Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long (1995) (TV)

Director:

Thomas Schlamme

Writer (WGA):

Paul Monash (written by)

Release Date:

19 March 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

Some called him a hero. Some called him the most dangerous man in America.

Plot:

A look at the life and career of controversial Louisiana governor Huey Long, whose nickname was "The Kingfish." |

Plot Keywords:

Louisiana | Kingfish | Governor | Flashback Sequence | Historical

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

John Goodman	...	Huey P. Long, Jr.
Matt Craven	...	Seymour Weiss
Anne Heche	...	Aileen Dumont
Ann Dowd	...	Rose Long
Bob Gunton	...	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Bill Cobbs	...	Pullman Porter
Hoyt Axton	...	Huey P. Long, Sr.
Kirk Baltz	...	Frank Costello
Richard Bradford	...	Judge Benjamin Pavy
Jimmie Ray Weeks	...	Allen Henderson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joe Alaskey	...	Kingfish (voice)
Greg Baber	...	Tom Frady
Keith Bird	...	Huey's Crony / Companion
Walter Breaux	...	Warren
Ed Bruce	...	Gov. J.Y. Sanders
Joe Chrest	...	Carl Weiss
Mary Coulson	...	Marguerita Hass
Patrick Cullen	...	Antoine Daspit
Bertrum Dykes	...	Farmer
Victoria Edwards	...	Chanteuse
Stocker Fontelieu	...	Impeachment senator #1
Katie Planche Friedrichs	...	Mary Lou
Chappy Hardy	...	Frank Mendels
Jack Hazard	...	Man at parade
Bill Jessup	...	Impeachment senator #3
Danny Kamin	...	Cecil Christopher (as Daniel Tucker Kamin)
Thomas Keller	...	James
Jerry Leggio	...	Farley's aide
John McConnell	...	'Battlin' Bozman
Charles McLawhorn	...	Elderly senator #1
Mike McNally	...	Man in bathroom
Jacky Lee Morgan	...	Huey's Bodyguard
Joanne Pankow	...	Waitress
Jeff Perry	...	Earl Long
Bill Raymond	...	Gov. O.K. Allen
Rita Smith	...	Farmer's wife
Sister Mary Madeleine Thibeaux	...	Nun
Graham Timbes	...	Impeachment senator #2
Joe Warfield	...	Delesdernier
Sam Wells	...	Sen. Byrd
James Winder	...	Luther

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Chris/Rose Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Even though the movie was set in Louisiana, part of it was filmed at the State Capitol in Richmond, VA. The Seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia is clearly visible on the backs of the legislators' desk chairs.

Movie Connections:

Features Triumph des Willens (1935)

John Goodman's best performance!

John Goodman is best remembered for being Roseanne's husband on tv, as far as I'm concerned, he deserves a purple heart for just putting up with her! However, he is a fine dramatic actor as well and have repeatedly proven it in films like Sea Of Love and The Babe. He is a larger then life screen prescence who dominates every film that he is in, even when he played Fred Flintstone! He takes on a real life "Larger then life" character in playing Huey Long, the infamous Louisiana "Kingfish". People have forgotten Long's assassination in 1935 rocked the country like the JFK, RFK and MLK deaths three decades later. Long was really nothing but a bombastic dictator who turned the state of Louisiana into his own private political machine. You shudder when you think what would have happened if he had been elected President. Goodman shows Long's bombast and bluster, but also his great charm that appealed to the Louisiana voters. History tells us that Long was killed one night in 1935 at the Louisiana State Capitol by a young doctor named Wiess. However, ballistic and modern forensic examination seems to rule this out. Weiss had gone there to speak with Long because he was gerrymandering his Judge father in law's district and wanted to stop him from doing it. What happened is that they got into a shoving matfch and Weiss hit Long in the mouth. His bodyguards went beserk and shot Weiss over sixty times. One of the stray bullets hit Long and killed him. Its inronic and perhaps poetic justice that this dictator's death should have been at the hands of his brutal bodyguards.