This '70s conspiracy thriller starts and ends brilliantly with chillingly-staged political assassinations, but it's the occasionally misjudged elements in between which prevent it joining the genuinely classic ranks of contemporaries The Conversation and All The President's Men.
The action set-pieces are inappropriate and poorly handled, and a brainwashing sequence pales in comparison to A Clockwork Orange, but the film's main weakness lies in its leading man.
Warren Beatty is too laidback as the committed hack hero, a role crying out for Nicholson's anger or Hoffman's tenacity. As it is, cinematographer Gordon Willis - at the peak of his powers - is the true star.
