This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
In honor of this compelling op-ed contribution from Robert Redford ...
— 45 years after Watergate, the truth is again in danger — Robert Redford | Special to The Washington Post
... a flashback to one of my blog posts from nearly two years ago:
"I'd say it was the biggest laugh that actor Robert Redford ever got. He was more the straight man for the joke. But only he was on camera at the moment, so.
"Thirty-nine years ago tonight, the movie version of "All the President's Men" opened. (Yes, you are that old.) That day, or soon thereafter, I was in a packed theater to see the movie.
"Early on, Redford, playing Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, is on the phone trying to figure out the convoluted links that may, or may not, connect the third-rate burglary at the Watergate office building to the White House. He's talking to some political functionary and asking him uncomfortable questions. The subject of the interview doesn't like Redford's [er, Woodward's] approach.
" 'That's a b—-s—- question,' says the voice on the phone. 'That's a question straight out of Wichita, Kansas.'
"Woodward protests that he's from Illinois. But nobody in the theater heard the next two or three lines, because we were all laughing so hard.
"Did I mention that I was seeing the movie in Wichita, Kansas?
"Sorry."