All the President's Men: The Power of Smaller-Than-Life Heroes Timothy Sexton College

In 1970, William Goldman received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. That film tells the story of two real-life historical figures whose legendary status is enhanced partly by Goldman’s script, partly by the direction of George Roy Hill and party by the casting of Paul Newman and Robert Redford, all of which combined to make the title characters larger than life figures who dominate even the very majestic location scenery around them. Seven years later, Goldman would win his second Academy Award for adapting the bestseller non-fiction book All the President’s Men into a film. This time around Goldman’s screenplay works in perfect conjunction with the direction of Alan J. Pakula and the acting of Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford to craft a film which the legendary status of the two real-life historical figures is actually enhanced by making them smaller than life. The secret power of All the President’s Men lies in this curious case of character dwarfism.

The theme at work in All the President’s Men above all else is not related to the corruption of politicians, despite the title, but rather the majesty of the power the Constitution’s First Amendment rights...