All the President's Men (1976)

Alan Pakula's mesmerizing 1976 chronicle of the Watergate investigation is overflowing with memorable images, thanks to the pitch-perfect work of the great cinematographer Gordon Willis. When one thinks of the film, one's mind immediately descends into the chiaroscuro of the parking garage where Woodward (Robert Redford) has his clandestine meetings with Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook). Or one might think of the bright lights of the newsroom -- it is a film of contrasts, after all -- where reporters hunt down the facts hidden in the darkness, striving to bring them to the light.

In this Frame of Reference, Pakula and Willis show the viewer why Woodward and Bernstein were successful in uncovering Watergate when so many other reporters were not. No, it's not because Redford is really really ridiculously good-looking -- though that certainly helps.

Take a look at the composition here: Redford sits camera right, in medium close-up, looking left to right, on the phone, tracking down a clue. Camera left, in the distance, the rest of the Washington Post staff stands, looking right to left, watching television. Both elements are in sharp focus, thanks to a split diopter lens (a lens that can focus on two points at once -- you can see where the focus changes if you look at the post to the left of Redford), and while there's no shortage of split diopter shots in the 1970s, this one must stand among the best.

This shot is the entire essence of the film. Woodward and Bernstein succeed because they are incorrigible skeptics. Despite being told "No" over and over again, despite having doors slammed in their faces, and despite being hung up on and lied to, they keep digging for the truth. They don't believe the official story, and even though they can't find enough information to convince their editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards) to believe them, they keep going because of their gut feeling; they know when they're being lied to, and if this many people are lying to them (nobodys), then something must be behind this "third-rate burglary."

Okay, so you see that kind of stuff in every movie like this, but what makes this one different is the other half of the shot -- what is the Washington Post staff doing watching TV? Aren't they the ones who are supposed to be making the news and presenting it to the public? Exactly. While everyone else is content to believe what the government tells them, Woodward and Bernstein aren't buying it. In fact, neither of them really looks at a TV in the film. They don't trust anything unless they discover it themselves, and that's what sets them apart from the other reporters. And it's all in this shot.

Big "film-defining" shots aren't usually so modest, but Pakula understands the subtleties of the medium, trusting that one well-crafted shot placed after another will lay the track for a brilliant film.