Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

MartinHafer "All the King's Men" is essentially the career of the infamous Louisiana politician, Huey Long...though the studio made a few changes here and there in order to avoid lawsuits. This is because the film is NOT a flattering look at a politician who seemed to start out with the best of intentions and eventually became a monster.The film begins with a newspaper reporter (John Ireland) trying to cover the political campaign of a small-time and unknown newcomer, Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford). But the campaign is completely undermined by the state political machine--crony politics where a small group of men essentially run the entire show. After losing, Willie runs again...and once again loses. By his third election, Willie has learned much...and eventually realizes how to beat the entrenched party machine. And, instead of a group of people, the people of his state have one man running it all....and that one man appears to have all the worst qualities of the old machine...and then some.This film earned the Academy Award for Best Picture...and two more for acting. Crawford took home the Best Actor statuette and Mercedes McCambridge the Best Supporting Actress and John Ireland nominated for the Best Supporting Actor awards. And, the acting in this film was pretty good. In fact everything about the film is very good except for two things...it would have been nice if they'd called it like it was and said the man was Huey Long instead of a guy inspired by him and if the film WAS set in Louisiana or some rural setting, why didn't anyone look or sound like they were from this part of the country? Minor quibbles...and a film, overall, that's well worth your time...though I think the better pictures that year was "The Heiress" as well as "12 O'Clock High".By the way, in the final climactic scene, pay attention to the assistant for the Governor...his gun fires 8 or more times without reloading...and it's a revolver!!

SnoopyStyle Reporter Jack Burden is sent by his editor to Kanoma County to cover political newcomer Willie Stark. Stark is railing against corrupt officials and is arrested by the corrupt police. He is the overwhelming underdog and loses the race for treasurer. He studies law at night to become a lawyer. He rises in fame when he takes on the government for shoddy school construction that killed some children. The governor needs help to win and his handlers pick Stark to split the opposition hick vote. He starts off poorly but eventually becomes a populist who wins it all. In turn, Stark's idealism is corrupted by vanity and greed turning him into yet another corrupt politician.This is a terrific political drama. The acting is terrific from Broderick Crawford in the lead. Mercedes McCambridge is also terrific as political operator Sadie Burke. It takes a gritty dark look at the political system and its inherit corruption. It's also a character study of an idealistic man falling in love with his own persona. It is a long winding story which may be its only minor drawback. However Crawford's magnetic performance shines through.

gbabbitt30 I've watched this movie many times over the past forty years and with changing opinion each time. There are some wonderful scenes that are tightly written, well-staged, and wonderfully acted, and they add tremendous color and life to the cinematization of a Great American Novel, but as years go by, my respect for the movie as art has diminished. Perhaps in its day, ATKM was a spectacular accomplishment, but I find it nowadays stiff and somewhat disjointed. The problem with trying to make a great book into a movie is that just cobbling the great parts out of the book together doesn't make the movie great. The Robert Penn Warren novel was extraordinarily complex and carefully paced to followed a dumb hick from the cotton fields to the pinnacle (and abuse) of power, but the movie tries to cram the entire story into the standard Hollywood two hours, and to do that, it has to lurch from high point to high point, like climbing all the Colorado Rocky Mountains by trying to hop from one fourteener to another. It just doesn't work. It's tough making a movie from a great book because lovers of the book like me will criticize it because it doesn't meet our expectations of the novel. "All The King's Men" as a book has aged like oak-casked whiskey; as a movie, the cork has leaked.

mark.waltz Willie Stark seems like a man of the people. He is, that is if those people suit his agenda. When first seen, he is running for County Treasurer, having discovered graft that causes a tragedy at an elementary school. When you're discovered to be right about corruption that caused the deaths of innocent children, you are sure to be labeled a hero. He decides to run for governor. But his opponents are ruthless. Then, so is Stark. When the next election comes up, Stark is a shoe-in, and he turns the state around with improvements that win him much popularity. How does he succeed? A little blackmail, a bit of bribery, and LOTS of bullying. That's how. What seemed to be for the good of the people now becomes a lot clearer to the people around him as well as his enemies. Those who oppose him are destroyed: financially, emotionally, brutally. There's rumors of murder, even a suicide. Someone has gotten too big for his britches! That's what this Oscar Winning film is all about-evil motives behind good intentions, and that leads to Dante's Inferno, of course. But before that happens, a lot of people have to suffer, and the people around Governor Stark don't see what their support of him is more destructive than they could possibly imagine. This is only my second viewing of this all-time classic, and my image of Broderick Crawford was as the outwardly bullying Harry Brock in 1950's "Born Yesterday", made right after this won him a deserving Oscar. The difference between Willie and Harry is that you know right from the beginning who Harry Brock is. Controlling, power-hungry, uncouth (to quote Judy Holliday in that movie), and downright brutish. But as Willie, he's a seemingly devoted husband and father, underneath it all, cheating on his wife and pushing his son onto greatness more than his son cares to be pushed. Willie Stark is the greatest liar politics has ever seen...on screen that is. But as they say, you can only fool some of the people some of the time, and it all comes out in the end.John Ireland is excellent as the reporter who leaves his job at the newspaper during Crawford's first run for governor to work for him. He will regret that decision for the remainder of his days as he sees the moral laws he will have to break. Joanne Dru is the sweet daughter of a judge opposed to Stark, but for some reason, she gets involved with him even though she was in love with Ireland. The most unforgettable performance, next to Crawford's, is Oscar Winning Mercedes McCambridge as a cold and calculating secretary to Crawford that is equally as ruthless as her boss. She's also envious, a fact she attributes to the small pox which left her face "hard", while Willie's long-suffering wife (Anne Seymour) has aged gracefully (with a conscience) and Dru is naturally beautiful. Among the smaller roles is Paul Ford in a dramatic part rare in his repertoire.Political dramas have dominated Hollywood history ever since cameras started turning, and the story of corruption, desperation for power over democracy and the destruction of one's own soul in order to get that power is a timeless theme that is as old as time itself. Perhaps people in office should be made to watch films like "All the King's Men", "State of the Union", "Advise and Consent" and "The Best Man" once a year simply to remind them of what their duties really are and to stop serving only those who give them the highest campaign contributions. The film's ending may be a drastic move in order to squelch political abuse, but it is a metaphor for what will happen to one's soul if they continue to follow the same paths as fictional politicians such as Willie Stark.