10 Biggest Plot-Changing Movie Phone Calls

Alan J. Pakula's paranoid true thriller charts Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) as they investigate a suspicious break-in and the Democatic National Committee at the Watergate hotel. Pakula wisely never enters the grounds of the White House, only the driveway where we see the Washington Post be delivered every morning to an unseen monolith. How far the reach of the conspiracy is unknown, and for the film's first hour feels like a dead-end.

Redford and Hoffman grumble around each other - clearly expressing the respect but dislike for each other the two journalists had, but every lead seems to be a dead end. That is, until Redford persists with phone calls based on an anonymous tip from Deep Throat (Mark Felt, as played by Hal Holbrook) to follow the money.

The way the scene is framed is gut-wrenching, with a still shot of Redford at a newsdesk manning the phones. But as the calls start to reveal a clear tie between money connected to the Committee to Re-Elect the President and the Watergate burglars, the camera insidiously zooms in, slowly, until Redford's head is most of the frame.

It's a nice reverse from the endless, lingering overhead shot of the Library of Congress, which found the reporters at a loss in front of stacks of notecards.