Delayed Reaction: All the King's Men

Premise: A once idealistic politician is corrupted by the very institutions he's trying to clean up.

I can't figure out if it's depressing or comforting that nothing is new in politics. No type of politician is really unique. Every generation thinks that some election is the most important election we've ever had. Ironically, everyone thinks they are the first ones to really understand the saying "If you don't learn from history, then you are doomed to repeat it". All the King's Men is a story that feels timely in literally any era. In my own notes for it, I wrote "The first half of this is what Trump's fans think he is. The last half is what Trump's haters think he is". At certain times, I could've said the same about Obama or Bush. What makes me like All The King's Men more than something like Network is that I don't think the people making this movie believe they are making a new point. All The King's Men is telling a story as old as time. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Politics is dirty. This is why even the politicians with noble intentions don't succeed with their hands still clean. It's actually quite surprising that the Sean Penn remake of this didn't find more success. It's such a timeless story.

Overall, I liked the movie. I have one pretty big issue with it though. It skips over the most interesting part. There's the period between Willie Stark's first and second gubernatorial campaigns where his most interesting character development happens. That's where he turns his momentum into power and makes all the deals with the devil. Why was that left out? It's similar to my complaint about There Will Be Blood's final act. It skips a step. Sure, I can imagine how the character got from one point to the other, but that's the part I was most hoping to actually see in the movie. Pretty much, as soon as Jack reconnects with Willie for that successful run for governor, he's already gone through most of his story arc. Apparently, there was a one point a 250-minute cut of this film. I wonder if a lot of Stark's transition was cut for time. It's pretty easy to believe this worked better as a book.

Still, it's a pretty terrific star performance from Broderick Crawford. It is quite surprising how few people I actually recognize in this cast. It's a worthy Best Picture winner in a holistic sense (I haven't seen any of the other nominees that year, so I can't compare).

Verdict: Weakly Recommend