All the King's Men (1949)
Director: Robert Rossen
Honors:
Golden Globe for Best Actor
Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe for Best Director
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Picture
Witnessing politically trying times has always been a
difficult thing for many who follow the American news cycle. Corruption and
politics appear to go together hand in hand and it wearies many that yearn for
the truth and justice preached by democracy. For years fiction had been shared
that captures tales of heroes that champion the fight against political
corruption, an example includes the classic Frank Capra picture Mr. Smith
Goes to Washington where a just Jimmy Stewart fights in the face of a jaded
Congress for the voices of the common man. All the King’s Men too tells
the tale of political corruption, but from a different perspective as the hero
becomes the villain disillusioning many in the power of politicians and their
lack of connection to the morals they once held for the sake of keeping
themselves in power. A prevailing subject for anytime in history, this feature
shares a tale that transcends its time in the film that won the greatest critical
prizes of 1949.
All the King’s Men is a drama about the rise of
goodhearted man of the people into becoming a ruthless politician, and his
subsequent fall. The story is told primarily from the viewpoint of journalist
Jack Burden (John Ireland) who discovers a small-town aspiring self-made
politician William Stark (Broderick Crawford) who begins fighting a just yet
losing battle against the empowered elected officials who strong arm their
opposition to remain in power. Following various political defeats, the once good-hearted
Stark learns to harness similar crooked methods to gain elected office, rising
to becoming governor. Through this journey Stark loses his innocence to become
just like the people he once tried to fight against. Jack witnesses the change
in Stark becoming tied to the campaign as Stark’s PR man, growing disillusioned
as he witnesses the change in the man he once championed. The world underneath
Stark grows complicated as he becomes as corrupt as a crime boss while
developing into a philanderer, sharing relationships with his campaign manager
Sadie (Mercedes McCambridge) and even Jack’s girlfriend Anne (Joanne Dru) while
losing emotional connection with his own family. Impeachment investigations
befall Stark, but he utilizes the manipulation of his power to win over his naïve
supporters and the courts, but is assassinated shortly after, freeing Jack and
Anne from the web they were entangled in.
To be quite frank this picture is a blunt reminder that
political corruption has been an issue for as long as we known and that very
little has changed. The direction of Robert Rossen captures the innocence of an
idyllic American town filled with idyllic American morals, but falls down that
dark hole of exploitation of government in a drama about the corruptive spiral
of absolute power. With a much-praised cast no simgle figure overpowers the
ensemble of little-known actors. Various subplots orbit the main storyline as every
figure appears to suffer in this picture with a tale that begins so innocently,
but turns into a a long and arduous journey that perfectly services the design
of the tale.
Inspired by the real-life governor of Louisiana, Huey Long,
the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Robert Penn Warren was a prize get for the
smaller major Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures when filmmaker Robert Rossen
pitched it. The picture would be a turning point Rossen who would pen the
screenplay, as well as produce and direct the feature. Controversy about the
director’s sympathies for the Communist party were severed in the production of
the picture about democracy which both questioned the corrupt nature the
political system can cater to while still championing the cause of justice in a
democracy.
Rossen was not known to be a well-organized filmmaker,
delivering a lengthy, meandering screenplay that attempted to capture most of
the celebrated novel. With the aid of many unaccredited screenwriters the script
would take better shape, but it would not help that Rossen was equally lengthy
with is shooting style as well. Despite crisp, clean, and meaning manner that
he shot his film in, Rossen liked to film a lot, following his script as the
blueprint, not taking in flow of story into account. After principle
photography the picture saw its first edit as a lengthy four hours which drug
on with little motivation to keep the drama centered or interesting. Rossen was
not one to cut out much of what he shot , but with instruction from the studio
Rossen has the film whittled down by his editor, cutting out large swathes of
scenes that helped quicken the plot and center more on the heart of the story,
ultimately leading to the film we experience.
The feature consisted primarily of a cast of relatively
little-known actors all playing that the top of their crafts. After John Wayne
turned down the opportunity to portray Willie Stark due to the films unpatriotic
view at leaders, regular B-movie tough guy Broderick Crawford was cast as the
man that starts off as the humble backwoods lawyer for the people that rises to
the dishonest political big shot. Crawford’s powerful performance would win him
the Academy Award for Best Actor, ironically defeating Wayne who was nominated
for his work in Sands of Iwo Jima.
John Ireland provides the audience the eyes of the picture
as his character Jack Burden serves as the viewpoint we experience the drama
through from beginning to end. For the actor best known for his cowboy roles,
Ireland turned an opportunity at Columbia into critical success before walking
out on the studio later in the year over a separate production dispute. Despite
being a rather low paid player for Columbia Ireland would turn out one of the
year’s best supporting actor performances, earning nods from the Oscars and
Golden Globes.
Mercedes McCambridge makes her motion picture debut as the
complicated character of Sadie, Stark’s sharp female campaign manager who both
butts heads with Jack Burden through the film yet sympathizes with through the
complicated times under their boss. Sadie is both protagonist and antagonist at
various points in the picture as her story is not too dissimilar to Jack’s,
only she chose to seek out the corrupt political world instead of it finding
her and then discovering emotional pain from Stark with their unspoken romantic
relationship. With a celebrated career in radio and the stage, McCambrigde was
quick to pick up the role of a female character with a sharp tongue and
protective demeanor. Thankfully the role of Sadie did not go to the
stereotypical pretty faced actresses as McCambridge’s complicated delivery of
the character adds to the role and the film, winning her Supporting Actress
award acclaim in just her first motion picture.
All the King’s Men quickly won praise through the
motion picture world in 1949, winning many major awards, including three
Academy Awards and helping to elevate the careers of those associated with it. It
would nearly sweep all major Best Picture awards for the year, taking home the
Academy Award, Golden Globe, and even New York Film Critics Circle awards for
Best Picture. The film stands well the tests of time as it still feels relevant
today with a viewing. 2001 saw the picture elected to the National Film
Registry, making it one of movies preserved in the Library of Congress for its
cultural significance in America cinema. To this day it remains the only Best
Picture winner to be base of a Pulitzer Prize winning novel and is worth a
watch. As the times of change continue to move forwards the evils of the world
continue to befall many and that is what keeps this film relevant to any fan of
American cinema to this day.
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