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All the King’s Men Movie Review

All the King’s Men is a 1949 political drama film directed by Robert Rossen and starring Broderick Crawford. It’s a very uneven, but well written movie.

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“Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption“

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Willie Stark, an ambitious and corrupt politician, rises through the ranks of power in the American South. However, what made him famous begins to contribute to his downfall. Based on a book of the same name, this adaptation wasn’t the strongest one. Apparently, they changed the point of view and rushed some character development, which is evident throughout.

This was a Best Picture winner for 1949. It is one of those movies that was respected for its themes and importance so much that the critics and the Academy effectively ignored its numerous flaws. Watching it for the second time after many years, these flaws were even more pronounced for me. The editing is particularly atrocious.

The picture is so rushed at times and prolonged at other times, managing to both bore audiences and make them frustrated with some abrupt plot points and scene transitions. The second act is especially problematic and uneven while the third act is powerful and the first act is quite engaging. So yes, that second act is so bad that it negatively impacted everything that came before and after it.

Broderick Crawford ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Actor. This year’s category was quite weak, so Crawford very much deserved to win of those nominees. He was so well cast as this burly, commanding man who is effective as both a positive and eventually a negative figure in politics. He was very believable and he sold that final sequence particularly well.

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Other actors did not get much to do unfortunately. The movie focuses on its main actor so much that the others were seriously sidelined and underdeveloped. Mercedes McCambridge won an Oscar for her supporting turn that is pretty good, but far from truly memorable. John Ireland is reliably strong, but his role is also very minor.

All the King’s Men is well performed, but Robert Rossen’s direction is far from great. The choice to make a more universal tale with less political details was admirable and it paid off for the project, but other than that the movie needed more cinematic technical qualities and a more forceful directing style. Rossen’s previous movie ‘Body and Soul’ was ultimately better directed and more memorable stylistically speaking.

The movie deals with political influence and corruption, the dangers of demagogues and the corrosive nature of power and the chasing of it especially through politics. The main character’s arc is one that is very dark and mostly well handled. It’s a tale that is still relatable to this day, especially in US politics. The themes are so strong in this story that it’s a shame that the movie itself was so messy.

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The cinematography and score are just serviceable while the overall look and sound to the movie was forgettable. There is some excellent dialogue to be found throughout the film, but more often than not the movie failed to focus on the most important characters and scenarios due to its structural issues. The final sequence is fantastic and some scenes in the first act were also effective, but that middle portion left a bad taste in my mouth.