As mentioned, in TV and films the dialing of a telephone can slow down the pace. Often characters improperly "spun" the dial or dialed fewer digits to speed up the scene.
But in this movie they purposely dailed deliberately as part of the drama. Indeed, they not only dialed the full seven digit number, they also dialed the 9 for the outside line and even paused waiting for the second dial tone. This was when Redford was calling various CREEP officers to track down money given to the Watergate burglars. There was a TV set on in the background, adding to the scene.
I think of this movie as "modern" since it is in color and relatively recent as compared to the B&W films shown on TCM made in the 1930s and
40s. But of course this film is 30 years which is not very new, obviously.The other notable aspect of this film was the _lack_ of computers and other automated devices to help them in their research, all the things we take for granted today. Redford had a _manual_ typewriter, as was common for reporters in newsrooms in those years. Wire service came over classic Teletypes operating at the princely speed of seven characters per second. After typing their copy, it was edited by hand, then sent to Linotype machine operators to set type.
There were mobile phones in those days, but probably only the newspaper's owner had one. All the rest made do with pay phones. All reporters kept a mental note of where pay phones were located so as to be able to call in stories. Other reporters were on duty at phone banks (spacesaver sets with headsets) to take down the information phoned in.
If they wanted to research anything historical, it meant a trip to the library and _serially_ scanning through microfilm reels. Slow and tedious.
It's amazing the differences in a reporter's work then vs. now.
One difference was that newspapers had much larger circulation in those days.
Anyone else familiar with that movie care to comment on the technology of the time? (public replies, please)