20. All The King’s Men (1949)
Other Nominated Films:
Battleground, The Heiress, A Letter to Three Wives, Twelve O’Clock High
I’m not someone who is very knowledgeable when it comes to the world of politics. While I may watch a large amount of political movies, I don’t exactly understand a majority of the jargon that’s being spoken. But for the most part, they always make for good dramatic and suspenseful films, which is the case here for All the King’s Men. The film is loosely based on the life of 1930’s Louisana Governor Huey Long. Starting off as a self-taught lawyer who is aiming to do the right thing, Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford) fights a long, hard battle to reach the governor’s chair. But while fighting his way to the top, he loses his innocence and becomes even more corrupt than the politicians he fought so hard to conquer. All of this is seen through the eyes of Stark’s right-hand man Jack Burden (John Ireland), who sticks with Stark even when he knows the truth behind the monster. Crawford doesn’t just act as if he’s Stark; he lives and breathes the role. He’s like a flame that starts off extremely small, but in time just grows larger and larger until it is out of control. This film could have easily turned out very differently since director Robert Rossen originally offered the lead role to John Wayne. Wayne declined the role since he felt that the script was unpatriotic (he wasn’t wrong.) Ironically enough, Crawford would go on to beat Wayne for the Best Actor Oscar (Wayne was nominated for his role in Sands of Iwo Jima.) All The King’s Men, which was originally a novel written by Robert Penn Warren, was the last Best Picture winner to be based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Nominated for 7 Awards, Winner of 3
Best Actor in a Leading Role – Broderick Crawford (WON)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Mercedes McCambridge (WON)
Best Picture – Robert Rossen Productions (WON)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role – John Ireland
Best Director – Robert Rossen
Best Film Editing – Robert Parrish, Al Clark
Best Writing, Screenplay – Robert Rossen
Jack Burden: I tell you there’s nothing on the judge.
Willie Stark: Jack, there’s something on everybody. Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption.
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