I get what you mean; I'm not sure I would've referred to his appearance as flashy, but, as Woodward's daughter (apparently) said, he certainly bore zero resemblance to the person he was portraying (I would've said the same thing about Hoffman until I saw a pic of Bernstein from the early 70's... Hoffman wasn't all that far off visually from the person he was portraying). On the other hand, Redford's was in many ways a fine performance; he does pull you in -- for example in scenes where it's just him on the phone, you really feel the journalist's desire to uncover the elusive truth, and the frustration when the real truth flickers within grasp and then seems to go dark. And as you mention, Robarts was fantastic.
***** It isn't Redford's performance as such that is disturbing for sure. In itself, he does a good job, even if I liked him even more in Three days of the Condor. I also understand it is not always easy to find a lookalike who also can act to do JFK, REFK, Hitler, Heydrich or Woodward. With flashy I don't just mean that little bit too good looking to match with a more average guy as Woodward, but especially the way he talks. Redford talks like Redford, not like Woodward. Even in these interviews, you clearly can hear that Woodward was much stronger with the pen than behind a mike. Sometimes I almost start believing he has some speech disability, because he's speaking very slowly, as if to make sure he won't start stammering. But it also could be he's really thinking extremely hard while talking, making sure every word has been weighted on a gold balance, I don't know. So, I miss that part, and maybe some of the mannerisms of Woodward. Let me illustrate with another example to clarify: Anthony Hopkins looks but so-so like Nixon, but gosh, he captured the mannerisms and to a certainly satisfying level the odd way of talking of that doomed US president in 1995. Or that German actor who portrayed Hitler in Der Untergang ! It's that what I'm a bit missing in the otherwise very entertaining All the president's men. I also didn't really reckognized James Dean III in Martin Sheen's acting in the rather difficult to find Blind Ambition. And which actors could capture the essence of characters such as Ehrlichman and Haldeman, not an easy job at all....
Benoit Vanhees Yeah, those are good points. And yes Hoffman did copy some things about Bernstein, and certainly Robards really went for it in terms of inhabiting the physicality of Bradlee (it's funny in the interview where they mention that Bradlee, after the movie, supposedly went the other direction, grabbing some of the ticks that Robards invented for his performance) -- but Bradlee, at least within that industry and the Washington scene, was somewhat of a known quantity in Spring of 1975 when the movie began shooting. Very very few people had much of a sense of the personalities and physicality of Woodward & Bernstein back then, so in that respect Redford knew that wouldn't be an expectation, and it's also a really good idea to know your own limitations as well -- only the good ones get that. Redford had never intended to star in the movie, and may have decided if he tried to imitate Woodward, it might have come off as false-feeling. Having said all of the above, I agree it would've been awesome, as a viewer today where many of us have watched Woodward & Bernstein interviewed countless times, we could watch this movie and see some brilliant invocations of their true personas, ticks, mannerisms and all of that.
***** :) Yes, that part of Bradley starting to act Robard-ish was funny indeed. Also funny was the reaction of Bradlee, who had been looking at the movie while leaning backwards, with his fingers crossed behind his head, and suddenly saw Robarts doing exactly the same :0) It was as if a wasp had used its sting on him...
What the heck this camera man doing filming from way back. When the camera is filming all the way from the back stage, we can not see anything at all. Is he crazy or stupid?
Perhaps the idea is to give us a sense of the ambience of the room, of being an audience member, and of seeing their reactions? If so I think it was overdone, particularly at first when what we really want to see is these famous people who have just come onstage.
+8091pinewood - Dustin Hofmann was not involved in the film to the degree Redford was. It was Redford who bought the film rights to the book before it had even been written. He changed it from a book about Watergate to a book about Woodward's and Bernstein's investigation and reporting of it. Redford also produced the film.
I assume it was already quite difficult to get 3 of the key players together. Furthermore, Redford is there because he came up with the idea of the movie, not as one of the lead actors. Note by the way he in fact didn't want to be in the movie...
This is even more interesting in view of the past 4 years of an apparently dishonest and greedy American president who severely discredited journalism. And yet despite knowing a lot of the truth (as Robert Redford says) perhaps, such a presidency was still allowed to happen. History repeating itself, certainly, and in light of Trump, is it condemned to continue doing so?
No reason for him to be there. Just the two journalists and the person who came up with the idea of the movie. Redford isn't there as one of the lead actors, but as the man with the idea. Dustin hadn't anything to do with those initial discussions.
Woodward is the master of equivocation, the guru of the non-answer, a doubter who, in that slow drawl, is formulating a response to the question which says nothing. Bernstein on the other hand is a believer, he assimilates the information, cogitates & opines not fearful of being wrong. Unlike Woodward who dances on the head of a pin, Bernstein uses the entire stage. That is why I find interviews with Woodward boring & uninformative. Trump is not a complex man, unlike Nixon (who was smart, intellectual, ambitious, corrupt & paranoid, the "end justifies the means", type of guy) he is an amalgam of reactions & responses which is self protective, he never thinks deeply just self preservation, and self gratification. He is aggressively protective & enormously greedy, those are his fundamental instincts. He has learnt from his mentors, his father & Roy Cohen that you attack & relentlessly anything you suspect will hurt you, deny your adversary any quarter because if they gain a foothold in your territory you will be fighting a rearguard action. Greed is his motivation whether it be money, possessions, women or relationships. Power through Fear is what makes these two facets of his personality possible. That is why Trump is dangerous. People worry to retain power he could hold onto power either by preventing an election or refusing to abide by the results if he lost. He will never leave, he will try remaining relevant by constantly interfering with his successor, if he allows one.
But there are so many instances in this interview and others that Woodward is not vacillating but is clear cut. I'm not sure that I agree with you. Check at 1:13:20 .
What Woodward and Bernstein fail to mention here (and in so many other similar venues) is that Reagan was worse than Nixon, and Cheney-Bush worse than Reagan, and that Ford too was a terrible president, he and Kissinger green-lighting Indonesia's genocide against East Timor. Ford's pardon of Nixon was and remains unpardonable. If Nixon had been rotting in prison, where he belonged, we might not have had the lies, crimes, and betrayals of Reagan; and if Reagan and Bush Sr. had been rotting in prison, we might not have had the lies, crimes and coup d'etat of Cheney-Bush; and if Cheney-Bush were rotting in prison for their lies, lawlessness, and crimes against humanity, we might not now be stuck with Trump and the Gingrichian triumph of sophistry. After Watergate, Kate Graham and Ben Bradlee thought the American people were too infantile to handle any more truth. So The Washington Post went back to business as usual, becoming, like the rest of the mainstream news media, lapdogs for the political sycophants of Wall Street's billionaire predators. Yes, this is an informative and highly entertaining video; but what it leaves unsaid is more tragic than the story it tells.
Watergate and political events like it are going on all the time. They just aren't discovered. Let's see what happens to Donald Trump. Will there be a Trump gate?
In the event, there were Impeachments. But they came to nothing. Trump was saved by the unquestioning loyalty of his political friends. I don’t see how Impeachment can possibly work. It’s a gang-culture, not real politics at all -or so it seems to me. That’s what happens where there is no generally accepted standard of honesty and conduct. In the early days of the Republic, those standards did exist. So it wasn’t so difficult. At least, that is my understanding.
Not in an irritating way, sometimes it's even quite funny. Quite something different than would it have been a debate between H Clinton and Palin, now that would have been a squabble match.
The motto is a little bit demagogue: "the core message of the film was not every man or woman are beyond the law." Interesting, what was about this principle, when for example Hillary Clinton had ordered execute the Libian leader Kadafi? The United States's foreign affairs mostly are beyond (international) law.
It is an open question as to whether Woodward and Bernstein had any effect whatsoever on events. All that was published by them was known to the lawyers working with the sitting grand jury investigating what is now called Watergate weeks in advance. In fact, Woodward and Bernstein only gained knowledge of the fact because it was known to the criminal investigators. There is not a single factual report to support the theory that those legal professionals would not do their job but for Woodward and Bernstein. In fact, the legal professionals vindicated their professionalism in the most spectacular. When Nixon fired the special prosecutor his attorney general and his assistant both resigned and the president of the ABA announced that the rule of law itself was at risk. Even the Assistant Attorney General charged by Nixon with monitoring the investigation and secretly reporting progress, as revealed on the Nixon tapes, told the president he could not make further reports after the first information implacating the president was discovered and ceased to make his daily reports. What we do know is that Woodward and Bernstein had a book deal to do a comprehensive account of Watergate, but after meeting with Robert Redford who told him he wanted an account based on the heroic doings of the Watergate reporters, Woodward and Bernstein cancelled the deal for the comprehensive account and wrote the account we are all familiar with--reporters as the only heroes in conflict with an evil government. Moreover, Woodward betrayed Mark Felt by publishing the fact that he existed and what information he provided. This publication alerted Nixon and those in his administration that Fine was involved in the leaks. According to Richard Kleindienst, who became Attorney General in 1972, he was informed on his appointment that Fine was deep throat, a dangerous mole in the justice department of questionable loyalty and so Kleindienst pushed him out. Fine was betrayed by Woodward because the later man needed to tell a compelling story. I state again that there is no evidence that the government would not have functioned just as it did with or without Woodward and Bernstein. I state again that they abandoned a project to set forth Watergate comprehensively before the public in favor of writing an account suitable to be filled with famous movies stars playing the journalist. Some heroes?
Everyone has his job to do in society. The judges are there to take the necessary juridical steps, journalists are there to keep the public informed about what they should be informed. Woodward & Bernstein and many other journalists just did that, and did it in such a way that not many journalists did until then. They set new standards, they kept the issue on the agenda, and contributed too in helping to find the rotten apples. I really don't understand why you don't give them the credit they deserve, based on the role the press has to play, not on whether with or without Woodward & Bernstein the political outcome would have been the same. That's to say the least an odd way of looking at things, I get the impression there's something really malevolent hidden in your comments, as if you have your own agenda.
Redford is why I hate Hollywood. He’s sitting there all smug acting like him making the movie about what Woodward and Bernstein did is as important as what Woodward and Bernstein ACTUALLY did!!
+Carlos Antonio V. Castellanos - We shouldn't talk about the Viet Nam War, either or WW2 or the Depression, because they happened decades ago? What a stupid comment. Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.
a wonderful discussion. Redford is a rare actor who can actually talk intelligently
I respect Robert Redford, Mr Bob Woodward, Mr Carl Bernstein great people , congratulations for the movie and the books 📚
Robert Redford impressed me enormously. He is very perceptive. Actors can often see into people’s hearts. They look for the truth.
These 2 guys had big guts. Love these 2 reporters. Heroes.
The first letters of the typewriter on white paper in the opening seconds sounding like gunshots are bookended with the last seconds of the film when the 21 gun salute of Nixon being sworn in and that sound is overtaken with the sound of typewriter keys. Brilliant
All the Presidents Men is one of my all-time favorite films....I've read the book many times and seen the film over 10 times! The film never gets old and is a fantastic depiction of one of the darkest times in our nation's history. Oh, wait! I take it back, I'll wait for the film about the January 6th insurrection.
I never thought of that. Do you think the film will ever be made? Perhaps it’s too soon.
Amazing on multiple levels.
Riveting. The final 15 minutes is must hear.
To hear the differences between 70s journalism / 70s American culture, as compared to todays ,and the effects of that dynamic explained by these 3 gentlemen is the best sourcing imaginable.
Bernsteins 3 minutea on it was stunning.
Bravo. Thank you.
These are the types of journalists i grew up used to, not todays journalism, (copy& paste jobs) i also adore Redford watched all his films.
For some presidential legacies i'd pay cold hard cash to see a blockbuster movie about. Lol
Thanks, LBJ Library. Beautiful.
I remember watching the hearings over the course of summer break. I was intrigued even then. Still am.
Redford's instincts on this were absolutely right. The process of the story and how Woodward and Bernstein got to it WAS the story. And that is interesting. Redford KNOWS where the story is when so many Hollywood executives simply don't understand where the interest lies.
I'm a big fan of Redford's politically-inspired movies, ATPM, The Candidate, Three Days of the Condor and also of Lions for Lambs and The Conspirator. IMO the best of that bunch is The Candidate, such an honest and brave movie. I wish he had made more like that.
Cris Guia Redford is a fine man. He never played that Hollywood game.
Carl Bernstein sums it up well on how this country regressed, both politically, and journalistically.
Fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing! Woodward and Bernstein are American Heroes!
Redford is now in his 80s! A great actor/producer and not just a handsome hunk!
I am not American, but I like the image of the USA these gentlemen delivered here. I think that this kind of citizens are the ones that can let the rest of the world know about people in this country rather than governments. That would certainly contribute to peace in the world as it was seen by president Kennedy. If only we could know all the truth about his assassination ...
It was a great movie.
And I love all three people in stage, with all my heart.
I saw this movie when I was in Iran, the country under the Shah, as a young employee of IBM.
I had seen "Three days of Candor" a couple of years before, and admired Robert already.
This movie, "All the Presidents men" , reminded me of that one.
I already knew that the Shah of Iran was continuously putting down all the opposition groups with brutality, and was admiring the freedom of the press in the USA, that allowed to journalists, and a newspaper, bring down the presidency of the United States.
No one n Iran would have even dared to think about such thing,
Of course two years later, the Shah was overthrown and went into exile and died a year after that.
Thanks all of you guys for giving us the courage to say no to autocracy.
This is a profound piece! Shocked I never spotted it before! What Redford said: "America seems to be a country that doesn't learn from its past mistakes because it's not interested." (slightly paraphrased). Maybe that's why solid objective journalism today is dead.
There is good journalism today by veey smart people. Rachel Maddow...Ari Melbor..Ronan Farrow..and many others who fight for the truth and expose the craziness of others with moral compass. It is ashame tho of the decline of newpapees and traditional journalism. The atlantic and New York magazines still have many important pieces. It is hard to navigate if you get on the wrong side of what can be believed and what is outrageously false and opinionated. Journalism shout continued as " Facts without ooinion" and big money and ideologies have brought us to a dangerous world. Its seems we also have been manipulated by our global adversaries.
Robert Redford really seems to have shown a keen interest in Investigative Journalism. He also went on to play one in Up, Close and Personal. I don't think he is too old to play Bob Woodward again should there ever be a need to film one of his other books.
every reporter in the world should watch it. i know i'll watch it many more times -- and refer it to others!
They were really young when this happened too. Interesting and very familiar to current day politics.. "America doesn't seem to learn from it's own history!" says Bob. Man, he's really said a mouthful! Gotta go watch the movie again now. Wow, Carl is so prophetic re: the news.
That was a great movie.
There are many videos that look back on Watergate and, "All The President's Men." This is the finest I've seen as it clearly demonstrates the partnership of Woodward & Bernstein in what it actually is in conjunction with the screen adaptation of their reporting in The Washington Post. Robert Redford discusses his, "obsession" with Watergate and the creative desire to make the film. Interesting to observe how the reporters and a film actor found a way to come together and eventually find a mutual respect for one another in their individual fields of expertise as well as a desire to tell the truth. The film and the events of Watergate continue to fascinate me. Though many may feel that these events are purely for the history books, we can still learn a lot from the way people sought the truth and apply it to these troubled times.
Interesting comments, and very true.
Richard Newall qq
Just came across this video and really enjoyed it. Thank you.
Wow. What a great discussion of a great movie by the principals involved. The sad truth is, as Carl Berstein inferred, the "news' has become so cacophonous & polemic that not only would the shenanigans of Watergate not even raise an eyebrow if perpetrated today (which more than likely has been 100 times over), but most of us would bring an idealogical subjectivity to it as a result of watching "news" that (in Berstein's words) " is information"..."intended to confirm what we already believe."
I'd always wondered why Mrs. Graham wasn't in the movie, never knew that it was her decision not to be depicted. Would have been interesting to see Geraldine Page portray her. Beatrice Straight also could have played her.
After watching this, I'm convinced that a great movie would be about the making of this movie
Actually maybe a play about it first, then a movie down the line at some point later. Like other recent plays, e.g. "Frost-Nixon", "The Kings Speech", etc...
Like a wheel within a wheel, or like those surrealistic paintings of a painter painting a painter painting a painter painting etc etc. Why, are you applying for the job of playing Redford ?
“All the Presidents Men Revisited” is an 1hr30min doc special made for the 40th anniversary - - highly recommend
Thanks for this. I've watched this many times. It has been so enjoyable listening to their discussion. I love stuff like this and it is great to listen to intelligent conversations especially when I have no one to discuss anything with. It almost feels like being at the event. Love RUclips for watching lectures and events like this.
Three fascinating men.
Outstanding. Many thanks from this Chicagoan
Interesting, at 47-49 minutes, where Redford describes the 17-18 seconds of a blank screen; ironically chimes with 18 minutes missing from one of the Watergate Tapes!
1:12:55 or so. I get this. Even when I was a kid my parents explained that Nixon's pardon was really the best thing for our nation. Now, I'm in the military and have served in nations that have jailed their heads of state, particularly, Egypt and Korea. After seeing that and talking with many folks from those countries, I think that President Ford took the tough high road in my humble opinion. Like a lot of others have, I've watched all that I could on Watergate. This is the best presentation I've seen to date. It's hard to imagine how W&B felt along with just a few others in the know. Must've felt like the weight of the world!A highly intriguing video and nearly as good as the movie that ranks as one of the very best I've ever seen. I did not know that the actual investigation and the idea of an eventual movie were all happening at the same time. Amazing pieces of history here!
One of my very favorite movies, and a movie that will always apply to American society and culture.
Yup, can watch it over and over. A super talented cast and writing!
Woodward & Bernstein were fed by a leaker. (Deep throat) All they really did was report it. They were made hero's by Hollywood. Today Woodward & Bernstein are Communist working for CNN to overthrow our beloved Constitution
It’s pure fiction and part of the Lefts propaganda campaign of distraction. Assistant FBI director Mark Felt ( deep throat) was a butthurt criminal leaker with an agenda and a vendetta who played those two clowns, Woodward and Bernstein as well as the Wapo like fiddles. Ben Bradlee saw no wrong in his buddies JFK and RFK wire-tapping MlK and blatantly abusing executive authority and wiping their butts with the Constitution in hounding their opponents with the DOJ and FBI, yet Nixon, who never knew about the Watergate break-in got treated 100x worse than Stalin or Mao by the US press.
I would love to see the three of them reconvene for a new discussion now just before the 2020 election...
'That book' reads like a typewriter hammering it out.
From the burglary the BBC Radio put out an almost daily bulletin. Then it became more than a bulletin. I used an earpiece every morning as I walked the dog.
This is as relevant as it ever has been.
I concur...and you are cute
No man or woman, in America, is above the law.
Thanks for the upload! It's great to watch informative discussions like this. I just wish RR had made other movies like ATPM.
I do wish Dustin Hoffman had joined them as well. Has he done so at all?
In the end, Nixon had the two redeeming qualities Trump does not have - a sense of personal shame and an authentic love for his country. How noble Nixon’s resignation now appears when compared to a president who refuses to concede an election loss, even at the risk of destroying the republic.
The expansive press room of the Wash. Post was re-created as a set down to the wastebaskets, the typewriters, paperwork all over, the lighting, on and on. Workers schmoozing, talking in the background,etc. Check out the haircuts and the threads! All that polyester!
History seems to be repeating itself!
@Todd Schneck It is and has been for a while. Woodward & Bernstein brought down a President with jotter pad, pencil, typewriter and landline telephone. Today journalists have the internet with instant global reach and smartphone technology......the US badly needs another Bernstein & Woodward.
And with the same party. Why? Strange? No man or woman is above the LAW.
Karma , bad history shd be buried, The ppl of Lydda& Sharon were surprised tht Aeneus became alive by the Holy Spirit with Peter’s mighty healing Powers ,Take Good messages such,ByThe Way, im a Methodist
Yes, listening this morning to an NPR piece w Amish Alcindor interviews with folks on inside of Trump's last months in office , after election defeat
So similar in each presidents belief in an imperial presidency and how hard each pushed their staff and military to keep the illusion of their sanity and control
Carl Bernstein nail it. Would we hear what Bob and Carl has to say or would we switch over to our pet stations confirming our prejudices?
A terrific picture. Definitely one of my favorite of all times. Thanks for uploading the conference! It just bothers me that Redford (who I admire much) keeps talking as if he directed the picture and not the great Alan Pakula.
Redford was a producer on the film. Without him, no film.
John Vargo And besides that, Pakula, at this moment, already died.
In would Like to know what Robert Redford think about the current situation in June 2020, with the Bunkerboy.
Does he think it is a much bigger story than Nixon?
Or our democracy is under THREAT?.
What about the forgotten Impeachment, with all the evidence?
Does the rule of law still apply in the USA today? From afar it seems that the U SA is corrupt to the core.
why did nora ephrom marry carl???maybe love has no looking glass or filter???but he cheated on her and she made it gold in the book heartburn
33:00 scene w the book keeper is real
is history now going to repeat itself with even 'deeper throat' characters! YIKES
Superb. 1:13:20 is significant.
SOMEONE CALL REDFORD AND ASK HIM TO PLEASE PLEASE GET SOMEONE GOING ON TRUMP & CO THANK YOU
And you are okay with Hillary Clinton stealing and destroying public and classified documents, and the FBI giving her a pass? Your selective interest in justice ignores the critical balance of power and our Constitution. You wrote this a year ago, before top FBI and DoJ officials were fired.
Wow! Can you imagine what they’d get on PINOCCHIO BIDEN today? Who knows, when the dust settles on this historic fraud, a movie will be made and the stars will be the true news reporters.
Have a good day.
The Internet: as a new medium in the Social Media Landscape, it's important to use a broad brush to create the diameters on this format. I suggest a broad brush so enough people have the opportunity to recognize and develop opinions of the format. As in many news stories, the facts are separated from the opinions, by the writer's slant. By stating the facts first, the reader will have a better read of what the situation might be.
This is the best way to describe the marriage of the news and the internet. Readers have become spoiled and rely on news personalities for what they believe to be true. If voters don't vet our candidates, people like Donald Trump happen.
All these old men with these young kids
No mention of the movie's screenwriter William Goldman?? Redford just says, "The first draft didn't work, and the writer went on his way."
"The writer"??
Goldman won an Oscar for his screenplay. His script's been published and it's available online, so anyone can read it. And if you do, you'll see it's very close to the finished film.
Yeah, you're correct in calling that out. That was Redford's somewhat selective memory on that aspect of the film. It may be fair to say that there was a _lot_ of rewriting and input from others, but in the end, we have Goldman to thank for the terrific screenplay as it was finally carved out.
I don't agree. I bought a copy of Goldman's published script, and what struck me was how UNLIKE the finished film it was. Goldman's dialogue for Ben Bradlee was relatively intact, but apart from that it comes across as a distant cousin to the motion picture that ultimately emerged.
31:00 wow what a crazy story
This style of journalism doesn't exist anymore. There are no reporters interested in peeling the veneer off of stories today. They'd all just want to tow the line and get along. No balls anymore.
Where do you live... there are many who have balls.. Popular media is owned by the corrupt Forces .. so the courageous journalists are forced to write books... they do alternative media .. they do it and to many get murdered for it.. look up journalist and writers killed after 911..
What journalists no longer take advantage of anonymous tips designed to screw over the tipster's boss? Really? Because that's pretty much 90% of the "journalism" that's been mobilized against Donald Trump. Of course recently we found out that Obama had officials giving them information on their politicial opponents gained in wiretaps. The mainstream press pretty much ignored it.
I'm glad to hear that Redford in fact didn't want to play the role, and I fully agree with him the movie would have been much better with two lesser known actors. Redford's flashy appearance somehow disturbed the movie, even though I'm sure many female viewers won't agree. But gosh, Jason Robarts indeed was fantastic as Bradlee.
+Benoit Vanhees1 I get what you mean; I'm not sure I would've referred to his appearance as flashy, but, as Woodward's daughter (apparently) said, he certainly bore zero resemblance to the person he was portraying (I would've said the same thing about Hoffman until I saw a pic of Bernstein from the early 70's... Hoffman wasn't all that far off visually from the person he was portraying). On the other hand, Redford's was in many ways a fine performance; he does pull you in -- for example in scenes where it's just him on the phone, you really feel the journalist's desire to uncover the elusive truth, and the frustration when the real truth flickers within grasp and then seems to go dark. And as you mention, Robarts was fantastic.
***** It isn't Redford's performance as such that is disturbing for sure. In itself, he does a good job, even if I liked him even more in Three days of the Condor. I also understand it is not always easy to find a lookalike who also can act to do JFK, REFK, Hitler, Heydrich or Woodward. With flashy I don't just mean that little bit too good looking to match with a more average guy as Woodward, but especially the way he talks. Redford talks like Redford, not like Woodward. Even in these interviews, you clearly can hear that Woodward was much stronger with the pen than behind a mike. Sometimes I almost start believing he has some speech disability, because he's speaking very slowly, as if to make sure he won't start stammering. But it also could be he's really thinking extremely hard while talking, making sure every word has been weighted on a gold balance, I don't know. So, I miss that part, and maybe some of the mannerisms of Woodward. Let me illustrate with another example to clarify: Anthony Hopkins looks but so-so like Nixon, but gosh, he captured the mannerisms and to a certainly satisfying level the odd way of talking of that doomed US president in 1995. Or that German actor who portrayed Hitler in Der Untergang ! It's that what I'm a bit missing in the otherwise very entertaining All the president's men. I also didn't really reckognized James Dean III in Martin Sheen's acting in the rather difficult to find Blind Ambition. And which actors could capture the essence of characters such as Ehrlichman and Haldeman, not an easy job at all....
Benoit Vanhees Yeah, those are good points. And yes Hoffman did copy some things about Bernstein, and certainly Robards really went for it in terms of inhabiting the physicality of Bradlee (it's funny in the interview where they mention that Bradlee, after the movie, supposedly went the other direction, grabbing some of the ticks that Robards invented for his performance) -- but Bradlee, at least within that industry and the Washington scene, was somewhat of a known quantity in Spring of 1975 when the movie began shooting. Very very few people had much of a sense of the personalities and physicality of Woodward & Bernstein back then, so in that respect Redford knew that wouldn't be an expectation, and it's also a really good idea to know your own limitations as well -- only the good ones get that. Redford had never intended to star in the movie, and may have decided if he tried to imitate Woodward, it might have come off as false-feeling. Having said all of the above, I agree it would've been awesome, as a viewer today where many of us have watched Woodward & Bernstein interviewed countless times, we could watch this movie and see some brilliant invocations of their true personas, ticks, mannerisms and all of that.
***** :) Yes, that part of Bradley starting to act Robard-ish was funny indeed. Also funny was the reaction of Bradlee, who had been looking at the movie while leaning backwards, with his fingers crossed behind his head, and suddenly saw Robarts doing exactly the same :0) It was as if a wasp had used its sting on him...
Benoit Vanhees
I LOVE THIS MOVIE AND I HATE POLITICS,,,LOL
35:00 “they were determined to bury this newspaper”
Why was this movie (special edition), released in mono?
THANK YOU LORD FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AS WASHINGTON POST & NY TIMES IS LEADING US TODAY W. TRUMP
and then came bone spur
Said Trump ....no impeachment here, thanks Mitch.
Good intro 1:30
#WeWhoDreamOfBetter
CHUMP’s strategy, to a tee. . . LOCK HIM UP!!!!!
Nixon and Trump, who always put themselves before other people(our country) . 💥🙏
Where's Dustin?
What the heck this camera man doing filming from way back.
When the camera is filming all the way from the back stage, we can not see anything at all.
Is he crazy or stupid?
Perhaps the idea is to give us a sense of the ambience of the room, of being an audience member, and of seeing their reactions? If so I think it was overdone, particularly at first when what we really want to see is these famous people who have just come onstage.
Why isn't Dustin Hoffman there to ?
+8091pinewood - Dustin Hofmann was not involved in the film to the degree Redford was. It was Redford who bought the film rights to the book before it had even been written. He changed it from a book about Watergate to a book about Woodward's and Bernstein's investigation and reporting of it. Redford also produced the film.
I assume it was already quite difficult to get 3 of the key players together. Furthermore, Redford is there because he came up with the idea of the movie, not as one of the lead actors. Note by the way he in fact didn't want to be in the movie...
This is even more interesting in view of the past 4 years of an apparently dishonest and greedy American president who severely discredited journalism. And yet despite knowing a lot of the truth (as Robert Redford says) perhaps, such a presidency was still allowed to happen. History repeating itself, certainly, and in light of Trump, is it condemned to continue doing so?
nice!
where is Dustin Hoffman?
No reason for him to be there. Just the two journalists and the person who came up with the idea of the movie. Redford isn't there as one of the lead actors, but as the man with the idea. Dustin hadn't anything to do with those initial discussions.
MY QUESTION TOO
redford's one of the producers, that's why...
Woodward is the master of equivocation, the guru of the non-answer, a doubter who, in that slow drawl, is formulating a response to the question which says nothing. Bernstein on the other hand is a believer, he assimilates the information, cogitates & opines not fearful of being wrong. Unlike Woodward who dances on the head of a pin, Bernstein uses the entire stage. That is why I find interviews with Woodward boring & uninformative. Trump is not a complex man, unlike Nixon (who was smart, intellectual, ambitious, corrupt & paranoid, the "end justifies the means", type of guy) he is an amalgam of reactions & responses which is self protective, he never thinks deeply just self preservation, and self gratification. He is aggressively protective & enormously greedy, those are his fundamental instincts. He has learnt from his mentors, his father & Roy Cohen that you attack & relentlessly anything you suspect will hurt you, deny your adversary any quarter because if they gain a foothold in your territory you will be fighting a rearguard action. Greed is his motivation whether it be money, possessions, women or relationships. Power through Fear is what makes these two facets of his personality possible. That is why Trump is dangerous. People worry to retain power he could hold onto power either by preventing an election or refusing to abide by the results if he lost. He will never leave, he will try remaining relevant by constantly interfering with his successor, if he allows one.
But there are so many instances in this interview and others that Woodward is not vacillating but is clear cut.
I'm not sure that I agree with you. Check at 1:13:20 .
How right you were - unfortunately.
Deep Throat were are you when we need you ?
And they know IKnow
No one is above the law - except Trump.
What Woodward and Bernstein fail to mention here (and in so many other similar venues) is that Reagan was worse than Nixon, and Cheney-Bush worse than Reagan, and that Ford too was a terrible president, he and Kissinger green-lighting Indonesia's genocide against East Timor. Ford's pardon of Nixon was and remains unpardonable. If Nixon had been rotting in prison, where he belonged, we might not have had the lies, crimes, and betrayals of Reagan; and if Reagan and Bush Sr. had been rotting in prison, we might not have had the lies, crimes and coup d'etat of Cheney-Bush; and if Cheney-Bush were rotting in prison for their lies, lawlessness, and crimes against humanity, we might not now be stuck with Trump and the Gingrichian triumph of sophistry. After Watergate, Kate Graham and Ben Bradlee thought the American people were too infantile to handle any more truth. So The Washington Post went back to business as usual, becoming, like the rest of the mainstream news media, lapdogs for the political sycophants of Wall Street's billionaire predators. Yes, this is an informative and highly entertaining video; but what it leaves unsaid is more tragic than the story it tells.
Watergate and political events like it are going on all the time. They just aren't discovered. Let's see what happens to Donald Trump. Will there be a Trump gate?
In the event, there were Impeachments. But they came to nothing. Trump was saved by the unquestioning loyalty of his political friends. I don’t see how Impeachment can possibly work. It’s a gang-culture, not real politics at all -or so it seems to me. That’s what happens where there is no generally accepted standard of honesty and conduct. In the early days of the Republic, those standards did exist. So it wasn’t so difficult. At least, that is my understanding.
Is someone going to answer that question?
They keep interrupting each other.
Not in an irritating way, sometimes it's even quite funny. Quite something different than would it have been a debate between H Clinton and Palin, now that would have been a squabble match.
The motto is a little bit demagogue: "the core message of the film was not every man or woman are beyond the law." Interesting, what was about this principle, when for example Hillary Clinton had ordered execute the Libian leader Kadafi? The United States's foreign affairs mostly are beyond (international) law.
It is an open question as to whether Woodward and Bernstein had any effect whatsoever on events. All that was published by them was known to the lawyers working with the sitting grand jury investigating what is now called Watergate weeks in advance. In fact, Woodward and Bernstein only gained knowledge of the fact because it was known to the criminal investigators. There is not a single factual report to support the theory that those legal professionals would not do their job but for Woodward and Bernstein. In fact, the legal professionals vindicated their professionalism in the most spectacular. When Nixon fired the special prosecutor his attorney general and his assistant both resigned and the president of the ABA announced that the rule of law itself was at risk. Even the Assistant Attorney General charged by Nixon with monitoring the investigation and secretly reporting progress, as revealed on the Nixon tapes, told the president he could not make further reports after the first information implacating the president was discovered and ceased to make his daily reports.
What we do know is that Woodward and Bernstein had a book deal to do a comprehensive account of Watergate, but after meeting with Robert Redford who told him he wanted an account based on the heroic doings of the Watergate reporters, Woodward and Bernstein cancelled the deal for the comprehensive account and wrote the account we are all familiar with--reporters as the only heroes in conflict with an evil government. Moreover, Woodward betrayed Mark Felt by publishing the fact that he existed and what information he provided. This publication alerted Nixon and those in his administration that Fine was involved in the leaks. According to Richard Kleindienst, who became Attorney General in 1972, he was informed on his appointment that Fine was deep throat, a dangerous mole in the justice department of questionable loyalty and so Kleindienst pushed him out. Fine was betrayed by Woodward because the later man needed to tell a compelling story.
I state again that there is no evidence that the government would not have functioned just as it did with or without Woodward and Bernstein. I state again that they abandoned a project to set forth Watergate comprehensively before the public in favor of writing an account suitable to be filled with famous movies stars playing the journalist.
Some heroes?
Everyone has his job to do in society. The judges are there to take the necessary juridical steps, journalists are there to keep the public informed about what they should be informed. Woodward & Bernstein and many other journalists just did that, and did it in such a way that not many journalists did until then. They set new standards, they kept the issue on the agenda, and contributed too in helping to find the rotten apples. I really don't understand why you don't give them the credit they deserve, based on the role the press has to play, not on whether with or without Woodward & Bernstein the political outcome would have been the same. That's to say the least an odd way of looking at things, I get the impression there's something really malevolent hidden in your comments, as if you have your own agenda.
hard to watch this without playing Trump Bingo to see the exact same tactics
I know
American politics in 2012 to 2016 watches this documentary and says - HOLD. MY. BEER.....
Sick Nixon.
Redford is why I hate Hollywood. He’s sitting there all smug acting like him making the movie about what Woodward and Bernstein did is as important as what Woodward and Bernstein ACTUALLY did!!
Without his input as a Director/Producer, starring role, finances a very dull break in made it a mega earner! Less of your nasty vitriol!
lol
The legacy of the Watergate scandal is almost over the president of USA resinged more than 40 years from now. The movement is over.
+Carlos Antonio V. Castellanos - We shouldn't talk about the Viet Nam War, either or WW2 or the Depression, because they happened decades ago? What a stupid comment. Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.
Too bad he pronounced his own name wrong, and a journalist should know better. It's burnSTINE, just like the famous composer Leonard.
I always thought that it was ‘ steen’ in the US, and ‘stine ‘ in Europe. Am I right ?
Bernstein is a prime example of how objective journalism is no more. He is delusional, and irritating as hell.
It's tragic that something as important as this should have such illiterate and error-filled subtitles.
Bob Woodward looks like Lewis Black. LOL Some familiar mannerisms as well.
F4