The success of All the President’s Men
After being hesitant to participate, Woodward and Bernstein were very happy with the finished product.
“The film taught me something about my business, seeing how they treated it and how they cared for it,” Woodward told TIME in 1976. “The movie’s not just pretty damned true, it is true. I just think, if reporters see it, they’ll say, ‘This is how we do it.’”
Bernstein added: “They did a spectacular reporting job to do this movie. Good reporters get their sources to trust them, and that’s what they did with us.”
The public felt the same way. The film grossed $70 million at the box office, and it won four Academy Awards, including one for the screenplay.