As a journalist, I’m legally obligated to recommend this week’s 35 mm screenings of All the President’s Men, which are scheduled as part of the Belcourt’s Weekend Classics: Robert Redford series. But it’s not just a meticulous depiction of the work Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (and executive editor Ben Bradlee, and all the writers and editors at The Washington Post) did to uncover the Watergate scandal — it’s also a paean to the late Redford’s movie-star powers in front of and behind the camera. It was Redford’s idea to adapt Woodward and Bernstein’s book, so he bought the rights and hired his friend William Goldman, arguably the greatest screenwriter of all time, to draft the firecracker (and eventually, Academy Award-winning) script. As Woodward, Redford — known for his otherworldly on-screen chemistry with his co-stars — perfectly plays off Dustin Hoffman’s frantic energy, using side glances and small gestures to counter-balance Hoffman’s oxygen-sucking as Bernstein. The final entry in director Alan J. Pakula’s thematic “paranoia trilogy” of acclaimed ’70s political-conspiracy thrillers, All the President’s Men is the greatest journalism movie ever made and eerily prescient. To quote Jason Robards’ Oscar-winning performance as Bradlee, “Nothing’s riding on this except the First Amendment of the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country.” Sounds relevant.
2:15 & 8 p.m. at the Belcourt
2102 Belcourt Ave.
