And we're back with another entry in the Oscar Film Journal, here at Enuffa.com!
Today I'm heading to the 1940s again for the 1949 Best Picture winner, All the King's Men, starring Broderick Crawford and directed by Robert Rossen. Based on Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer-winning novel, ATKM chronicles the rise of a political demagogue, an idealistic fellow named Willie Stark who runs for public office hoping to do away with political corruption. But Willie doesn't have much success running a campaign the honest way and realizes he has to play by the dirty rules of politics to get things done, ultimately becoming the very thing he once detested. As Governor he engages in graft, political intimidation, scandal coverups, character assassination, philandering and likely outright violence, using his populist charisma to bend the voters and the gears of power to his will (Gee, why does this all seem oddly relevant in 2026?). By his side is a newspaper reporter-turned opposition researcher Jack Burden, who at first believes in Willie's platform but slowly begins to see what a parasitic con man he's become, as Willie ruins the lives of all of Jack's loved ones.
The role of Willie Stark was originally offered to John Wayne, but Wayne rejected it, claiming the film was unpatriotic (Hey man, if the blood and filth-covered shoe fits...). In a risky move the part went to character actor Crawford, and in a bit of poetic justice Crawford went on to defeat Wayne for that year's Best Actor award. His bulldog-esque face and gruff, plain delivery made him a perfect choice to play a character who goes from a folksy, upright working man's champion to essentially a grotesquely powerful mob boss. Willie's original platform to help the lower and middle class is a good and seemingly earnest one - at one point he successfully sues the county for criminally neglecting a school building after a fire escape collapse kills some students - but his methods ultimately become downright detestable as his power and influence corrupt him. As one character tells Stark after his adopted son's drunk driving causes the death of a young woman, "The things you said made sense....the words are still good. But you're not. And I don't believe you ever were." This line is the perfect distillment of the entire story.
ATKM illustrates with the dourness of a film noir the fragility of the American political system and the inherent dangers of populism. When the voters value the politician over his message and platform, the politician becomes a cult leader - above reproach, above accountability, and in the end, above the law. The character of Willie Stark was loosely based on populist Louisiana Senator Huey Long, who like Stark had very valid, progressive ideas on how to help working people pull themselves out of the Great Depression (FDR even adopted some of them for his Second New Deal) but resorted heavily on corrupt tactics to get them implemented.
But the themes explored here are and will likely always be pertinent to our precarious American system of governance, making the narrative evergreen even if the costumes and dialogue are steeped in 1940s noir. Hell, we're seeing this very scenario play out in real time; when the state's House of Representatives moves to impeach Stark and it comes down to a Senate vote, Stark incites his followers to demonstrate across the street, seemingly ready to storm the state capitol if the vote doesn't go his way. Was this film viewed by someone as an instruction manual instead of the cautionary tale it was meant to be?
ATKM isn't without some minor gripes; I found the finale rather abrupt and would've liked to see some kind of epilogue, and the Hays Code limitations of 1949 forced the filmmakers to imply a lot of things that could've better served the story with more frankness (I'd be interested to see a good contemporary retelling - apparently the 2006 version starring Sean Penn is pure drivel). But this is a quite thoughtful, provocative film that deftly explores the eminently indictable political system we were all taught was so even-handed and ironclad. Absolute power corrupts, and money tarnishes nearly everything it touches.
There's an argument to be made that All the King's Men should be required viewing in high school US History classes.
I give the film ***1/2 out of ****.
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