All the King's Men (2006)

Director:

Steven Zaillian

Writers (WGA):

Steven Zaillian (screenplay)
Robert Penn Warren (novel)

Release Date:

22 September 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Time brings all things to light.

Plot:

Based on the Robert Penn Warren novel. The life of populist Southerner Willie Stark, a political creature loosely based on Governor Huey Long of Louisiana.

Plot Keywords:

Louisiana | Governor | Political | Politician | Mistress

Cast

Sean Penn	...	Willie Stark
Jude Law	...	Jack Burden
Anthony Hopkins	...	Judge Irwin
Kate Winslet	...	Anne Stanton
Mark Ruffalo	...	Adam Stanton
Patricia Clarkson	...	Sadie Burke
James Gandolfini	...	Tiny Duffy
Jackie Earle Haley	...	Sugar Boy
Kathy Baker	...	Mrs. Burden
Talia Balsam	...	Lucy Stark
Travis Champagne	...	Tom Stark (as Travis M. Champagne)
Frederic Forrest	...	Willie's Father (as Frederic F. Forrest)
Paul Desmond	...	Slade
Kevin Dunn	...	Alex
Thomas McCarthy	...	Editor (as Tom McCarthy)

Also Known As:

Das Spiel der Macht (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for an intense sequence of violence, sexual content and partial nudity.

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Ireland:12A | Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41471) | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Germany:12 | Finland:K-11 | UK:12 | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Brazil:16

Filming Locations:

Albania Plantation - 1842 LA 182 E., Jeanerette, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Writer/director Steven Zaillian never saw the original film, and adapted the screenplay solely from Robert Penn Warren's novel.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the first scene with Willie and Lucy talking to Jack, Willie and Lucy are drinking Orange Pop with clear bottles, but when the shot changes the bottles change to brown glass bottles.

Quotes:

Jack Burden: You only get a couple of moments that determine your life. Sometimes only one. And then it's gone. Forever.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: The Worst of 2006" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Una donna a quindici anni

Big, Brassy, Gorgeous Images; Literate Script; Politics: What's Not to Like?

The critics slammed this movie and I loved it. Shame on the critics.

I love movies that transport me to an exotic place and a distant time. "All the King's Men" lushly recreates mid-century Louisiana. There's a lot of money up on the screen, beautifully lit and photographed: vintage, boat-like automobiles, forties and fifties fashions and fabrics, Spanish moss, ante-bellum mansions, a bronze bas relief map of Louisiana, set in a floor, that is put to amazing use.

There's a scene where a young woman returns from an illicit tryst in dim light. Her hair ripples to her shoulders in honey blonde waves. Her plump lips are painted, matte, in the color of dried blood. Her jilted lover, his fedora slung low on his forehead, stands in silhouette, watching her every move. Neither speaks.

In another scene, a backlit woman enters a bar and places her white cotton gloves over her hand.

Just, lovely scenes that capture another era.

I'm a political junkie, so I went to see this movie in spite of the bad reviews. It didn't let me down. It's a political soap opera from the first frame to the last.

Deals cut in smoke filled rooms, double crosses, fiery speeches to enthralled crowds. I ate it up.

The stars! Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Kathy Baker, James Gandolfini...Jackie Earle Haley, someone I'd never heard of before, was memorable as a gun toting body guard.

Sean Penn's performance has been panned - too much arm waving. I loved the arm waving. Penn's arm waving doesn't come across as forced or inorganic. This is a man who can barely contain himself -- he's a human tornado. The historical figure with whom Penn's character, Willy Stark, is associated, Huey Long, was a powerhouse builder of bridges, hospitals, and roads. Penn conveys that kinetic energy and passion.

And the script! Thank God someone was willing to write a script in which people take some risks with language, communicate complex ideas, employ figures of speech! Heavens! In a movie in which nothing explodes and no cartoon superhero saves the world! I loved having to listen to what people were saying to know what was going on. I loved the flowery language. This is the South, after all, from several decades ago, and, yeah, those folks did love their language skills.

Another reviewer denounced the film's score as bombastic. It is bombastic, wonderfully so. It suits the subject matter perfectly. This isn't a movie about a shrinking violet who sits at home and writes poetry; it's a movie about a sweaty man who takes power and makes his mark.

Okay, so why didn't I give the movie ten stars? Sean Penn's character is fully realized, but the other characters are not. "All the King's Men" is a big, fat soap opera. There's a lot of sex, threats, lust, longing, suicide, and betrayal to fit into two hours. The film should have been longer so that characters other than Willy could have been fleshed out.

Patricia Clarkson is a case in point. Her character sets some key events in motion, but she's barely there -- either the character or the actress.

Anthony Hopkins comes across as just that -- Anthony Hopkins -- not the character he is playing. While everyone else does their best to produce a Southern accent, Hopkins insists on speaking with a British accent, and this sticks out like a sore thumb.

Kate Winslet and Mark Ruffalo are meant to be, like Blanche Dubois, representatives of degenerate Southern aristocracy, but they both seem entirely too robust to be degenerating.

Jude Law is better in a similar role as a member of the fading aristocratic class. Law always seems to do well in roles where he is punished by, rather than enjoys, his beauty. Just so here. Too bad that, in key scenes, Hopkins doesn't create any chemistry with him.

The lack of development of secondary characters -- and everyone, compared to Willie Stark, is secondary here -- made the film oddly emotionally unmoving to me. Again, there are scenes that contain the kind of elements that might have packed an emotional wallop that left me dry eyed.

Willy Stark's rise to power is built on the poverty of the citizens of Louisiana. The movie didn't convey that poverty to me. According to one website devoted to Huey Long, Lousiana had three hundred miles of paved road, two bridges, and high illiteracy rates when Long took office. If true, those stats are startling.

Finally, something else was missing, for me. Whenever one observes a charismatic politician, there is always the question: Does he really care about the people? Or is he just addicted to the adulation? I never had that question about Sean Penn's Willy Stark, as I do about, say, Bill Clinton. Willy Stark, here, is imperfect, but sincere. He wants to help his people.