Dir. Robert Rossen
Writ. Robert Rosen
Act. Broderick Crawford, Mercedes McCambridge

The 1950 Academy Award ® winner best picture, All The Kings Men is a study of corruption in politics and how a good honest man can be manipulated into the very thing he fought against. Legendary actor Broderick Crawford portrays lead character Willie Stark and does a wonderful job as the doppelganger that changes from honest small town man to corrupt big city politician.

Willie Stark, portrayed by Broderick Crawford (Born Yesterday,) is a man who wants to run for county commissioner in his small county and loses the election because of the corruption that is in the local government. When a accident happens at a local school that kills and hurts a dozen children, the local community realizes that Stark was an honest man and rallies around him. This pushes him to run for governor. He loses the nomination running as the honest man, but learns from it and runs again four years later. The second campaign is run on lots of money and lots of promises all in the name of the good of the people. He wins the election and begins to run the government in the same corrupt way that the people he was against when he ran for county commissioner.

This was Crawford's Academy Award ® winning performance as Stark. He didn't seem to change much in character. His mannerisms were the same as well as his speech. It seemed to me that it was his physical choices that made the biggest change in the character. He went from being a non-drinker, to an alcoholic. His posture also changed from one where he slouched a lot to one where he was standing straight and tall. I guess what I am saying is that I did not see a whole lot of change in the man. That could very well be the point of the character; the difference between a honest man and a corrupt man is very small and they both come from the same stock. If that was the point of the character, then the performance was masterful. I don't know, so I will error in favor of Mr. Crawford.

The other Academy Award ® winning performance was for the character of Sadie Burke, the campaign leader, if you will, for Willie Stark, portrayed by actress Mercedes McCambridge (The Exorcist.) I would guess that she won the role because she played a very risky part, an outspoken, ambition hunting, almost male, character. For 1949, that is an unheard of part for a woman and she did a great job. I don't know if she would win an award for it now, but back then I can see it. Interesting side note, she was the voice of the demon possessed Regan MacNeil in the 1973 movie The Exorcist.

I should say that since this film is so old it can be very hard for the modern film fan to watch today. Close-ups are almost non-existent and many scenes are shot so you can not see the facial expressions of the actor(s) in the scene. It is almost shot as if you were an audience member watching a stage play. However, if you can ignore that, then you should be able to enjoy the movie. The story is quite engrossing, especially if you have any knowledge of politics. The story does drag a bit in the beginning as it tries to set up the honest character of Willie Stark. It is important but slow. The ending also suffers because the writer is going out of his way to show how all of those people who are supporting Willie slowly realize what he has become and it would have been nicer if it had been a little tighter. I also don't understand the last line of the movie, in which Willie say, "Willie could have been the world…" It gives the impression that Willie never learned what he had become even in death. The movie was based on a Pulitzer Prize winning book of the same name by Robert Penn Warren. I may want to read it to see how much writer, director, producer, Robert Rossen (The Hustler) had changed it to make the script.

"All The King's Men" is a entertaining movie that looks at the corruption of political figures. A remake will be released in 2006 staring Sean Penn as Willie Stark, and it will be interesting to see the choices he makes compared to that of Broderick Crawford. The one thing for certain is that corruption in politics is timeless and is just as relevant in 1949 as it is in 2006.

Brian - the Naked Gun