All the King's Men (1949)

Broderick Crawford, Mercedes McCambridge and John Ireland

'All the King's Men' is a dramatic movie made in 1949, directed by Robert Rossen and starring Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru, John Derek and Mercedes McCambridge. The movie is based upon the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name by Robert Penn Warren and deals with the dramatic political ascent and decline of Willie Stark, a small town lawyer turned governor and power broker during the 1930's. The story was inspired by the life of Louisiana's state governor and Democratic U.S. Senator, Huey Long.

The film was a critical and box-office success, winning the New York Film Critics Circle Best Picture Award before going into the Academy Awards as the favorite. It duly won the Best Picture Oscar as well as Best Actor for Broderick Crawford and Best Supporting Actress for Mercedes McCambridge (in her screen debut). It was unsuccessful in four other nominated categories : Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Editing. In 2001 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

After a gap of over half a century the film was remade as 'All the King's Men (2006)' with Sean Penn in the Broderick Crawford role. It was not as well received as the original.

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The story is told from the point of view of a newspaper reporter, Jack Burden, played by John Ireland, who follows the rise and fall of politician Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford) and sees how political power dehumanises him and changes him from an honest small town lawyer into an unscrupulous and sleazy political bully.

Broderick Crawford deservedly won the Best Actor Oscar for his compelling performance which lifted him from the ranks of 'B' movie actor. He was ably backed up by an intense performance by Mercedes McCambridge who plays his disillusioned and cynical secretary, and by excellent performances from the rest of the strong cast, particularly John Ireland and John Derek.

The striking cinematography in cinema verité style by Burnett Guffey gives the film a realistic newsreel style urgency. In short, 'All the King's Men' has terrific perfomances, a great story well told and is a very good film indeed, far better than the insipid 2006 remake.