All The King's Men DVD Review

All The King's Men Movie Credits:

ryanizay's score:
4 out of 5

Extras score:
1 out of 5

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All The King's Men Directed by:

Robert Rossen

All The King's Men Written by:

All The King's Men Region:

All The King's Men Release Date:

5th Sep 2006

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All The King's Men Synopsis:

In a bravura performance, Broderick Crawford won the 1949 Academy Award® for Best Actor with his stunning portrayal of bull-headed, backwoods lawyer Willie Stark, in this powerful drama about political and personal corruption. A somber but realistic chronicle of raw, brutal power in force, ALL THE KING'S MEN is based on Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. It was brought to the screen in 1949 by producer Robert Rossen who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. The story was inspired by the rise and fall of southern bigwig Huey Pierce Long, the infamous "Kingfish" who was Louisiana's governor and one-time senator. Long's cunning tactics of building public works during the depression to serve his own needs more than those of his constituents eventually brought about his own assassination in 1935. A compelling story of a self-made, self-styled politician, it was politics that almost prevented Rossen from making ALL THE KING'S MEN in the first place when he was named by the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities in 1947 for having Communist sympathies. Rossen's denial of this to Columbia chief Harry Cohn enables him to continue work on the film; but his earlier radicalism eventually surfaced and Rossen made only one film (The Brave Bulls) in the next five years. Nonetheless, ALL THE KING'S MEN remains a hallmark political film with superb performances throughout. John Ireland garnered an Academy Award® nomination for his role as Stark's tortured right-hand man, while Mercedes McCambridge won an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actress as Sadie Burke, Stark's callous, conniving political aide. In addition, the film won an Academy Award® for Best Picture along with nominations for Directing, Writing and Film Editing.

All The King's Men Review:

Often studios will try and make a quick dollar off of films as they are released in theaters with coinciding releases on DVD. As Superman was released in theaters this summer an assortment of Superman titles were also released on DVD. Cartoons, documentaries and live action home releases were put out for consumers; all of them hoping to exploit the popularity of a summer blockbuster. Another popular release comes when a classic film is remade. Often the original film will be released just prior, or just after, the release of the remake in theaters. This seems to encourage audiences to watch the remake, and if they liked it, perhaps they will rent the original. The release of All the King�s Men, the original classic, comes long before the theatrical release of the star-packed remake, which seems to be an encouragement for audiences to watch the original before they go to the theaters to see a recent adaptation. This way seems to make more sense, as it is respectful of the original work which in itself is a great film.

All the King�s Men tells the remarkable story of a man who wanted to do well for his country, at any cost. Broderick Crawford won the 1949 Academy Award for Best Actor (and I imagine we will hear a great deal about Sean Penn this season, as well) for his portrayal of Willie Stark, a hick lawyer who decides to become a politician simply because he wants to change things. At first it looks as though he hasn�t a chance, but after losing a few elections Willie learns how to win. Even if it means playing dirty, Willie begins to make changes wherever he goes, and he is praised by many and despised by a few dangerous men.

Based on Robert Penn Warren�s Pulitzer Prize Winning novel, All the King�s Men is loosely based on the rise and fall of Huey Pierce Long, an infamous governor and senator. There is a stark (no pun intended) realistic feel to the film, and this may be because it was grounded in reality in true source. Whatever the reason may be, it is a slow and steady decline into sleazy politics for each of the characters.

The DVD makes certain to provide us with a trailer of the new film to come, starring many talented actors, but it goes even further with a sneak peek behind the scenes as well. The small featurette obviously made for promotional use has interviews with Jude Law, James Gandolfini and Anthony Hopkins. Sean Penn is oddly, yet perhaps predictably, missing.