In 1972, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke what turned out to be the Crime of the Century (sorry, OJ) — Watergate. That led a number of things, including the unfortunate tacking on of "-gate" to any scandal, the Oscar-winning film "All the President's Men", and, oh, yeah, Richard Nixon's ousting from the presidency. Can't forget that.
Now, neither Woodward nor Bernstein are what one would call classically handsome. Yet the casting of the movie clearly drew the line: the Jewish Bernstein is played by Dustin Hoffman. Which is all fine and good, except that for the goyishe Woodward, they went with Robert Redford. And while there might be a debate on one's versus the other's acting ability, as far as looks go, they are not exactly in the same ballpark. And we say that as heterosexual males. And with all due respect with Mr. Hoffman. Seriously, Robert Redford is one good looking man.
Can you imagine that conversation? "So, honey, how did casting go? — Fine. — Who did you get? — Dustin Hoffman. — Oh. He is... a good actor. Who did Bob get? — Robert Redford. — Oh. Oh..."
Now, it's quite possible that Bernstein was above all of that and that he and his wife had other things to worry about (say, his affair with the daughter of the British Prime Minister). So we're gonna let it go.
And really, we're quite disappointed with ourselves. We're writing about one of the foremost journalists of the 20th century — and a proud Jew, and all we can do is lament 35-year-old casting choices.
Yet here we are.