History Film / AllThePresidentsMen

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/all_the_presidents_men_movie_poster.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:310:Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou are about to ask you a few questions.]]]]

The film--which cracks the AFI "100 Thrills" list at #57--was adapted by Creator/WilliamGoldman from the book of the same title, chronicling the investigative reporting of Woodward and Bernstein from their initial reports on the Watergate break-in to the revelation of the UsefulNotes/RichardNixon tapes in 1973. The AllStarCast also includes Creator/JasonRobards, Creator/JackWarden, Creator/MartinBalsam, Creator/HalHolbrook, Creator/JaneAlexander, Creator/StephenCollins, Creator/NedBeatty, and Creator/MeredithBaxter.

* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: One editor of the ''Post'' objects that the Democrats are in such state of disarray that Nixon resorting to the Watergate underhandedness makes no sense. It's later revealed that it's all part of a (likely still unnecessary given the huge 1972 landslide) campaign engineered by the White House to undermine the Democrats.

The film--which cracks the AFI "100 Thrills" list at #57--was adapted by Creator/WilliamGoldman from the book of the same title, chronicling the investigative reporting of Woodward and Bernstein from their initial reports on the Watergate break-in to the revelation of the UsefulNotes/RichardNixon tapes in 1973. The AllStarCast also includes Creator/JasonRobards, Creator/JackWarden, Martin Balsam, Creator/HalHolbrook, Creator/JaneAlexander, Creator/StephenCollins, Creator/NedBeatty, and Creator/MeredithBaxter.

** There's a comedic example later in the film where one of Bernstein's sources confirms that "John Haldeman" controlled the illegal campaign fun. Bernstein doesn't realize that the source has mixed up Haldeman and another presidential aide, John Ehrlichman, until Woodward points this out to him. Bernstein has to call the source back to confirm which assistant he meant.

* ExactWords: The White House denounces the Post's reporting as "hearsay", "innuendo", and "character assassination". What the White House doesn't do is accuse the Post of lying or being mistaken. Bradlee calls this a "non-denial denial".

* TheGhost: None of the major players in the scandal actually appear as characters: Nixon, Vice President Spiro Agnew [[note]]who wasn't personally involved in Watergate, but would resign in October 1973 due to an unrelated bribery scandal from his time as Massachusetts State Governor [[/note]] and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst are seen on television via archive footage, and John Mitchell is [[Main/TheVoice only heard]] over the phone making threats to Bernstein. The only ones our heroes actually meet are low-level campaign figures like Sloan and Segretti. Also Katherine Graham, then-publisher of the Washington Post and one of the most well-known figures of Watergate on the Post side of things, is never seen but only referred to by other characters.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Relating a conversation to managing editor Howard Simons, Woodward explains that some PR guy denied that E. Howard Hunt or Charles Colson knew, or was a part of, the Watergate break-in. He says that he expected such a statement to be made, but he ''never asked'' about Watergate. He just wanted to know what Hunt's duties at the White House were.[[note]]In the book, Ken Clawson is named as the person who told this to Woodward.[[/note]]

* YouDidntAsk: When Sloan is subpoenaed for the grand jury investigating the allegations, [[PortmanteauCoupleName Woodstein's]] story hinges on him naming Stans as the fifth campaign-fund manager. When he fails to do so, the White House crows about the Post's shoddy reporting, which demoralises the duo. It isn't until they visit Sloan again that he reveals that Stans was indeed the fifth man, but because the jury never asked him that question, he couldn't divulge it.

[[%Not that CREEP didn't consider it.]]

* TheGhost: None of the major players in the scandal actually appear as characters: Nixon, Vice President Spiro Agnew [[note]]who wasn't personally involved in Watergate, but would resign in October 1973 due to an unrelated bribery scandal[[/note]] and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst are seen on television via archive footage, and John Mitchell is only heard over the phone making threats to Bernstein. The only ones our heroes actually meet are low-level campaign figures like Sloan and Segretti. Also Katherine Graham, then-publisher of the Washington Post and one of the most well-known figures of Watergate on the Post side of things, is never seen but only referred to by other characters.

* NoEnding: The film ends abruptly with a teletype reporting Nixon resigned.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Relating a conversation to managing editor Howard Simons, Woodward explains that some PR guy denied that E. Howard Hunt or Charles Colson knew, or was a part of, the Watergate break-in. He says that he expected such a statement to be made, but he ''never asked'' about Watergate. He just wanted to know what Hunt's duties at the White House were.[[note]]In the book, Ken Clawson is named as the person who told this to Woodward[[/note]]

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: After the whole odyssey, we learn of Nixon downfall in a teletype shown before the end credits, a narrative device devoid of any character interaction.

* CacophonyCoverUp: Woodward comes to Bernstein's apartment, insists on turning classical music, [[PokeInTheThirdEye loud]], and communicates with Bernstein by typing notes on his typewriter after being warned that their apartments are bugged. The piece we hear is Vivaldi's Concerto in C for Two Trumpets.

* AmoralAttorney: Segretti. He was college buddies with Chapin at law school.

* AdaptedOut: Several reporters who assisted Woodward and Bernstein with their investigation are left out of the movie. Notably Barry Sussman, the ''Post'''s Washington desk editor who directly oversaw their investigation,[[note]]Bernstein said that his one serious regret about the movie was that the filmmakers didn't include Sussman as a character[[/note]] and Robert Meyers, a freelance "stringer" based in Los Angeles who conducted most of the interviews with Donald Segretti (whom Woodward and Bernstein didn't personally meet until after the election, outside the timeframe of the movie). There was some talk of including ''Post'' publisher Katharine Graham as a character, but she didn't make it into the final script either.

* TheGhost: None of the major players in the scandal actually appear as characters: Nixon, Vice President Spiro Agnew [[note]]who wasn't personally involved in Watergate, but would resign in October 1973 due to an unrelated bribery scandal[[/note]] and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst are seen on television via archive footage, and John Mitchell is only heard over the phone making threats to Bernstein. The only ones our heroes actually meet are low-level campaign figures like Sloan and Segretti.

--> '''Deep Throat:''' You've done worse than let Haldeman slip away: you've got people feeling sorry for him. I didn't think that was possible. [[note]] This is TruthInTelevision: H.R. Haldeman, the White House Chief of Staff, was a ''famously'' humorless man who boasted (and took pride in) the fact that he was "The President's Son of a bitch." If anyone wanted to get to Nixon, they had to go through Haldeman. His reputation as an unreasonable prick was so legendary that when Gerald R. Ford took office, he was determined not have a Haldeman type in his administration. [[/note]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: A few players in the story are portrayed with either pseudonymous names (Douglas Caddy, the burglars' attorney, is named "Markham" in the film) or as anonymous [[CompositeCharacter composite characters]] (Judy Hoback as the Bookkeeper; Mark Felt as Deep Throat).

** John Mitchell, the Top Cop - Attorney General - of ''United States law enforcement''.[[note]]Mitchell was no longer Attorney General at the time of the break-in, having resigned to run Nixon's campaign. He had, however, been involved in the Plumbers' planning long before then. Unmentioned by the film, that January Mitchell had overseen a notorious meeting ''in his Justice Department office'' where Gordon Liddy spelled out a detailed plan for sabotaging Democratic candidates, dubbed Operation Gemstone. According to White House counsel John Dean, who was also present, Mitchell objected only to the plan's high price tag and suggested that Liddy come up with something cheaper - which ultimately led to the break-in.[[/note]] His successor, Richard Kleindienst, isn't any better, and is seen on television via archive footage [[BlatantLies blatantly lying]] about the Watergate investigation.

** John Mitchell, the Top Cop - Attorney General - of ''United States law enforcement''.

* PortmanteauCoupleName: The two reporters are called "Woodstein" in-universe during a discussion about whether to take them off the story. Bradlee yells '''WOODSTEIN!''' when one of their confirmed stories appears to have been wrong.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: After the whole odyssey, we learn of Nixon downfall in a teletype shown before the end credtits, a narrative device devoid of any character interaction.

* TheGhost: None of the major players in the scandal actually appear as characters: Nixon, Vice President Spiro Agnew and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst are seen on television via archive footage, and John Mitchell is only heard over the phone making threats to Bernstein. The only ones our heroes actually meet are low-level campaign figures like Sloan and Segretti.

* AdaptedOut: Several reporters who assisted Woodward and Bernstein with their investigation are left out of the movie. Notably Barry Sussman, the ''Post'''s Washington desk editor who directly oversaw their investigation,[note]Bernstein said that his one serious regret about the movie was that the filmmakers didn't include Sussman as a character[/note] and Robert Meyers, a freelance "stringer" based in Los Angeles who conducted most of the interviews with Donald Segretti (whom Woodward and Bernstein didn't personally meet until after the election, outside the timeframe of the movie). There was some talk of including ''Post'' publisher Katharine Graham as a character, but she didn't make it into the final script either.