How the truth gets out – “All the President’s Men,” now on 4K
- Bill Kelley III
- 23 hours ago
- 6 min read
4K ULTRA HD REVIEW / HDR SCREENSHOTS
Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) use a typewriter to communicate with each other, since Woodward was told by his source ‘Deep Throat’ that their lives were in danger and that his apartment was more likely bugged and wiretapped.
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“ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN: 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION”
4K Ultra HD; 1976; PG for profanity; Digital copy via Amazon Prime Video (4K), Apple TV (4K), DirecTV (4K), Fandango Home (4K), Microsoft Movies (4K), Verizon (4K), Xfinity (4K)
Best extra: Fantastic carryover documentary “Telling the Truth About Lies: The Making-of” with interviews from journalists Walter Cronkite, Ben Bradlee, Carl Bernstein, and Bob Woodward
THE LATE actor/producer Robert Redford (“The Sting,” “Three Days of the Condor”) was captivated from the beginning with possibly the greatest crime in American politics. He had just finished the political drama “The Candidate” (1972) and was out promoting the film, and kept asking reporters why The Washington Post was the only newspaper reporting on the recent break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters inside the Watergate complex.
By the fall of ‘72, President Richard M. Nixon was reelected in a landslide, but the Watergate scandal continued to develop with as many twists and turns as a spy novel by John le Carrè and was ultimately responsible for the resignation of the 37th President of the United States. It also caused the indictment, trial, conviction, and imprisonment of several key political officials.
(1&2) Four Cuban-Americans and one former C.I.A. operative were arrested by undercover D.C. cops inside the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate complex. (3&4) Woodard is assigned to the Saturday morning arraignment of the five men. (5) Woodard returns to the newsroom and left, local news editor Harry Rosenfeld (Jack Warden) questions Woodard on the facts he discovered at the courthouse.
EXTRAS
The 4K disc includes six documentaries and featurettes.
“Telling the Truth About Lies: The Making-of” (28 mins., 2006) is still the best, narrated by co-star Hal Holbrook, who plays ‘Deep Throat.’ Redford details his passion to tell the Watergate story. He had his own ideas about creating the script, wanting to concentrate on the experiences of journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, whose work unraveled the Watergate cover-up and earned The Washington Post two Pulitzer Prizes in 1973; the book by Bernstein and Woodward was published in 1974. “It showed these two guys at the lowest rung of the professional ladder ... leading to the take-down of the highest office in the land,” Redford says.
Less than a year after Nixon’s resignation, Redford and crew started filming in Washington D.C. – where Dustin Hoffman (Bernstein) and Redford (Woodward) spent months shadowing the journalists. Originally, they wanted to film in The Washington Post newsroom, but everyone there had become star-struck. So, they packed up all they could – including the trash – and reconstructed a $450,000 replica on two Warner Bros. soundstages.
“Out of the Shadows” (16 mins.) highlights the life of W. Mark Felt, the whistleblower known as ‘Deep Throat,’ who, at age 91, admitted his role as Woodward’s famous source. You’ll learn about Felt’s F.B.I career, begun after Pearl Harbor, in which he quickly became a spy hunter and, eventually, moved up the ranks as a button-down Hooverite.
“Woodward and Bernstein: Lighting the Fire” (18 mins.) reveals how their investigation inspired a generation of journalists. It all started Saturday morning, June 17, 1972, when Woodward was called to the D.C. courthouse for the arraignment of four Cuban-Americans and one former C.I.A. operative.
“Dinah! with Jason Robards” (7 mins.), the 1976 daytime TV interview between host Dinah Shore and Robards, who plays Washington Post Editor-in-Chief Ben Bradlee.
NEW featurettes “All the President’s Men: The Film and its Influence” (7 mins.) and “Woodard and Bernstein: A Journalism Masterclass” (7 mins.) both feature comments from CNN anchor and Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash and CNN anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper with remastered clips inserted.
(1&2) Woodard meets ‘Deep Throat’ (Hal Holbrook) for the first time at the basement level of a parking garage. (3) Bernstein gets vital information about a $25,000 check that had made its way into one of the burglar’s accounts in Mexico City. (4) Woodard asks Bernstein if there’s not a place he doesn’t smoke as they enter the newspaper’s elevator.
Missing bonus features:
35th Anniversary Redford commentary track, where he recalls his collaboration with director Alan J. Pakula and their decision to keep most of the docudrama in deep shadow to emphasize the conspiracy while highlighting the newsroom to emphasize the truth – how it was tracked down and made known to the public.
“The 35th Anniversary Digibook” which housed a 36-page book with a Nixon and Watergate timeline, production photographs, brief insider stories, bios and the movie’s Oscar count with eight nominations and four golden statues for Best Supporting Actor for Robards, Best Screenplay by William Goldman (“The Princess Bride,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”) Art Direction and Sound.
40th Anniversary documentary “All the President’s Men Revisited” (87 mins.) which opens with raw footage of President Nixon preparing to announce his resignation from the Oval Office on the evening of August 8, 1974.
VIDEO
Warner doesn’t provide any details within its 50th anniversary press release, but the onscreen results clearly show this 4K restoration is top-notch. Obviously, they scanned the original 35mm open matte camera negative in 4K or possibly higher at 8K. The framing has been matted to the theatrical 1.85:1 aspect, while the previous Blu-ray was 1.78:1.
The 4K/HDR10 and Dolby Vision imagery provides a more balanced contrast level, especially the midtones and shadows, which were blocked up and too dark on the Blu-ray. And, the film grain is tighter, more organic and pronounced, especially during night scenes with its larger grain. It’s not a mistake, just a byproduct of minimal lighting and ‘70s film stock with longer photochemical development time to get an acceptable image.
The color palette is dialed correctly with saturated reds and greens and natural facial toning.
AUDIO
The original Mono has been upgraded to a two-track uncompressed DTS-HD soundtrack. The sound effects of the newsroom: typewriters, wire service teletype machines, TV newscasts, and the conversation of dozens of employees make up the majority of the soundtrack. Composer David Shire’s original score, with an excellent theme, was stripped down to just a few minutes of on-screen time, a request by Redford. The straightforward dialogue never gets lost and is pumped from the center speaker.
In today’s world of misinformation, this history lesson shouldn’t be missed – especially if you’re an aspiring journalist.
— Bill Kelley III, High-Def Watch producer
(1&2) Woodard and Bernstein continue to investigate different leads into the Watergate cover-up. (3&4) The two journalists started knocking on the doors of employees who worked at the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP). They question Betty Milland (Valerie Curtin) about the shredding of documents, and she said that Attorney General John Mitchell was present during one incident. Bernstein quizzes Hugh Sloan’s bookkeeper (Jane Alexander), who worked for Maurice Stans in Finance. (5) Bernstein, Woodard, Managing Editor Howard Simons (Martin Balsam), and Editor-in-Chief Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards) watch the CBS Evening News with Walt Cronkite, which quotes Watergate reporting from Woodard and Bernstein. (6&7) The two wake up Bradlee and tell him they aren’t safe and that his home could be bugged.
SPECS:
100 GB disc
TRUE 4K mastering
Captured on 35mm film stock in the open matte, but framed at the theatrical 1.85:1 aspect.
Video bitrate: Varies from the low 40 Megabits per second to the upper 90 Mbps, with a running time of 138 minutes.
HDR10 maximum light level: 663 nits
Max frame average light level: 94 nits
Budget: Domestic box office $70 million, with a production budget of $7.5 million.
Awards: Eight Academy Award nominations and winner of four golden statues.
National Board of Review: Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Top Ten films.
National Film Registry: 2010 winner
Rotten Tomatoes: Top Critics’ 79 percent, Moviegoers 92 percent.
The Hollywood Reporter – Top 20 Best Political Movies – rated No. 2, right behind “The Conversation.”
Rolling Stone – 20 Best Political Movies – rated No. 1
American Film Institute’s 100 Years... 100 Movies 10th Anniversary Edition - The Greatest American Movies of All Time: No. 77