How One Iconic Line Became Journalism’s Greatest Mantra

One of the things I love about being a writer is the idea that you could create a line that lives on in the hearts and minds of the viewers forever. So many parts of our cultural lexicon come from great screenwriters who put lines into movies and TV, and excellent actors who help solidify them as parts of our human experience.

But rarely do those instances actually change an entire profession.

Yet that's what happened with the line spoken to Robert Redford in All the President's Men, where he listens to, "Follow the money" from Deep Throat.

That was the perfect summation of the story and of journalism, and it is a line that changed what we think of the profession forever.

Let's dive in.

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He Was the Producer Before He Was the Star

All the President’s Men is a Robert Redford film. Now the brilliant Alan J. Pakula directed it and William Goldman wrote it, but Redford willed it into existence. He was the producer. And he staked his stardom on getting it made.

Redford bought the book rights for $450,000 and then hired Goldman to do the script. He was instrumental in putting the movie together and in bringing talented people to collaborate on the movie.

And I'll be honest, I avoided this movie for a while because I thought it would be boring. It’s two guys on the phone. It’s two guys knocking on doors. It’s two guys getting yelled at by their editor.

But this movie rocks.

It's so thrilling and exciting, and there are so many laughs packed in; you really get a sense of the disillusionment of the time and how important journalism was in that era.

And it gave us one of the most important lines of all time.

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The Line Lands Because of Redford

We have to give credit where it’s due: "Follow the money" was invented by William Goldman. It's not a quote from the real Deep Throat, but it's a line that summed up the whole Watergate scandal and how they were able to trace it back to the president.

Robert Redford is one of our greatest actors, and this movie may contain one of his best performances. It's all his charm and wit, and intelligence on the screen.

But he does not say the most iconic line in this movie — he listens as Hal Holbrook delivers the spooky..."Follow the money."

Watch him in that scene. He's playing a desperate man, one who needs answers, and now he's so close to getting them. He needs hope because the whole case is weighing on him.

When Holbrook says, "Follow the money," look at Redford's face. You see relief mixed with pure, unadulterated terror.

It's masterful acting.

The Takeaway

Ever since that iconic line, journalists everywhere have been repeating it when they dig deep on something. It entered the cultural lexicon as something we all know to be pulling at the truth.

But the line itself, and the entire masterpiece of a film it lives in, only exists because Robert Redford was the film’s first believer. He saw the story when no one else did. And then he stepped in front of the camera and played the perfect, flawed, desperate vessel for the audience.

That takes real cinematic bravery, and we need more of that in Hollywood to uphold the legacy of Redford and to keep Hollywood telling interesting and challenging stories.

Summing It Up

The most important line in All the President's Men and probably the most important line in any political thriller, ever, is the perfect example of why Robert Redford isn't just a movie star—he’s a filmmaker’s filmmaker.

His passion and integrity got the movie made and also clued audiences in on the important work journalists do to keep our society open and working. Even when there are people behind the scenes trying to thwart that.

Let me know what you think in the comments.