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The movie begins and ends with images of print on paper. Typewriter keys slam a date onto a blank page: June 1, 1972. President Nixon, in the midst of his re-election campaign and returning from a trip to Moscow, arrives at the Capitol Building to address Congress and the nation. Soon after, in the pre-dawn hours of a Saturday morning, security guard Frank Wills (portraying himself in the film) summons police to the Watergate Complex after discovering evidence of intruders in an office building. In the 6th floor headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, plainclothes officers responding to the call apprehend five well-dressed men in the midst of an attempted burglary. Later that morning 29-year-old reporter Bob Woodward (Robert Redford), hired just months ago at the Washington Post and the lowest-paid member of its staff, is called in to cover the suspects’ arraignment. The case seems of little importance, yet puzzling details soon emerge that arouse Woodward’s suspicions. Another eager young Post reporter, Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), is assigned to join Woodward in following-up on the story. Through diligence, persistence, prodding from editors, and crucial assistance from a shadowy source, the duo uncover some startling connections. [more inside]
posted by theory on Aug 19, 2019 - 17 comments

A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between journalist and government. [more inside]
posted by DevilsAdvocate on Jan 15, 2018 - 13 comments

Civil war continues in Vietnam as President Richard Nixon resigns. After North Vietnamese troops regain control of Saigon and the war ends, people from all sides search for reconciliation. [more inside]
posted by cashman on Oct 14, 2017 - 7 comments

The South Vietnamese fight on their own, succumbing to terrible losses in Laos. After he is reelected, President Richard Nixon strikes a peace deal with Hanoi that sees the release of American prisoners of war. [more inside]
posted by cashman on Oct 13, 2017 - 0 comments

With morale plummeting in Vietnam, President Nixon begins withdrawing American troops. As news breaks of an unthinkable massacre committed by American soldiers, the public debates the rectitude of the war, while an incursion into Cambodia reignites antiwar protests with tragic consequences at Kent State University.
posted by dnash on Sep 26, 2017 - 4 comments

Public support for the war declines, and American men of draft age face difficult decisions and wrenching moral choices. After police battle with demonstrators in the streets of Chicago, Richard Nixon wins the presidency, promising law and order at home and peace overseas. In Vietnam, the war goes on and soldiers on all sides witness terrible savagery and unflinching courage.
posted by homunculus on Sep 25, 2017 - 8 comments

A documentary that loosely follows avowed dirty trickster Roger Stone through the 2016 campaign while reviewing the broad outlines of his career - from outsider, to Reagan campaign insider, to consultant, to outsider and insider and outsider (and insider?) again, all loosely framed around his (claimed) desire to someday run Donald Trump as a candidate for President. Featuring interviews with Stone, Paul Manafort, Tucker Carlson, Trump, and many others.
posted by Going To Maine on Jun 7, 2017 - 2 comments

A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon that took place in 1977. Based on a play by Peter Morgan. [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Oct 27, 2014 - 3 comments