All the King's Men (1949)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Robert Rossen

Writers:

Robert Rossen (writer)
Robert Penn Warren (novel)

Release Date:

7 August 1950 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

He Might Have Been A Pretty Good Guy . . . If Too Much Power . . . And Women . . . Hadn't Gone To his Head !

Plot:

The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.

Plot Keywords:

Politician | Rural | Rise And Fall | Blackmail | Jealous Woman

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Broderick Crawford	...	Willie Stark
John Ireland	...	Jack Burden
Joanne Dru	...	Anne Stanton
John Derek	...	Tom Stark
Mercedes McCambridge	...	Sadie Burke
Shepperd Strudwick	...	Adam Stanton
Ralph Dumke	...	Tiny Duffy
Anne Seymour	...	Mrs. Lucy Stark
Katherine Warren	...	Mrs. Burden (as Katharine Warren)
Raymond Greenleaf	...	Judge Monte Stanton
Walter Burke	...	Sugar Boy
Will Wright	...	Dolph Pillsbury
Grandon Rhodes	...	Floyd McEvoy

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | Netherlands:AL (VHS rating) (1998) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | UK:U | USA:Unrated | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

In the original manuscript, Willie's last name is Talos, not Stark. When the novel was first published, the name was Stark. In 2001, the novel was reprinted with Stark's name changed back to Talos, among other changes.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the locker room scene, the towel draped over Tom's shoulders keeps changing positions.

Quotes:

Willie Stark: You wanna know what my platform is? Here it is. I'm gonna soak the fat boys and spread it out thin.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "HBO First Look: 'The Contender': The Making of a Political Thriller (#7.17)" (2000)

See? Now why did this need a remake?

Recently I saw a pretty uninteresting movie, All the King's Men, starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, and Kate Winslet. I wasn't that impressed and I was embarrassed to see that it was actually a remake, I didn't realize there was another classic out there that had won best picture. But when I saw the remake, I was kinda scared to see this version due to the fact that maybe I was just not into the story, but it turned out to not only be a good film, but a great one that had no need to be a remake almost 60 years later.

Willie Stark is a crooked lawyer who decides to run for senator, swearing up and down the people that he is just like them and making crazy promises, he gets elected and finds that it's harder than he realized to keep those promises. Things start to fall apart more and more when his son gets into some serious trouble causing bad press, the people are not satisfied with his duties, and his marriage begins to fall apart as well eventually leading up to a horrific ending to his term when he is threatened with impeachment.

All the King's Men, the original, is a great movie that I would recommend for the classic lovers. The remake, trust me, it isn't worth watching, but in some sick way I am grateful for it, because I would have never had the opportunity to see this film. We have terrific performances and a great story that anyone could get into, not to mention the Oscar praise it got was well deserved. Sit back and enjoy the movie, the classics are always worth it.

8/10