I have a wife and a family and a dog and a cat.
A wife and a famly and a dog and a cat.
share"Fark it. Let's stand by the boys."
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MovieChat Forums > All the President's Men (1976) Discussion > I have a wife and a family and a dog and...
Personal favorites from the movie (my all-time favorite screenplay, and one of my Top 5 movies):
-The second time Claussen says it, on the phone to Bradlee, and his response: "A wife and a family and a dog and a cat. Yes, Ken! Listen I don't want to print that you were in Sally's apartment. I just want to print what you said....in Sally's apartment."
-Woodward: "And a year before he wasn't beating Muskie, he was running behind Muskie."
Bernstein: "Before Muskie self-destructed."
Woodward: "IF he self-destructed."
(incredibly revealing about how long the illegal activities had been going on)
-Woodward: "I was just wondering....how did that work?"
Sloan: "Poorly."
-Bradlee: "All non-denial denials. They doubt our ancestry, but they don't say the story isn't true."
and of course, one of the all-time great lines, and the one that might alone have won Robards the Oscar:
-Bradlee: "You know the results of the latest Gallup Poll? Half the country never even heard of the word Watergate. Nobody gives a s^h^i^t. You guys are probably pretty tired, right? Well, you should be. Go on home, get a nice hot bath. Rest up... 15 minutes. Then get your asses back in gear. We're under a lot of pressure, you know, and you put us there. Nothing's riding on this except the, uh, first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f^u^c^k up again, I'm gonna get mad. Goodnight."
Is there any place you don't smoke?
I'm tired of your chicken sh--t games.
You got to admit it helped the guy's image.
You got people feeling sorry for Haldeman, I didn't think that was possible.
"I'm tired of your chickensh-t games."
What are the odds that Bob Woodward -- not the world-famous reporter/author the public has known since the movie came out, but the 29-year-old cub reporter of 1972 -- would have actually said that to the #2 ranking officer of the FBI?
@mobile-707 - I understand your protest, and under normal circumstances, you'd be right on the money. But you have to allow for the facts that at this point Woodward was incredibly stressed and even more sleep-deprived, which leads a great many people to say and do things they never would previously have considered; that Mark Felt (Deep Throat) had been stringing him along for months, only giving him hints at what Woodward now knew for certain was the most explosive story in the history of American politics, and was intent on continuing to do so, and smugly, while Woodward was at the end of his tether; and finally, the fact that W&B were just one confirmation away from being able to publish the truth about the entire operation and at their patience had completely run out, and the one real INSIDER who knew for certain and could give them that confirmation if he so desired to do so was refusing.
share@kolybear70: The movie certainly portrays the discussion the way you have described it here. And it seemed plausible to me, so long as the true identity of Deep Throat was unknown. But "now" (i.e., since 2005) we do know who Deep Throat was, and so we can diagram the talk as follows:
Bob Woodward: 29 years old in October 1972. Junior reporter for the Washington Post for about one year. Has just co-authored a major article accusing the White House Chief-of-Staff of criminal activity. Said article has been publicly repudiated by main source (Hugh Sloan). Woodward now seeking help from a much older man who wields great power within the FBI and has occasionally bestowed him with inside information.
Mark Felt: 59 years old, veteran of the FBI for about 30 years, in a high-ranking executive position within the Bureau for about the past 10 years. A devoted protégé and acolyte of J. Edgar Hoover, who survived and moved up the FBI pyramid amidst all of Hoover's occasional purges. A man who openly disdains "liberals" and the media, and who still hopes (as of October 1972) that Richard Nixon will appoint him to be the Director of the FBI once Nixon loses confidence in Acting Director Pat Gray's ability to manage the FBI bureaucracy. Has no apparent stake in the WaPo stories and (as we now know, 40+ years later) has withheld an enormous amount of information from Woodward that could have "moved the story along", if Felt had even the slightest interest in doing so.
This basic disparity between the two men -- differences in age and power, individual career-achievement and experience, generational outlook, etc. -- is not really apparent when watching Redford and Holbrook on-screen. But I believe it to be a key element of their relationship (the two men were born 30 years apart), and I just can't envision Woodward addressing Felt that way under any circumstances. I don't think Woodward had any leverage in the process at all.
You are right. According to Woodward's book The Secret Man he never spoke to Mark that way. He did get pretty insistent at one point (nothing dirty) and he and Mark had a falling out that wasn't reconciled until many years later. Mark lost his memory in old age and remembered meeting with Woodward but no details.
Well, the city's being built and I'm winning this game. So don't interrupt us with trifles.
<< I don't think Woodward had any leverage in the process at all. >>
Oh yes he did.
He knew Felt’s one and only reason for being there: bad things were happening in the offices of the federal government and he didn’t feel right about it at all.
It’s clear from actual accounts that lawbreakers often don’t know the exact point where the line was crossed. The frog simply wakes up one day and the pot is hot. Watergate is unusual in that White House counsel John Dean did say at one point, “Mr. President, that would be illegal.” For others there’s only a growing awareness of offensive odors, and possibly no one with whom they can discuss their concerns privately. Doubly true for the second man at the FBI: it’s lonely at the top.
Felt wanted Woodward’s investigation to succeed, but he did not want to do the investigating for him. That would make him a snitch and an instigator, which conflicted with his decades-old sense of loyalty to his employer. He had to do it “his way,” which meant keeping Woodward “in the right direction, but that’s all” by confirming what Woodward dug up if true.
Not hard to understand, really.
We can wish for all bosses and leaders to be heroes
But if they were, we wouldn’t need the word.
you guys missed some good ones
She's afraid of John Mitchell, and you're afraid of Walter Cronkite.
Carl Bernstein: All these neat, little houses and all these nice, little streets... It's hard to believe that something's wrong with some of those little houses.
Bob Woodward: No, it isn't.
- Wichita, Kansas?
- Yeah, he said, "That's a *beep* question."
- I know what he said, but I'm from Wheaton, Illinois.
I'm not sure you want em, but I got em.
shareI'm tired of your *beep* games!
shareWhen you got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
shareWhat time is it?
11:30
Morning or night?
"Tell your publisher...tell Katie Graham she's gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer if that's published."
share"Tell your publisher...tell Katie Graham she's gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer if that's published."
A great line, and one actually uttered by John Mitchell.
An even greater line was spoken by Katharine Graham after the story was published. She came down to the newsroom, approached Carl Bernstein and calmly asked, "Carl, do you have any more messages for me?"
(It's a shame plans to include Katharine Graham in the film's cast of characters fell through; this line would have brought down the house.) share
Garage freak?
What kind of a crazy f*cking story is this!
You've got everybody feeling sorry for him. I didn't know that was even possible!
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