Back in 1976, Hal Holbrook stood in a dark garage and uttered an iconic phrase that remains part of the culture 40+ years later…
“Follow the money,” Holbrook’s character, then only known as “Deep Throat,” advised Robert Redford’s character, Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, in the Academy Award-winning film, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN. The film, based on the book of the same name, explored the real-life Watergate scandal and shone a light on secret political slush funds and unethical behavior by government officials. Deep Throat’s real identity was revealed only recently as FBI Associate Director, W. Mark Felt, who blew the whistle on misappropriation, burglaries and other crimes committed by the Nixon Administration. Nixon’s Special Investigative Unit, commonly known as the “White House Plumbers,” bungled a break-in at the Watergate Hotel during one of its assignments, bringing down an administration and a president. The “plumbers” were “fixers” for the president’s difficult situations, paid for by a secret slush fund tied to Nixon’s re-election committee.
When their covert operation at the Watergate went awry, Woodward and fellow Washington Post reporter, Carl Bernstein, investigated and followed the money. Their reporting on the illegal back-channel network ended with Richard Nixon resigning the presidency.
Tonight, on NCIS, Secretary of Defense Wynn Crawford (returning guest star Mitch Pileggi) may be going the way of the Nixon Administration when a secret government bank account tied to SecDef is found to be funding a nationwide network of vigilante justice. Unlike the Nixon fixers, the slush fund tied to Secretary Crawford may have been paying to have killers killed. Like the Ice Cream Killer in last week’s episode, “Judge, Jury…”, several murderers across the country who alluded justice on legal technicalities were found murdered themselves. Who is meting out justice after the dismissals? Unsure, but the revenge is being funded by the SecDef’s secret back account.
While Crawford maintains his innocence, NCIS investigates the murder of CIA Agent Westley Clark (Scott William Winters), who was working with the secretary. Clark’s murder sets up the return of Clark’s associate/Leon’s ex, Mallory (guest star Dionne Gipson), putting her squarely in Vance’s (Rocky Carroll) path. While the team determines who is acting as “judge and jury,” it also is threatened by “the executioner,” whose target may be Gibbs (Mark Harmon).
How will they stop the executioner? Maybe they should follow the money…
And for fans of ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, it has been revealed recently that Mark Felt never told Bob Woodward to “follow the money.” That iconic phrase was written by Hollywood screenwriter, William Goldman, who penned the script that was based on the non-fiction book by Woodward and Bernstein. Maybe nothing is ever exactly what it seems…
Tonight’s episode of NCIS, “…and Executioner” was written by Christopher J. Waild & David J. North and directed by Terrence O’Hara. NCIS airs tonight (May 7) at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS in the U.S. and on Global TV in Canada.
