Very disappointing...

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

"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!!

The parallels to modern day politics is more than evident even if the picture is almost seventy years old. The connection to Huey Long notwithstanding, there was one point in the film when one sees only a rear view of Broderick Crawford in the Willie Stark role, and he looked to me just like George Wallace, another apt comparison I think. Stark also seemed to approach Wallace's equivalent of a fire and brimstone type orator, another populist characteristic that these sort of politicians take on.So if power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, this film ably captures the nuance of Stark's ideological world view that a man is conceived in sin and born of corruption. I don't think I've heard that philosophy expressed any more horrifically, and for those of that mindset I guess anything is possible. Jack Burden (John Ireland) in response appears willing to cut such corruption some slack when he states that 'many times, out of evil comes good'. In a roundabout way that may be true, but there's always a price to pay.The story element that I couldn't buy simply because it was so inconceivable was the idea of Anne Stanton (Joanne Dru) taking up with Stark - how hideous an idea was that? Maybe Sadie Burke (Mercedes McCambridge), that seemed more realistic, but the idea that Jack Burden could hang around with all the duplicitous dealings that personally affected him, well that was another bit of a stretch. But I guess when real people get tangled up in these sort of webs, it's hard to extract oneself. However there's one very real tip off for the viewer regarding Willie Stark's rise to power when he claims that large campaign contributions come with no strings attached. Remember now, he was a lawyer when he said it.

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.

i was mesmerized by this film from the beginning.i thought the story was great,i as was the writing.the dialogue was also well written.especially the first fiery speech given by Broderick Crawford's character,Willie Stark.i can find no fault with the acting,especially Crawford.i thought he was brilliant.i couldn't take my eyes off him.talk about a powerhouse performance.the movie really packs a powerful wallop to the stomach.the story of political corruption and greed is just as topical(if not more so)today and could easily be based on one of many of our present day politicians.would the film be as good without the brilliant performance of Broderick Crawford.we'll never know.and that's just fine.for me,All the King's Men is a (1949) is a 9/10