‘All the President’s Men’ at 50: Times Journalists Look Back

New York Times staff members shared why they regard the 1976 film as one of the best movies about their profession.

The movie “All the President’s Men” is the stuff of cub reporter dreams.

Just picture it: A dapper Robert Redford and a shaggy-haired Dustin Hoffman dash around the nation’s capital as the Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. They’re hot on the trail of the culprits behind the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex.

The 1976 film, written by William Goldman and directed by Alan J. Pakula, was adapted from Mr. Woodward and Mr. Bernstein’s 1974 book of the same name. Watching their dogged pursuit of the truth has inspired generations of journalists to pursue the craft.

I’m among them. I first watched the film in my high school journalism class in Brownsburg, Ind., and then several more times in college. Each time, I was left with a sense of admiration for the reporters’ tenacity and the hope that, one day, I too might uncover a story that changes the world.