UnowPriceless hyped garbage

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

theclintdavis Broderick Crawford turns in a fantastic lead performance but I was ultimately disappointed by "All the King's Men," especially given the hype and weight that follow it. If you read the book first, you'll be turned off by how much the script deviates from it in major, obvious ways. But taken on its own, the movie doesn't hold up well for modern audiences largely because it feels too black & white and because of some of the choices made by the performers and the score. The music is terribly overwritten, as is the case with many movies of this era that haven't aged well. Most of the characters are played with some depth, including Willie and Jack, even if the latter is made into too much of a boy scout in this version. But Anne is played as a nitwit with all kinds of dramatic head twisting while that aforementioned score cranks up and makes her scenes feel like the end of the world has come. This movie is terribly sad and its story is a classic meditation on the corruption of power. But of you really think about it, Willie isn't all bad. Even at his worst, he was still building great infrastructure, good schools and a beautiful hospital that would treat people for free. And clearly the people continue to love him. Throwing in the salacious storyline about his boys murdering man just for standing up to him was pointless Hollywood sensationalism. The scenes featuring Willie's speeches and the montages of clips during the time passages are brilliant and still intense but much of the movie sadly feels dated and overdone. After seeing stuff like "House of Cards," this feels pretty safe.

gavin6942 The rise and fall of a corrupt politician (Broderick Crawford), who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.So this was based on a novel that was inspired by Huey Long... but keep in mind it is not the story of Huey Long. No matter how much you want to say it is, and how many links you want to draw, it is not. (Because if it is, they told a completely different story from the reality.)What this actually is, is a story about corruption and power, plain and simple. It may not be true that "everybody wants to rule the world", but many people do. And many are willing to cut corners, take bribes and other dastardly things to help them succeed. Granted, as much as we dislike it, there is a certain amount of this that is politics as usual and may not ever be cleaned up. But then you have guys like Willie Stark who take it beyond the boundaries of good sense...

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.

DKosty123 This is very much a period piece. Robert Rosen directs & his direction here is not quite where he was when he would do " The Hustler " later but this is still a solid film. This is Broderick Crawford playing a fictional version of Huey Long known as Willie Stark.While his intentions of getting into politics are good, he winds up selling himself out to accomplish good in the same way everyone who gets elected still does. His one line about nailing the fat guys in a speech is very much reflective of the Obama line of paying all our governments bills by "taxing the rich" which people still bought hook line & sinker in our last election.In this movie, we even find out that even when a politician is a true outsider, once they get inside they become the rich. That is why no matter how much someone calls for "change we can believe in" things never change. In the case of Huey Long, the book this is based upon was obviously not written by one of his biggest fans.Still, this is a worthwhile picture though a bit dated. It has been redone recently with Jude Law in the cast. Guess if I run into that one, I will look at it. Politics don't seem to change, no one is ever all knowledgeable about what is really going down.