50 Years Later, Robert Redford’s Near-Perfect Thriller Is More Important Than Ever

In 2025, the world said goodbye to Robert Redford. Over seven decades, the Hollywood giant entertained audiences with all kinds of action movies, thrillers, Westerns, and comedies. It’s hard to pin down what his best movie is, but his most important celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. In 1976, Redford starred alongside Dustin Hoffman in All the President’s Men, based on a book of the same name by The Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Their reporting took down President Richard Nixon, and Alan J. Pakula‘s film, from a phenomenal script by William Goldman, brought their journey to life on the big screen and celebrated the courage of journalists. Half a century later, it’s more important to watch than ever.

What Is ‘All the President’s Men’ About?

All the President’s Men starts with the infamous Watergate break-in, where five men illegally entered the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and were arrested. No one thought much of it at the time, including the reporters from The Washington Post covering it, Carl Bernstein (Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Redford). However, it’s revealed that the burglars are involved with the CIA, and Woodward and Bernstein’s investigation uncovers ties to President Richard Nixon as well.

What follows is over two hours of a thrilling history lesson about the courage these two reporters showed to uncover the truth at all costs — even if it got them too close to the crimes of the most powerful man in the world. All the President’s Men follows several months of their investigation and ends as Nixon is beginning a second term, but their efforts transformed the world. Over a year later, President Nixon became the only holder of the office to resign, a shocking moment that only happened because of two reporters portrayed in All the President’s Men.

Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman’s ‘All the President’s Men’ Won 4 Oscars

Image via Warner Bros.

All the President’s Men was a box office hit, pulling in over $70 million. Not only did audiences love it, but so did critics. Today, on Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 95% Tomatometer. The most famous critic of them all, Roger Ebert, gave it a near perfect 3.5 out of 4 stars in his written review, raving about the attention to detail and how “It provides the most observant study of working journalists we’re ever likely to see in a feature film.”

Directed by Alan J. Pakula, who had just made another political thriller, The Parallax View, two years earlier, and written by iconic writer William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Misery), All the President’s Men is not one of those thrillers with murder, car chases, shootouts, and violent fights. Pakula was great at that (he also directed Presumed Innocent and The Pelican Brief), but this movie didn’t need it. It was raw at the time, digging into a fresh wound, with Nixon’s resignation happening two years earlier. It’s a film that depends on Goldman’s craft of writing dialogue because All the President’s Men is about people talking.

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“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.”

Redford and Hoffman are at the center in nearly every scene, with powerful supporting performances from Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Jason Robards, Hal Holbrook, and Jane Alexander. At the 1977 Academy Awards, All the President’s Men was honored with eight nominations. Although it lost out on Best Picture to Rocky, the film still picked up four trophies. Robards won for Best Supporting Actor as managing editor Ben Bradlee. Goldman won Best Screenplay, his second win following Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

‘All the President’s Men’ Is Even More Powerful in 2026

All the President’s Men takes its time, showing off the realism of journalism, which isn’t about rushing off to one place after another, but is about research, making phone calls, and waiting for a response. The visual chaos of the newsroom and the sound of typewriters clacking and phones ringing puts the audience right there in the heart of The Washington Post with Woodward and Berstein. The film is a love letter to journalism of the day, and 50 years later, it is a look back into the past.

It’s a moment in time, peering into a world which sadly doesn’t exist in the same way in 2026 with a fractured, corporate-owned media all about driving clicks and pandering to whatever political bubble you reside in. The film shows how a free media can resist and seek out the facts, no matter the consequences. All The President’s Men sought only the truth.