All the King's Men

(source: tmdb.org)

Of all the Hollywood failures in 2006, few garnered as much attention as All the King's Men, an expensive and lavish political drama whose creators did not shy away from their 'Oscar' ambitions. However, the fiasco of All the King's Men was not entirely unexpected, considering it was yet another Hollywood remake, exemplifying the lack of ideas in the contemporary American film industry.

To make matters worse, it was an attempt to rework something that was already a pinnacle in itself – the adaptation of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that won an 'Oscar' in 1949, representing one of the rare instances where a literary classic provided material for a cinematic classic.

Unlike Robert Penn Warren's novel, set in the American state of Louisiana in the 1930s, the film by Steve Zaillian (best known as the author of the script for Schindler's List) has the plot set two decades later. Through the narration of journalist Jack Burden (played by Jude Law), we follow the rise and fall of Willie Stark (played by Sean Penn), a larger-than-life politician. He starts as a naive idealist, then becomes a fiery populist speaker winning over the masses with promises of social reforms for the poor, and ultimately, as governor, must resort to the same dirty governing methods he publicly denounced.

Warren's literary classic – which was adapted into a Soviet TV series in the early 1970s for its portrayal of the dark side of American democracy – is equally as fascinating as the real-life figure who inspired the character of Willie Stark: Huey P. Long (1893 – 1935), the governor of Louisiana, around whom historians still debate as fiercely as the public has been divided between his fanatical supporters and detractors during his lifetime. Long, portrayed by John Goodman in the TV film Kingfish in 1995, left behind numerous schools, hospitals, bridges, roads, and free textbooks for the poor, but also a reputation as a politician who did not shy away from using any means to achieve his goals, including not just “ordinary” corruption, but governing methods more akin to totalitarian regimes.

Unfortunately, very little of Long's/Stark's charisma is visible in the film, as Sean Penn sees All the King's Men as an opportunity for irritating overacting. Opposite him is a host of esteemed British actors – Hopkins, Winslet, Law – who made little effort beyond attempting to speak with a Southern accent, and whose characters quickly fade from the viewer's memory. The blandness of the characters is further compounded by Zaillian's clumsy script, which confuses the audience by combining “poetic” flashbacks with Law's monotonous narration.

For those not adequately informed about the history of the U.S. in the 1930s or the story of Huey P. Long, All the King's Men will be a completely incomprehensible film, requiring at least several viewings to understand what actually happened to the characters. There is no doubt that most will lack the patience for such an endeavour. What Warren intended to convey in his novel is far easier to grasp by observing certain all-too-familiar details from the real world rather than through vacuous Hollywood films.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

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(source: tmdb.org)

Otto von Bismarck allegedly remarked that “laws are like sausages” and that “one would lose one’s taste for them after seeing them being made”. This remark can be applied to the concept of democracy in general – a noble ideal that often leaves much to be desired when put into practice. You can find many such examples in the history of the United States, and one of them served as inspiration for All the King’s Men, the 1949 political drama written and directed by Robert Rossen, one of the most celebrated works of that genre in mid‑20th‑century Hollywood. The film is based on the 1947 Pulitzer Prize‑winning novel by Robert Penn Warren, inspired by the author’s first‑hand experiences with Huey P. Long, the popular but controversial governor of Louisiana.

The plot of the film is set in an unnamed US state and begins when the narrator Jack Burden (played by John Ireland), a newspaper reporter, gets assigned to a backward rural county to cover the campaign of Willie Stark (played by Broderick Crawford), a crusading candidate for county treasurer who accuses the corrupt political establishment of shady deals. Stark loses the election but, thanks to his honesty and zeal, leaves a good impression on Burden, who would later follow his political career. Over the years Stark defies the odds and, despite his humble background and lack of education, becomes a successful lawyer and champion of impoverished rural people, managing to take on the political establishment even at the state level. Following a cynical attempt to manipulate his rising popularity, Stark ultimately wins the governorship and begins to enact a broad and ambitious plan of building roads and hospitals.

Burden, who in the meantime became his close associate, begins to notice that some of Stark’s methods of governance include bribery, intimidation or worse, himself being tasked as the governor’s “hatchet man” who must find compromising information about Stark’s enemies. Those include the highly respected Judge Monte Stanton (played by Raymond Greenleaf), a friend of Burden’s family and uncle of Anne Stanton (played by Joanne Dru), a beautiful woman with whom Jack has been in love. Much to Jack’s displeasure, even she becomes seduced by Stark’s power and begins a relationship with him, despite the governor being married.

While the novel had clearly set the plot in the American South, the setting in Rossen’s script was changed to a more generic US state. This not only helped the film to evade the thorny issue of race, but also allowed producers to use more convenient Californian locations and the use of locals as extras, especially in scenes of campaign rallies and demonstrations, which often look as though they have been borrowed from newsreels or genuine documentaries. This cinéma vérité approach is, on the other hand, mixed with a more conventional style, including some scenes that led some critics to place All the King’s Men into the genre of film noir. That case is too stretched, but not without arguments. The main argument is that the main character of Willie Stark represents a typical “noirish” anti‑hero – an ordinary man who starts by trying to do the right thing only to get seduced by money, power and women and pay the ultimate price for his wrong choices.

The theme of All the King’s Men is, however, more universal and, in a way, more depressing because it deals with politics, something that tends to affect people whether it corresponds with their personal choices or not. Rossen’s film tells an all‑too‑familiar tale of people who might have started their path to power with the noblest intentions only to succumb to the temptations that come with success, thus joining the ranks of noble freedom fighters who so easily transform into oppressive tyrants at the earliest opportunity. Or, in this particular case, a grand saviour becomes “just another politician”. Rossen in his film shows that this phenomenon isn’t limited to a single individual or group. Almost any character in All the King’s Men is corrupted one way or another. Either out of material interest, greed, pride or some deeper emotional issues, they all find ways to, directly or indirectly, get involved in Stark’s shenanigans and be dragged to ruin together with him. Because of that, All the King’s Men is a very dark and depressive film.

All the King’s Men was released in a politically sensitive time at the start of the Cold War, when Hollywood tried hard to portray the USA as different as possible from its ideological adversaries. A film that depicted the dark underbelly of democracy didn’t sit well with Hollywood’s right‑wingers, including John Wayne who had refused the role of Stark, considering it “unpatriotic”. This created an opportunity for the relatively unknown character actor Broderick Crawford to deliver one of the most powerful performances in the history of 1940s Hollywood. Crawford, a middle‑aged and stocky man who obviously lacked the physical attributes of a film star, took his job enthusiastically and carefully studied film footage of Huey P. Long, trying to make the depiction of his fictional alter ego as accurate as possible. He easily gives a combination of folksy charm, strength of conviction and the seductive power of a master populist who can easily win people’s hearts only to betray their trust. Crawford won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role, accompanied by Mercedes McCambridge who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for playing his cynical campaign assistant and former lover Sadie Burke. The rest of the cast is also very effective, with the possible exception of John Derek, a young actor and future Playboy photographer, who isn’t that convincing as Stark’s troubled son. Rossen didn’t win an Oscar for direction and screenplay, and his career was almost extinguished soon afterwards, when his Communist past briefly made him a target of McCarthyist purges.

Ironically, American Communist adversaries embraced Warren’s novel and gave it their own interpretation with a 1971 television miniseries produced in Soviet Belarus. A new, much‑derided Hollywood version, directed by Steve Zaillian, came in 2006 with Sean Penn in the main role.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

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