ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN

With a story as big as this, a scandal that brought down a US President, did the studio really need to cast such big stars as Redford and Hoffman to play the inquisitive reporters, Woodford and Bernstein?

Well yes, because we necessarily only get part of the story here since it's all from the viewpoint of The Washington Post, and it all could be a bit dull and stodgy, so to have the charisma of Redford and Hoffman on tap is no bad thing.  

Thankfully we're in good hands, with Alan J Pakula directing, the third in his 'paranoia trilogy', and a screenplay by William Goldman, so that a scene where all Redford is doing is frantically looking through some telephone directories is gripping as hell.

Even Hoffman, an actor who can irritate with his mannerisms if he's allowed to, is focussed and convincing as the more experienced but yet more volatile of the pair.  

Judging from this film the worlds of journalism and of politics in the 1970s were male-dominated in the extreme - the only women we meet are girlfriends or wives or secretaries or juniors, the most senior being a bookkeeper.

So the film features an impressive rollcall of US middle-aged male actors of the period: Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook (as 'Deep Throat'), Ned Beattie, and towering above them all Jason Robards as the legendary editor Ben Bradlee.

If I have a gripe it is that the ending can't help being a bit anticlimactic - the story Woodford and Bernstein have been working on tirelessly gets published at last, and we have to take it on trust that it triggers a process which eventually leads to Nixon resigning.

Still, it's a great and important film.  I wonder if one day we'll get something comparable about Trump - working title: 'All The President's Tweets'?

RATING: ✓✓ Catch It If You Can