Carl Bernstein Movies

Filmmakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld offer a compelling look at the efforts of the United States government to silence one of rock & roll's most outspoken war critics in this documentary detailing the Vietnam-era struggle between the Richard Nixon administration and iconic peace activist John Lennon. The Vietnam War was raging and the nightly news was filled with stories of failed offensives and massacred U.S. troops. As anti-war protests back home gained momentum, it was the hopeful voice of former Beatle Lennon that served to perfectly encapsulate the frustrations felt by many citizens that the U.S. had gotten caught up in an quagmire from which there was seemingly no end in sight. There's a high price to be paid for standing strong in your beliefs and openly criticizing the ruling elite, though, and now, through interviews with those who knew him best and revealing glimpses into an era where all hope seemed lost, filmmakers finally uncover the truth behind the Nixon administration's highly classified efforts to isolate and eventually deport the man whose powerful words threatened to actually make sense in a world slowly suffocated by the grip of insanity. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This two-hour PBS documentary details not only the 1972 "third-rate burglary" that brought down an American president, but also the unprecedented gavel-to-gavel live TV coverage of the official Watergate hearings. In the summer of 1973, all three commercial networks were offered the opportunity to provide this coverage, and all three took a pass. Only PBS was willing to devote the time, money, and energy to broadcasting the entire procedure, and it is from that network's miles and miles of archival tapes that this special is gleaned. In addition to recalling such once-familiar catchwords as "To the best of my recollection" and "Expletive deleted," the special includes contemporary comments from many of the participants and eyewitnesses of the courtroom spectacle, including former Nixon associates John Dean and Jeb Magruder, journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (co-authors of All the President's Men and The Final Days), and government investigator Sam Dash. Either by accident or design, Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History was originally telecast in late July 2003, just when certain provocative questions were being raised about the credibility of President George W. Bush's official reasons for invading Iraq. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Conspiracy film specialist Alan J. Pakula turned journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's best-selling account of their Watergate investigation into one of the hit films of Bicentennial year 1976. While researching a story about a botched 1972 burglary of Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex, green Washington Post reporters/rivals Woodward (Robert Redford, who also exec produced) and Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) stumble on a possible connection between the burglars and a White House staffer. With the circumspect approval of executive editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards), the pair digs deeper. Aided by a guilt-ridden turncoat bookkeeper (Jane Alexander) and the vital if cryptic guidance of Woodward's mystery source, Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook), Woodward and Bernstein "follow the money" all the way to the top of the Nixon administration. Despite Deep Throat's warnings that their lives are in danger, and the reluctance of older Post editors, Woodward and Bernstein are determined to get out the story of the crime and its presidential cover-up. Once Bradlee is convinced, the final teletype impassively taps out the historically explosive results. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide