by Chris Marshall:
I went into All the
King’s Men knowing that it was loosely based on the life and career of Huey
P. Long, so I was more than a little confused when I saw how positively he
(well, Willie Stark, the main character of this movie) was being portrayed in
the first half of the movie. He was this honest man who cared about the people.
Of course, the corrupt bigwigs made life as difficult as possible for him, and
he lost.
But Willie Stark is no quitter. After being defeated in his
run for city council, he studies law on his own, gets his degree, and starts
his own practice. He’s a huge success, and everybody loves him. He’s willing to
fight for the common man.
There’s bad news on the horizon, though. Those same fatcats
who held him down and harassed him now want to use him for their own benefit.
There’s a challenger who’s gaining lots of support, and they need a patsy to
siphon off votes from the competition, clearing the way for their guys to win
again. They call up Willie, knowing there’s no way he can win on his own. He
agrees, but he doesn’t know he’s been set up. He begins his candidacy once
again.
