So, I was watching All the President's Men again over the weekend as background while I was doing a little writing, and had the great pleasure of noticing on screen who but Ned Beatty, so delightful as Det. Stanley Bolander in a minor role as the Miami State's Attorney. I really do love Bolander as a character. The combination of bitterness and hope is irresistible:
And I suppose the happiness I take in noticing things like this is evidence of a terminal preference I have for supporting actors over leading men and women. All the President's Men is a marvelous movie for those people who fill in the critically important details of a movie, who determine whether there's oxygen in the world on screen, or just a few people moving in isolation across it. Jack Warden, Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards alone make a feast. And everyone else making up the movie's Washington is really very fine too.