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Book Home  Books Information All the President's Men
All the President's Men
All the President's
Men is a 1974 non-fiction book by Bob Woodward
and Carl Bernstein, the two journalists investigating
the Watergate scandal for the Washington Post. A film adaptation,
starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Woodward and Bernstein,
respectively, was released in 1976. The film was produced by
Walter Coblenz and directed by Alan J. Pakula.
 The book chronicles the Pulitzer Prize-winning
investigative reporting of Woodward and Bernstein from the former's
initial report on the Watergate break-in through the resignations
and H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, and the revelation of the
Nixon tapes by Alexander Butterfield in 1973. It relates the events
behind the major stories the duo wrote for the Post, naming some sources
who had previously refused to be identified for their initial articles,
notably Hugh Sloan. It also gives detailed accounts of Woodward's
secret meetings with his source Deep Throat whose identity was kept
secret for over 30 years. Only in 2005 was Deep Throat revealed to
be then-FBI Associate Director Mark Felt.
Following the success of All the President's Men, Woodward
and Bernstein wrote something of a sequel, The Final Days, chronicling
the last months of Nixon's Presidency, starting around the time that
their previous book ended.
The film All the President's Men stars Dustin Hoffman,
Robert Redford, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards,
Jane Alexander, Meredith Baxter, Ned Beatty, Stephen Collins and Penny
Fuller. The book was adapted for the screen by William Goldman. The
film was released in 1976.
It won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting
Role (Jason Robards), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Sound
and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was nominated for Best Actress in
a Supporting Role (Jane Alexander), Best Director, Best Film Editing
and Best Picture.
According to Box Office Mojo.com, the film earned a
"Domestic Total Gross" of $70,600,000.
Some scenes in the film use dioptric lenses, which allow
a "split screen" effect on a single take: each half of a
shot can have its own focal length (that is, a man in the foreground
can be in focus, yet on the other side of the frame, a man in the
background can also be in focus--with objects between the two of them
out of focus). Use of a dioptric lens requires a sharp dividing line
to hide the effect; All the President's Men typically used pillars
and desks for dividing lines.
The film also is an early film to make extensive use
of different color temperatures in the same shot: for instance, at
the beginning during the break-in, the light from inside is noticeably
orange, whereas the light from outside is noticeably blue.
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