Release Year: 1976

Genre: Biography, Drama, History

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Writer: William Goldman, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (novel)

Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford

Tricky Dick isn't a Google search that's blocked from your school or workplace. And it isn't a delightful British dessert either: that would be Spotted Dick—seriously. (It's a kind of pudding with raisins. Yum?)

Even though it sounds X-rated, Tricky Dick is the sticky nickname for the 37th President of the United States: Richard Milhous Nixon. As Matt Groening of Simpsons fame said, this is the "most unfortunate name [he] could think of for a child." (Source)

Maybe because of that name, Richard Nixon turned out to be one of the U.S.'s most infamous presidents. If you know anything about Nixon, it's his "I am not a crook" quote, 20% of which is a bald-faced lie. (Hint: it's the "not" part.) You also probably know the term "Watergate." If you need to know more, check out our video on the scandal here.

In that video, we say about Nixon's involvement in the scandal as it broke, "There was no concrete proof…just yet." All the President's Men can best be summarized as the "just yet" part. This film's the incredible story of two reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and their quest to uncover the truth behind the nation's greatest political scandal.

Woodward and Bernstein, who were known as "Woodstein" long before celeb portmanteaus like "Brangelina," published a tell-all book called All the President's Men in 1974. By publishing their hit book, the two men ended up not just reporting the news, but becoming part of the news themselves.

Like all of America at the time, Robert Redford was fascinated with the investigation, and purchased the rights to the film. Directed by Alan J. Pakula (Klute), distributed by Warner Bros. ("What's up, Dick?") and starring Redford and Dustin Hoffman (who wears his hair more feathered than when he played Tootsie), All the President's Men hit theaters in April 1976.

Instead of being about the scandal itself, which all the nation knew at that point, the movie's conflict centers on the reporters, who are trying to get information from an administration that won't talk. They're assisted by Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, who has their back, and a shady informant who only goes by the name Deep Throat.

(Yup, we said Deep Throat. For a presidential scandal not involving Bill Clinton, there's an awful lot of X-rated talk here.)

Like the book, the movie resonated with the American public, who didn't appreciate being hoodwinked by their own government. It raked in over $70 million at the box office and took home Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor Jason Robards, who portrays Bradlee, and screenwriter William Goldman.

However, it was delivered a knockout punch by Rocky¸ which defeated it in the Best Picture category. The loss didn't affect the film's legacy, though. The biggest blow had already been delivered—from Woodward and Bernstein to the Nixon administration. Hard work and solid journalism defeated corruption and scandal in a total KO—maybe Woodward and Bernstein's theme song should be "Gonna Fly Now."

There's a saying that "you can't fight city hall." But whoever coined that phrase was thinking small, because it could have as easily been "you can't fight the White House." It can make the so-called little guy feel helpless when they know that a people in charge are doing something wrong, but they often don't think they can do anything about it.

But what happens when city hall—or, in the case of the Watergate Scandal, the White House—is doing something worth fighting against?

All the President's Men shows us that, when justice is on the line, someone has to try. It's appropriate that both Rocky and All the President's Men came out in the same year, because both films are about underdogs. One of them went the distance with a patriotic blowhard who fancied himself the next George Washington…and the other fought Apollo Creed.

And here's the thing: Woodward and Bernstein, unlike our favorite Italian Stallion, were real dudes. These guys faced incredible odds while researching their story: silent witnesses, the disdain of other news publications, and, oh, the entire United States government seemingly working against them.

It was enough to drive lesser men crazy.

But Woodward and Bernstein aren't lesser men. In this film, we see that they were hungry reporters that struggled against massive obstacles to bring to light one of the most famous conspiracies in American politics. And they not only made the national news, they made history. We lived in an era of greater mistrust—and greater observation of the nuances of politicking—thanks to these two journalists.

All the President's Men is the story of a scandal. But it also demonstrates that, with a lot of persistence (and a lot of scribbling down notes) right can triumph over wrong in the end.

We're going to hand the mic over to the character of Ben Bradlee to let you know just how much "right" and "wrong" this film deals with:

"Nothing's riding on [Woodward and Bernstein's news story] except the, uh, first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country."

Yeah. That pretty much sums up why this movie is worth a watch. Or two. Or three.