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All
the king's men
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Movie
| Book
| Author
| Director
& cast
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Book: All the King's Men (1946)
Movie: All the King's Men (1949)
Premise
movie:
All the King's Men, based on Robert Penn Warren's novel, is the story of Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford), a nobody from an unnamed state who rises from the mud of the backcountry to become governor. Along the way, there's a succession of broads and dead bodies, the use of intoxicating substances and the bribing of state troopers. And finally, oh yeah, impeachment. Stark begins his political career when he runs for county treasurer of backwater Konoma County, the people's chance for "an honest politician." He loses the race, but his David-and-Goliath story catches the eye of newspaper reporter Jack Burden (John Ireland). Burden becomes his chronicler, following Stark through law school, to his small practice, and then as a people's advocate against corruption. Stark's first run for governor is a setup, though he doesn't know that: the other party needs a patsy to split the opponent's vote. Still the "honest politician," he loses. Burden drifts away from Stark, and when he returns four years later for Stark's next campaign, Stark has dramatically changed. Now Stark's election coffers are overflowing, and Burden wonders what he promised to whom for the contributions. Stark vows to the voters that he'll give them new hospitals, schools, roads. And when he's elected, he makes good -- but at the cost of becoming as dirty as the gang he swept out. Where before he'd been a straight arrow, now he's a boozer and a womanizer, double- and triple-timing his wife and girlfriends. He covers up corruption and graft in his administration, and has Burden dig up dirt on his opponents. The people love him, but Stark is out of control.
Which goes to show that, despite what everyone says, the people don't really want an honest politician who'll give it to them straight (look what happened to Dukakis). They want someone who'll promise them the moon, no matter how unfeasible that is. And then the people want to be able to be shocked when the only way to supply the moon is through underhanded means. Or that the only person able to give the moon is the conniving type.
Is All the King's Men any more the Bill Clinton story than
Primary Colors was? See for yourself and decide. But down to its shocker of an ending, it's very contemporary, as fresh today as it was half a century ago."
from:
http://www.flickfilosopher.com/oscars/
bestpix/allkingsmen.shtml
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Premise
book:
This landmark book is a loosely fictionalized account of Governor Huey Long of Louisiana, one of the nation's most astounding politicians.
All the King's Men tells the story of Willie Stark, a southern-fried politician who builds support by appealing to the common man and playing dirty politics with the best of the back-room deal-makers. Though Stark quickly sheds his idealism, his right-hand man, Jack Burden -- who narrates the story -- retains it and proves to be a thorn in the new governor's side. Stark becomes a successful leader, but at a very high price, one that eventually costs him his life. The award-winning book is a play of politics, society and personal affairs, all wrapped in the cloak of history.
from:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/
0156004801/104-5537451-1197535?v=glance
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Author:
"Robert Penn Warren was born in Guthrie, Todd County, Kentucky, on April 24, 1905. He was the oldest of three children; others being Mary, the middle child, and Thomas, the youngest. His
parents were Robert Franklin Warren, a proprietor and banker, and Anna Ruth Penn Warren, a schoolteacher. In the fall of 1911 he entered the Guthrie School from which he graduated at age 15. He did not then enter college as his mother felt he was too young and went instead, in September, 1920, to Clarksville High School, Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee, graduating after the full school year. In the spring of 1921 he suffered an injury to his left eye from a rock throwing incident perpetrated by his younger brother. The injury eventually led to removal of the eye. During the summer of 1921, he spent six weeks in Citizens Military Training Corp, Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he published his first poem, "Prophecy", in
The Messkit. He earlier had obtained an appointment to the United States Naval Academy but because of the eye the appointment was cancelled and in the fall of 1921 he entered Vanderbilt University at age 16.
While at Vanderbilt he came under the tutelage of some of the foremost teachers in literature such as Allen Tate, John Crowe Ransom, and Andrew Lytle. Also he became involved with two groups; the Fugitives and the Agrarians. In the summer of 1925 he graduated from Vanderbilt summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and Founder's Medalist. Then, in August, he entered the University of California as a graduate student and teaching assistant. Here he met his first wife, Emma "Cinina" Brescia. In 1927 he received his M.A. from University of California and, in the fall, entered Yale University on fellowship. In October, 1928 he entered New College at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar receiving his B.Litt. in the spring of 1930.
He secretly married Emma Brescia in the summer of 1929, a marriage that was to end on June 28, 1951.On December 7, 1952, he married Eleanor Clark. This marriage produced two children, Rosanna Phelps Warren and Gabriel Penn Warren.
Warren was a poet, critic, novelist, and teacher. He taught at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, Southwestern College, Memphis, Tennessee, University of Minnesota, Yale University, and Louisiana State University. While at LSU he founded and edited, along with Cleanth Brooks and Charles W. Pipkin, the literary quarterly,
The Southern Review. As a poet, he was appointed the nation's first Poet Laureate, February 26, 1986. He published sixteen volumes of poetry and two---Promises: Poems, 1954-1956
and Now and Then: Poems, 1976-1978---won Pulitzer Prizes. Warren published ten novels. One novel,
All the King's Men, won a Pulitzer Prize. Two novels,
All the King's Men and Band of Angels
were made into movies. In addition he published a book of short stories, two selections of critical essays, a biography, three historical essays, a study of Melville, a critical book on Dreiser, a study of Whittier, and two studies of race relations in America. As of this writing, he is the only author to have won the Pulitzer for both fiction and poetry."
from:
http://www.robertpennwarren.com/biography.htm
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Director:
Robert Rossen
Cast:
Broderick Crawford (Willie Stark), John Ireland (Jack Burden), Joanne Dru (Anne Stanton), John Derek (Tom Stark), Mercedes McCrambridge (Sadie Burke), Ralph Dumke (Tiny Duffy) and others.
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