All the President's Men - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

All the President's Men



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Very few public scandals in our past have held as much weight as the Watergate scandal did, and for such a prolonged period. Unlike Pearl Harbor or a sudden explosion of the World Trade Center, Watergate was a long and laborious affair that took 2 years to come to fruition. Rumors of the Watergate break-in started earlier in 1972 while Nixon was still running for re-election, only for him to win in a landslide while the uncovering of his involvement in the break-in was still being investigated. However, during that tenuous time period, reporters and journalists were looking into the entire escapade, using the infamous “Deep Throat” informant to peel back the layers, and ultimately take down one of the most popular sitting Presidents of all time.

One of the major public sentiments regarding the ludicrous nature of the original claims that fueled many a conspiracy theory (or just theory to some people) regarding the whole debacle was the fact that Nixon WAS going to win. At that point in the campaign, there was less than a 1% chance of George McGovern pulling a win out, and it was at this time that Nixon would most likely be partying it up instead of running an Op (or at least covering it up) to raid his opponent’s headquarters. It was silly, he still won by 520 to 17 electoral votes even WITH the rumors swirling. It was insane! But crazy things do happen.

And like many a political drama, this revolves around Wapo journalists Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) as they peel back the layers of the onion and realize that something stinks to high heaven. Top secret CIA operatives all leading back to the President, skulduggery that didn’t make sense, and a hidden truth that would bust the lid off the entire re-election campaign in ways that would alter the U.S. political landscape forever.

While you already know how things are going to turn out, being that Nixon is one of the most talked about Presidents in all of our history books, but it still doesn’t make the film any less tense and exciting. Replicating the real-life look of a new room during the 1970s, where typewriters were clacking, and room bosses were barking out orders to their subordinates, the film just FEELS raw and authentic. Maybe it was because the film came out only 2 years after Nixon was forced to step down, and things were still fresh in the American eye, but the movie just feels like a product of its time. Hot, spicy, and INTENSE as all getout.

What is fascinating (and a near detriment for the movie) is just how laid back and troublesome this whole affair was back then. Goldman shows us all the good, the bad, and the boring parts of the investigation, including many of the loose ends and dead ends that they ran into trying to figure things out. But at the end of the day, this is a tense thriller about just how far two beat reporters will go to uncover something that very well may tank their entire careers….or make them.




Rating:

Rated PG by the MPAA




4K Video: Video:

Warner’s aging Blu-ray of All the President’s Men was one of those “meh” catalog titles back in the format war days that never was that great. It worked, but was not exactly the shining example of a great transfer. Luckily for us, Warner has gone back and done a complete remaster taken from a 4K scan of the OCN and carefully cleaned up and polished for this 4K UHD release. The new image is sparkling with clarity and takes away that dim softness that the Blu-ray was known for. Instead, we get an organic-looking image, with rich grain structure, that same brown and green-tinged grading, but done much more meticulously. Fine details are readily apparent, ranging from the brightly lit WAPO board room to the dim darkness of the parking garage where Woodward meets Deep Throat. Blacks are deep and inky, and aside from a few moments where I felt the grain sort of swarmed, this is a near artifact-free release.









Audio:

According to a couple of sources I have access to, it seems that the 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix for the 4K UHD is not EXACTLY the same as the 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix from the aging Blu-ray. It seems to be a new remix that SHOULD be nearly identical, but after A/Bing the two discs back to back, I’m not so sure. To my ear, the new mix sounds a bit smoother, with nice imaging and a very slight bit more refined with some of the lower dialog that plagued the original release. Still, these differences are VERY subtle, and not something you’ll notice unless you’re comparing the two discs. The audio is definitely faithful to its 1970s roots, with clean dialogue, not a bunch of stage presence outside the hustle and bustle of the newsroom, and a nice bit of channel separation going on. It’s not going to be an action mix, but it does everything asked of it FLAWLESSLY.












Extras:

• NEW All the President's Men: The Film and Its Influence
• NEW Woodward and Bernstein: A Journalism Masterclass
• Woodward and Bernstein: Lighting the Fire
• Telling the Truth About Lies
• Out of the Shadows: The Man who was Deep Throat
• Jason Robards on "Dinah!"

Final Score: ​

I will say this, though. I’m not the biggest fan of All the President’s Men, like many others. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good movie with some great performances. I’ve just never been a personal fan of investigative journalist movies. I like them, but for some reason find them slightly tedious. And while I genuinely appreciate the cult status this film had, and the insane effort that went into it, I just don’t herald it as the next Ben-Hur in terms of cultural impact. Warner’s 4K UHD upgrade looks great, has the same great audio, and even a few new extras from the anemic Blu-ray ones we’ve always had. For those who like political thrillers like this, it’s a good movie and well worth picking up over the aging Blu-ray digipack.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jack Warden, Warren Beatty, Hal Holbrook, Stephen Collins
Directed By: Alan J. Pakula
Written By: Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward, and William Goldman
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 2.0, French, German, Spanish, Spanish (Castilian) DD Mono
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German SDH, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: PG
Runtime: 138 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: February 17th, 2026

Recommendation: Good Watch