DVD Review: All The King’s Men (2006)

By Patrick Luce Dec 24, 2006, 14:30 GMT

Thanks to strong performances from a cast of greats and a political story that still resonates today, All The King’s Men is an interesting and intriguing film that is worth taking the time to watch.

With the remake of All The King’s Men, Sean Penn once again shows his ability to deliver a captivating performance and make a movie impossible to simply dismiss. Thanks to his performance and a solid job from co-star Jude Law, the political drama shows its weight with a plot that requires thought and will leave you discussing the film’s issues.

The film is directed by Steven Zaillian (who also wrote the screenplay) and stars a some of Hollywood’s best actors – including Penn, Law, Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Patricia Clarkson, James Gandolfini, Jackie Earle Haley, and Kathy Baker.  It is based on the Robert Penn Warren novel (which was also adapted into a movie in 1949 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947).

At its core, the film tells two stories. The first story is the rise of “hick” politician Willie Stark (Penn) and his eventual downfall into corruption. The second story is of Jack Burden (Law) – a newspaper journalist who is employed by Stark and slowly turned more cynical to the ways of the world. Both men show great promise at the beginning of the film, but we watched as their worlds slowly crumble through the manipulations of Stark, and the depths that Burden sinks trying to do what he believes at times is the “right thing.”

Law and Penn deliver great performances

Although the main plot of the film is about Willie Stark (Law narrates the film as the Burden character), much of its real story deals with the Burden character and the people who are sucked into Stark’s world only to be left destroyed in his wake. Just as the novel (which is considered by many critics to be one of the best American political fiction novels) is grounded in a dark and somewhat depressed view of the American political system, the movie holds no punches in showing the corruption that can take a good man and grind him down.

The movie is set in Louisiana during the 1940s and 50s. As the film opens, we are introduced to the main characters – a charismatic political idealist Willie Stark (who is said to be based on Louisiana governor Huey Long) and a young journalist covering Stark’s bid for Governor. Burden (already a bit cynical about the political system) sees Stark’s campaign as nothing more than a ploy by the “big” boys to split the vote. Once Stark figures this out, he smashes that plan through fiery speeches of “nailing up” the corrupt and putting a hick in the office to help take care of all the other hicks in the state.

Through Willie’s presence and Jack’s articles (which cost him his job), the hick gets the job. It doesn’t take long for the audience to see that the wheels of politics are already corrupting the somewhat already questionable Stark. The first indication of this corruption is seen when he supports Tiny Duffy (Gandolfini) and Sadie Burke (Clarkson) into his cabinet. Both were involved in the plan to use Stark to split the vote and were considered corrupt by Burden. Yet, they now seem at ease in the hick’s inner circle. We also see that Stark isn’t quite as moral as we were led to believe (early in the film he refuses to drink alcohol opting instead for orange soda with two straws).

As Stark sets about delivering speeches and changing the way Louisiana is run (mostly through strong arm tactics), Jack finds himself working for the Governor, but in a job not quite as noble as his previous calling. This quickly puts him at odds with his godfather Judge Irwin (a story plot that will show how far Jack falls in the film), and brings old friends (Winslet and Ruffalo) back into his life.

The film moves along at a somewhat slow pace, but stays interesting thanks to the performances of its cast. Stark sets about trying to do many of the projects he promised during his run for office, but also making sure everything has his name displayed on it. He also seems to become more corrupt with each clash between his ideas and the rich people/businesses who truly control the state. These clashes seem to cause even more corruption (from bribes to blackmail), and eventually lead him to impeachment hearings.

Jack is forced to bring his friends into Stark’s world

Along the way, Jack is forced to continue to question his own beliefs as he follows Willie’s orders and digs for dirt on Judge Irwin and manipulates his lifelong friends (who happen to be the children of former Governor Stanton).

In a film filled with brilliant performances from a cast of Hollywood’s best, Penn and Law still manage to outshine the others. Penn is Willie Stark. He captures the characters “innocence” and “idealism” in the beginning of the film, and then forces the audience to question just how innocent this guy really was as the film continues. He delivers fiery speeches throughout the movie that make you want to support him, and then follows them with behavior that makes you wonder just how noble this guy really is. His performance makes the audience feel like the Jack Burden character. We want to support him and believe him, but ultimately feel betrayed by the time the film ends.

Law is the “moral” compass of the film, and presents a solid performance that is subtle to Penn’s explosions. He helps the audience identify with the characters, and gives us someone that we can halfway truly like in the film. Law’s scenes with Hopkins help bring emotion to the film, and allows us forgive how parts of the movie drag. His scenes with Winslet add some love story elements to the plot, but not enough to overtake the political weight of the film.

Although I enjoyed the film, it does have some problems - mostly in the pacing. The film is a bit hard to follow at first, and seems to end a couple of times before the credits actually roll. Some of the actors (most notably Gandolfini) don’t quite nail the Louisiana accents – which makes parts of the film feel a bit hokey. Still, none of the problems hurt the movie’s overall story.

The “special edition” DVD does come with enough features to make it worth the title and take you inside film. They include a standard “making of the film” look that is a little over six minutes long and an “on location” feature that is about eight minutes. Both of these features take you behind the cameras and are fairly typical for DVD releases.

It is questionable just how corrupt Stark is from the beginning

The DVD also has a 10 minute feature “Shake Hands with the Devil” which has interviews with the cast about today’s political world and how the story still relates to our modern world. “An American Classic” (which is a little over 13 minutes long) is a detailed look at Robert Penn Warren and his novel. There are also three deleted scenes and an “alternate ending.”

There is also a great feature “The Legend and Lore of Huey Long” (about 23 minutes) on the politician which features interviews with historians, political scholars, and Louisiana statesmen. For fans of history, this will probably be the favorite addition to the special features.

Thanks to strong performances from a cast of greats and a political story that still resonates today, All The King’s Men is an interesting and intriguing film that is worth taking the time to watch. The movie does have some pacing issues, but the cast more than make up for any problems.

All The King’s Men is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.