wes-connors City reporter John Ireland (as Jack Burden) is sent to cover an unusual small-town campaign for county treasurer. The underdog receiving media attention is populist candidate Broderick Crawford (as William "Willie" Stark), uncommonly known as an "honest politician." Upon arriving, Mr. Ireland finds corrupt local officials threatening to arrest Mr. Crawford, who draws crowds with his campaign speeches. They have Crawford's schoolteacher wife Anne Seymour (as Lucy) fired and beat up his handsome son John Derek (as Tom). Crawford's political career is a certainly a challenge. Ireland would rather be with pretty Joanne Dru (as Anne Stanton), but becomes attached to Crawford...Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren, "All the King's Men" has things to say about political corruption that are still relevant, today. The story is very skillfully adapted, by director Robert Rossen. He keeps the narrative flowing briskly and elicits great performances, all around. With many scenes involving multiple characters, the director keeps everyone in place. There are times when Mr. Rossen and crew covey much with three or four players and only a few seconds of silent screen time. Obvious artistic moments strengthen scenes without being too showy; for example, children at a carnival provide chaos as Broderick experiences the aftereffects of alcohol...Sexual and romantic relationships are telegraphed by studying the faces and manners of Ms. Seymour, Ms. Dru and Mercedes McCambridge (as Sadie Burke). You could turn down the sound and gather much information by watching the faces of "All the King's Women". In her first feature film appearance, Ms. McCambridge won most of the year's big "Supporting Actress" awards. She's marvelous, but the story should have had at least one "romantic" scene between McCambridge and Crawford; filmmakers may have felt the two would look unappealing together, and may have cut love scenes somewhere during the process. Crawford was clearly the year's consensus "Best Actor" winner...The often misplaced, but most coveted, "Academy Award" for Rossen was as "Best Picture" producer rather than director. "Oscar" nominated Ireland as "Supporting Actor" and he very likely outperformed that group, but he lost; it's just as well, Ireland is one of two leading, not supporting, performers in "All the King's Men". Others in the cast to keep an eye on include doctor Shepperd Strudwick (as Adam Stanton) and devoted Walter Burke (as Sugar Boy). The film makes a strong case for incorporating an "ensemble" acting award. To spite the strong effort and acting impressions, the characterizations are sketchy and secondary; the main characters are politics and corruption.********* All the King's Men (11/8/49) Robert Rossen ~ Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge, Joanne Dru

ElMaruecan82 For any movie buff, the simple thought of putting "All the King's Men" on the same level than "Citizen Kane" is a blasphemy but I'm not afraid to say it: once you see both movies, you realize how much they have in common and how sometimes the humblest "All the King's Men" slightly beats Orson Welles' masterpiece in its portrayal of power's corruptive effect. So, the title might sound derogatory but it's not meant that way."Citizen Kane" was about a man with guts and vision, who got so alienated by his obsession to be the voice of people that he ultimately lost his touch with people and ended up miserably with no connection whatsoever with his cherished past. He was misunderstood, but he had it coming. "All the King's Men" is a character study chronicling the same psychological process but rhyming this time with success, it's about a Southern politician named Willie Stark who never forgot where he came from and never lost his touch, which made him even more dangerous.The story is adapted from a Pulitzer-prize winning novel of the same title written by Robert Penn Warren, and based on the rise and fall of the legendary populist politician Huey Long. The ascension of Willie Stark, played by a mesmerizing Broderick Crawford, is a fictionalization of Long's life and one of the most powerful political movies ever made, for the simple reason that it hasn't lost any of its relevance, as long as politics exist, there will be men like Stark. Yesterday, France was shaken by the victory of French Populist Party in the European elections, politicians acted surprised while they could have seen it coming. Basically, the winners spoke the people's language.It's as simple as that, you've got to put yourself in people's shoes and it's not any politician who can accomplish it. Some see their vocations as something that elevated them above the crowd, they're not leaders but prophets allowing people to embrace their own visions, but men like Willie Stark are within the crowd, not above it. The pivotal moment occurs when after failing attempts to seduce people by talking about fiscal measures and other non-inspirational stuff, good old honest Willie Stark, understands he was the puppet of his own detractors, gets drunk, tears up his paper and enraged by his own anger, gives one of these great roaring speeches tailor-made for the big screen.And the film, directed by Robert Rossen, features the kind of editing the genre requires, crowd close-ups, big headlines, and an unforgettable gallery of flawed characters, starting with the protagonist himself, Willie Stark, who starts out as a nice and honest fellow, struggling to raise his voice, a man of the people, and undeniably for the people, a man revered by the journalist played by John Ireland, but whose rise to power's collateral damage will be a decline of honesty. Power would plant the seeds of a cynical mind. "All the King's Men" starts like a Capra film but ends in a film-noir mood. After World War II, world turned out to be more disillusioned and cynical for "Mr Smith" figures, and it's only voices like Willie Stark's that can be heard.Indeed, good old Ma Joad said 'we're the people', but in 1949, only Stark could make this statement audible, embodying in his huge body and larger-than-life personal those "Grapes of Wrath". And once Stark realized he had a natural charisma and capability to move the crowds, it's like Forrest Gump's braces breaking, the repressed ego finally implodes to the face of the political scene and from respect, the eyes and hearts are fueled with admiration and fear, starring with his titular inner circle, Mercedes McCambridge plays a sort of Jean Hagen-like character, going from antagonist to main counselor, she delivers her first and greatest (rightfully Oscar-winning) performance as a little woman with the toughest heart, venting her lack of seducing appeal in her infatuation with Stark.The rest of the cast includes Joanne Dru as Ireland's girlfriend, she's literally blown away by Stark's appeal and although her performance might be the one aspect of the film I disliked (God, how many times she had to turn her head theatrically!) the twist in her character –in all the meanings of the words- was quite gutsy and politically incorrect for its time. And there's Broderick Crawford as Stark, in the role of a lifetime, earning him the Oscar for Best Actor. My other favorite performance from him is in Fellini's "Il Bidone" and it's quite ironic and befitting that he played a swindler in the film, while Rossen would also direct another classic and favorite of mine "The Hustler", after all, isn't a politician a kind of hustler with power as the pay-off?But I'm still puzzled with Stark's character (this is how fascinating he is): did he turn into a bad guy or was he prone to corruption from the very beginning, it's hard to tell, but some of his insightful thoughts say a lot about his vision of politics: "good comes from evil" "but, who defines evil?" retorts one of the film's reasonable minds. Stark doesn't care, as long as he builds roads, schools, hospitals, as long as he puts his state on the maps, and allow people to stop seeing themselves as hicks, he'll believe in anything he says and does. Tyranny? Dictatorship? Well, we live in a Macchiavellian world where ends justify the means, but as the narrative progresses, we're in the eye of the tornado and can't see if power is an end or a mean for Stark.And maybe this is the power of "All the King's Men", Best Picture winner in 1950, a powerful film about power … even more because it has the kind of straight-forward appeal as if it deliberately embraced the simplicity of the very people targeted by Stark... hence my title as the poor man's "Citizen Kane".

freemantle_uk Based on a Pulitzer Prize winning by Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men has a lot going for it. For anyone who is interested in politics and governing then you will like this film, but there is also the themes about how power and wanting power corrupts and whether a bad man can do good.Jack Burden (John Ireland) is a reporter assigned to cover the election for county treasurer in the rural south (Louisiana in all but name), particularly focused on Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford). Willie is a honest man campaigning to against local corruption but harassed by the local establishment. When he is proved right after a tragic school accident Willie becomes a political powerful and Jack helps his campaign for Governor, from being a patsy to independent candidate and winning the election. But Willie ends up making deals with the people who he campaigned against and becomes more like the people he hated, running campaigns of intimidation and looking for absolute power. But he also invests in the state, building roads, schools and hospitals for the people.As stated the main theme of the film is that power corrupts with how a idealistic man becomes a part of a system, being no different to the previous people. Robert Rossen sets to show this with his direction and writing both the personal drama of how Willie changes and his quest for power and relationships with people to the affects of his policies have a positive affect on the people of the state. Rossen shows how corrupt people effective subvert democracy and freedom of the press at all levels, in what is meant to be the most democratic country in the world, how people or elites who have power are not willing to give it up. All the King's Men not only shows how politics and it's corrupting affects, Rossen shows the person relations, particularly Jack's idealistic believe in Willie having seen him in his early days and see believing in him even when he see what he has done.The acting is excellent throughout the film, with Crawford being the best as the idealistic politician. He spoke with real charisma and was believable, giving real conviction of the role, from being a good man to being a corrupt individual. His voice reminded me of Sam Douglas as Scott Shelby in Heavy Rain. Ireland too is very good, playing a man who wants to believe in something, who has a hostile relationship with his step-dad and hate his own background. Many of the supporting characters well rounded and ably performed.Rossen was a very competent, technical director, giving the audience some good set pieces, from the winning speech and the car clash, to wide shots and few cuts being used which was common for the time. With the amount of material in the film Rossen was able to tell it in a entertaining, fast-paced, tort film.

secondtake All the King's Men (1949)The reference to Humpty Dumpty isn't lost here--the hero, a likable protagonist headed for a fall, is the egg, the egg who would be king. We, the people, are the king's men. And all of this is not fantasy, but a fantastical version of the real Huey Long story, the governor and then senator who didn't exactly fall to pieces, but who became a troubling despot of a democratic sort.Long was a come-from-nowhere governor of Louisiana just as the Depression began. His motto: every man a king. Widely admired and hated to this day, he makes natural movie material, and this 1949 version focuses on just that main thread of gutsy idealism and bald powermongering. And the connection between the two, which is a kind of megalomaniacal ego, a charisma borne of blindness (which people admire because it seems so honest), and raw energy. The later movie (2006) is painfully strained and full of itself, and I'd avoid it completely. This one is not a masterpiece, but it has a fast pace, a lot of great acting, and a slightly better sense of authenticity, enough to succeed.Key to its success is Broderick Crawford, whose acting lifts a mundane (if smart) kind of filming to a higher pitch. Director Robert Rossen is totally in control, however, and if there is little magic to the writing or the construction of the film, in film-making terms, the story is told with such compact force, all you notice is Crawford and the twisting turns of events.