FILM 1803: ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN

FILM 1803: ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN

TRIVIA: Frank Wills, the security guard who discovered the break-in at the Watergate complex, plays himself.

The two lead actors memorized each other's lines so that they could both interrupt each other in character. This unsettled a lot of the actors they were playing opposite, leading to a greater sense of verisimilitude.

One scene involving Robert Redford on the phone is done in a continuous six-minute single take with the camera tracking in slowly. Towards the end Redford makes a mistake - he calls the phone caller by the wrong name - but as he stays in character it simply appears genuine and this was the take used in the final cut.

To prepare for their roles, actors Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman hung out in the Washington Post newsroom for several weeks, observing reporters and attending staff meetings. Once, when Redford was standing in a hallway, a group of high school students came through on a tour of the newspaper offices. The students immediately started taking pictures of Redford with their pocket cameras. At that point, Bob Woodward walked by. Redford told the students, "Wait a minute! Here's the real Bob Woodward, the guy I'm playing in the movie! Don't you want to take a picture of him?" The students said no, and walked on. Hoffman also recalled that he had been asked by the paper's science reporter to fetch a new typewriter ribbon. Due to Hoffman's long hair and casual dress, the science reporter had mistaken him for a copy boy. 

The film introduced the catchphrase "follow the money", which was absent from the book, or any documentation of Watergate.

The telephone number that Robert Redford dials for the White House is the real number of the White House Switchboard: 456-1414.

Washington Post boss Katherine Graham, who was initially very apprehensive about the film using the paper's name, loved the film and later wrote a letter of praise and approval to star and co-producer Robert Redford.

Actress Jane Alexander's Oscar nominated performance for Best Actress in a Supporting Role runs for only around just over eight minutes in total screen-time.

Chris Carter often quotes this movie as one of his bigger inspirations for The X-Files(1993), wherein a prominent character used the Deep Throat codename. Perhaps not coincidentally, one of the names on Woodward and Bernstein's list of CREEP employees is "Scully."

Robert Redford's first choice for the role of Carl Bernstein was Al Pacino.

This feature film contains twenty-five telephone conversations in which audiences are privy to both sides of the dialogue exchange.

The film cast includes five Oscar winners: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jason Robards, Martin Balsam and F. Murray Abraham; and five Oscar nominees: Jack Warden, Hal Holbrook, Ned Beatty, Lindsay Crouse and Jane Alexander.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

Robert Redford actually met Richard Nixon. When he was 13, Redford was presented an award for athletic prowess by the man who would go on to be President. Even then, Redford said he found the man to be rather creepy.

FILM 1671: THE DISCOVERY

TRIVIA: Charlie McDowell directs his girlfriend Rooney Mara and his mother Mary Steenburgen in this film.

The film was originally written to take place in a sleepy rural town area. Director Charlie McDowel and his team eventually rewrote the movie to fit the Newport, Rhode Island location because of how much they fell in love with the visuals in the area.

FILM 1216: BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID

TRIVIA: Lula Parker Betenson, sister of the real Butch Cassidy, often visited the set, and her presence was welcome to the cast and crew. During lulls in shooting she would tell stories about her famous brother's escapades, and was amazed at how accurately the script and Paul Newman portrayed him. Before the film was released, the studio found out about her visits and tried to convince her to endorse the movie in a series of ads to be shown in theatres across the country. She said that she would, but only if she saw the film first and truly stood behind it. The studio refused, saying that allowing her to see the film before its release could harm its reputation. Finally, at Robert Redford's suggestion, she agreed to do the endorsements - for a small "fee."

The more commonly used name for Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid's gang was The Wild Bunch. However, when the Sam Peckinpah film, The Wild Bunch (1969), was released a few months earlier, the name of the gang was changed to the Hole in the Wall Gang to avoid confusion with Peckinpah's film.

Katharine Ross enjoyed shooting the silent, bicycle riding sequence best, because it was handled by the film crew's second unit rather than the director. She said, "Any day away from George Roy Hill was a good one." (This was after she had been scolded and banned from the set for operating a camera.)

According to screenwriter William Goldman, his screenplay originally was entitled "The Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy." Both Steve McQueen and Paul Newman read the script at approximately the same time, and agreed to do it, with McQueen playing the Sundance Kid. When McQueen dropped out, the names reversed in the title, as Newman was a superstar.

'Butch Cassidy' (Robert Leroy Parker) was so nick-named because he once worked in a butcher's shop whilst 'The Sundance Kid' (Harry Alonzo Longabaugh) was nick-named this because he once was arrested in the Wyoming town of Sundance.

Dustin Hoffman was considered for the role of Butch Cassidy.

FILM 1183: THE STING

TRIVIA: The movie was filmed on the backlot of Universal studios and the diner in which Hooker meets Lonnegan is the same diner interior used in Back to the Future (1985) in which Marty McFly first meets his father and calls Doc Brown.

The rigged Black 22 at the roulette wheel, where Hooker loses the bet at the beginning of the movie, is the same spot that Rick Blaine uses for both Captain Renault and the Bulgarian couple to set them up to win in Casablanca.

Robert Shaw injured his knee and incorporated the resulting limp into his performance. According to "You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again" by Julia Phillips, Shaw split all the ligaments in his knee after slipping on a wet handball court at the Beverly Hills Hotel a week before filming started. He had to wear a leg brace during production which was kept hidden under the wide 1930s style trousers he wore.

Edith Head won her 8th and final Best Costume Design Academy Award for this film. "Just imagine," she said during her acceptance speech. "Dressing the two handsomest men in the world and then getting this."

The gin that Paul Newman uses in the train scenes is Gordon's Gin, the same gin that Humphrey Bogart drinks on The African Queen.