{"id":12684,"date":"2011-08-13T23:45:12","date_gmt":"2011-08-13T22:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=12684"},"modified":"2011-08-14T15:25:26","modified_gmt":"2011-08-14T14:25:26","slug":"alexander-mackendrick-and-the-watergate-hearings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2011\/08\/13\/alexander-mackendrick-and-the-watergate-hearings\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Mackendrick and The Watergate Hearings"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In the early 1970s director Alexander Mackendrick<\/a> used the Watergate<\/a> hearings to explore the basics of film grammar.<\/p>\n

After establishing himself as a director with vintage Ealing comedies<\/a> in the late 1940s, he returned to America where he made the classic Sweet Smell of Success<\/a> (1957) with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis.<\/p>\n

In 1969 he went into teaching at the California Institute of the Arts<\/a>, where his students included future filmmakers such as Terence Davies<\/a>, F. X. Feeney<\/a> and James Mangold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the Watergate scandal heated up with saturation television coverage, Mackendrick noticed that the principles of narrative filmmaking could be applied to real-life television coverage.<\/p>\n

For those not familair with Watergate, it began with a seemingly minor burglary<\/a> at the Democratic campaign headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in 1972, and as Washington Post reporters probed the story, they gradually uncovered widespread criminal behaviour and evidence of a cover-up within the Nixon administration.<\/p>\n

The Senate Watergate Committee<\/a> began hearings in May 1973 and after several dramatic revelations, Nixon was forced to resign<\/a> in August 1974.<\/p>\n

Over the course of that year leading to his resignation, various people were called to testify to the committee, which were broadcast live on TV.<\/p>\n

One exchange that caught Mackendrick’s attention was the between Senator Howard Baker<\/a> and Sally Harmony<\/a>, who secretary to G. Gordon Liddy<\/a>, one of the key Nixon operatives later convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping.<\/p>\n

You can watch the footage here:<\/p>\n