Jason Robards plays Ben Bradlee, the editor of The Washington Post, the newspapers, in which these journalists work. It is kind of a mystery for me, how Jason Robards got nominated. He must have been really famous in his times and he was probably an overdue for a nomination (this was his first). Because I can't imagine that he got his nomination just for his performance. It's not that it was bad, but there is just nothing to play.
As an editor, Robards doesn't get a chance to show off his talent. There is not a single scene that would allow him to really do something important. He an editor and he knows that what these two journalists are doing might be dangerous, so he's very careful in terms of what to have printed. But except of this, he doesn't do much in All the President's Men.
I mean, this is such an unjuicy role that it's a shock that it was ever nominated, not even that it won. If you look at some of the character, that the actors played and won the best supporting actor Oscar for it, Ben Bradlee stays in the corner. Next to Vito Corleone, Béla Lugosi, The Joker, or Hans Landa, Ben Bradlee seems to be a bad joke.
The fact is that I have nothing to complain about, when we're talking about Robards's performance. He really did everything the film required. But that's not very much, to be honest...
I agree, he's fine but there just isn't much to the character.
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