2006 Directed by Steven Zaillian
The story of an idealist's rise to power in the world of Louisiana politics and the corruption that leads to his ultimate downfall. Based on the1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel written by Robert Penn Warren, loosely based on the story of real-life politician Huey Long.
Sean Penn Jude Law Kate Winslet James Gandolfini Patricia Clarkson Anthony Hopkins Kathy Baker Jackie Earle Haley Travis Champagne Connor Fox Montgomery John Mark Ruffalo Glenn Morshower Talia Balsam Kevin Dunn Tom McCarthy Frederic Forrest Paul Desmond Jay Patterson Michael Cavanaugh Caroline Lagerfelt Valerie Stodghill Nicole Bobek Tom Aldredge Lenka Peterson Eileen Ryan Gary Grubbs Hunt Downer T.J. Falterman Show All…
Todos los hombres del rey, A király összes embere, Wszyscy ludzie króla, Вся королевская рать, O Caminho do Poder, Kaikki kuninkaan miehet, Svi kraljevi ljudi, Tutti gli uomini del re, Les Fous du roi, Ολοι οι Ανθρωποι του Βασιλιά, Oloi oi anthropoi tou vasilia, Les fous du roi, Alla kungens män, Цялото кралско войнство, Tots els homes del rei, Všichni královi muži, Das Spiel der Macht, כל אנשי המלך, オール・ザ・キングスメン, 올 더 킹즈 맨, Visa karaliaus kariauna, A Grande Ilusão, Kralın Tüm Adamları, Уся королівська рать, 国王班底, 國王人馬
Politics and human rights Epic history and literature political, president, historical, politician or democracy political, democracy, documentary, president or propaganda historical, royalty, sumptuous, lavish or drama racism, african american, powerful, hatred or slavery terrorism, thriller, gripping, intense or political Show All…
hard to think of a worse-looking, worse-cast, literal-minded literary adaptation I've seen. only Mark Ruffalo as Adam Stanton is close enough emotionally (straight-forward moralist) only to be tanked by his inability to do the accent (to be fair, everyone is struggling – especially poor James Gandolfini – I love you and miss you, king). I can only hope everyone else's favorite novel is so cinematically misconstrued one day!
must a movie be good? is it not enough just to look at two-time emmy award winner kate winslet & painfully beautiful jude law for two hours?
Off since frame one. Bleakly monotone and repetitive in a way I don’t quite understand. The source material has so much juice, so much nuance, and yet none of it bubbles to the surface here. Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd is a much more poignant, more artistically accomplished version of this type of political tale. Contrary to most, I actually like the photography, but it’s applied to the wrong movie. If this was a hard boiled noir, it’d have been fantastic.
Part of my Double Feature Challenge
After watching the Oscar-winning Best Picture upon which this remake is based, I was even more excited by the possibilities for a modern adaptation. Sure enough, writer-director Steven Zaillian starts off with a curve ball, having already-elected governor Willie Stark (Sean Penn) driving to the home of Judge Irwin (Anthony Hopkins), with his henchman Sugar Boy (Jackie Earle Haley) and former newspaperman Jack Burden (Jude Law) in tow.
Immediately, the story drops back five years to New Orleans and the first meeting between then County Treasurer Stark from Mason City and political boss Tiny Duffy (James Gandolfini). We very quickly learn how Jack on assignment first met Willie, how Stark fought to expose shoddy…
Much of this comes across as a portentous, hammy and grand-scale embarrassment. As a fan of Zaillian, I'm stunned that he opted to devise this in flashbacks, since Willie Stark's mantra is of political momentum. None of the all-star cast: including Sean Penn, Jude Law, Mark Ruffalo, Kate Winslet and Anthony Hopkins can hold a Louisiana accent longer than a dotted staccato.
Set during the depression, this story follows the ascent of Louisiana motor-mouth hick as he wins over a poor populace with promises of building bridges, schools and hospitals. In due time, he begins to meld with the corrupted establishment that he pretends to usurp. Worst of all, it's also hilariously envisioned as a grandiose Oscar-baiting epic and am…
i realized very quickly that this had too much sean penn and too little kate winslet and patricia clarkson so i started watching crystal methyd videos on my phone at the same time. that meant i missed like 25% of the film and was confused at the end of it but i don't care lol
August 2017
Scavenger Hunt #29
TASK #6: A film based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel!
It's undeniably well-acted, well-intentioned, and rich with genuinely interesting characters, but although All the King’s Men is decent overall, it ends up lacking in the thematic weight and interesting hook it needed to be above-average.
Baffling film. Indecipherable. I don’t even have to tell you that everyone decided to try an accent. Optimal word here is try. Looks awful. They lit every night scene like m f ing Sin City. What are we doing here.
Good god, what a drag! There is absolutely zero excuse for turning two hours with these heavy hitters into this much of a chore. Steven Zaillian, who wrote “Schindler’s List” and half a dozen or so other acclaimed scripts throughout his career, does everything wrong here. He shifts the emphasis from Willie Stark, the small-time county treasurer turned raving demagogue governor of Louisiana in the 1940s, to journalist Jack Burden, who quits his job after Stark is elected and starts digging into up dirt on his new boss’s opponents. Even if Sean Penn mostly sets himself apart with gesticulating wildly and sending spit flying all over the stage when he rants about the elite, he is unequivocally the more fascinating…
I was prepared to hate this film as the original 1946 version is in my all-time top 10 of favorite movies and this one was savaged by critics and moviegoers, and was a commercial flop. This certainly falls short of the original version, but I was very surprised by how much I liked it.
It is easy to pick it apart as the flashbacks are too much, Jude Law's narration doesn't really work and there are some spots where I was wondering what was going on despite seeing the original many times.
I've read criticism of Sean Penn's performance as over the top and that his accent is terrible. I can't argue with the latter. As for the former, apparently…
All star cast can't keep this obvious piece of Oscar-bation from being anything but...okay.
You expect more. You deserve more. You keep waiting for the movie to move from meh to magnificent, but then you die waiting as the cats gnaw on your corpse.
