Of course the template is Nixon, Watergate and All The President's Men, (from a book by uber Nixon counsel, John Erlichman), a still pretty robust roman a clef about the “Dickie Monckton” presidency, with an attention-grabbing spot-the-real character ‘hiding’ behind a bogus name. There's even a war referred to only as the one in South-East Asia. Is Andy Griffith playing an LBJ type- You bet he is! Only downfall is that is all wraps up way too quickly, so unlike the real-life constitutional crisis 1972–1974. Great perfs from Jason Robards as The Man, Nicholas Pryor as an obsequious yes-man, Robert Vaughn (hello Bob Haldeman) and Cliff Robertson as CIA top dog, defending The Primula Report. But that's just one way to enjoy these 11 hours or so. The other is to hold a mirror up to what's happening now in a land far away: all the vaulting ambition, the press bias and the returned animus, investigations and rumours of investigations. It's all here in this 1977 opus, which of course hasn't changed at all, and with a real political climate that apes the dramatics, looks like real-life hasn't changed that much either. Enjoy!