All the President's Men

All the Presidents Men (1976) was a critical and commercial success, combining controlled oppositions to create a formal design crucial to its achievement, resembling a studio-era film with a producer, scriptwriters, director, stars, cameraman, art director, and sound designers.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 112 pages
Publication date: 04 May 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Alan J. Pakulas political thriller All the Presidents Men (1976) achieved immediate critical and commercial success upon its release, finishing second at the box office and earning seven Academy Award nominations. Through a close reading of key scenes, performances, and stylistic decisions, Christian Keathley and Robert B. Ray demonstrate how the film derives its narrative power through a series of controlled oppositions: silence vs. noise, stationary vs. moving camera, dark vs. well-lit scenes, and shallow vs. deep focus. They argue that the film does not fit the auteurist model of New Hollywood film-makers such as Coppola and Scorsese, but rather resembles a studio-era film, the result of a collaboration between a producer (Robert Redford), multiple scriptwriters, a skilful director, important stars (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman), a distinctive cameraman (Gordon Willis), an imaginative art director (George Jenkins), and ingenious sound designers. Together, they created an enduringly great film.

Weight: 184g
Dimension: 135 x 190 x 9 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781839024047