Sunday, June 3, 2018

1950: All the King's Men

All the King's Men is about corruption in both people and politics. The message is a bit the same as in House of Cards in that everyone is bad or has the strong potential for bad except for  "the people." And it trying to appease "the people," anything goes.

That means that there isn't anybody to really cheer for. At the beginning, we see Willie Stark as the underdog. But once he gets to power he is corrupted. It's an abrupt change like a WWE heel turn.

Abrupt change was the theme I saw through the movie, but I also don't feel like that was the intention. There were several events that seemed pretty important that were glossed over. Characters changed. Events happened behind the scenes. To me, it seemed more like a pacing issue.

All The King's Men clocked in at a welcome 1:47. But it felt like a 2:30 movie in which a bunch of important scenes were cut out. I don't know enough about cinema in this time period to know if it was common to have many cut scenes, so I just don't know if that was why it was that way. Or perhaps they figured enough people knew the story due to the novel? I don't know.

This was OK. I appreciate the likely historical context of All the King's Men and how it laid the groundwork for similar political films. But other than that, it was OK. 


NEXT WEEK: 1951 - All About Eve

Oscar Project Rankings:


  1. Casablanca (1944)
  2. It Happened One Night (1935)
  3. Gentleman's Agreement (1948)
  4. The Best Years of Our Lives (1947)
  5. All Quiet on the Western Front (1931)
  6. Rebecca (1941)
  7. Mutiny on the Bounty (1936)
  8. You Can't Take It With You (1939) 
  9. Gone With the Wind (1940) 
  10. Hamlet (1949)
  11. The Life of Emile Zola (1938)
  12. All the King's Men (1950)
  13. Grand Hotel (1933)
  14. Cimarron (1932)
  15. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
  16. Broadway Melody (1930)
  17. The Lost Weekend (1946)
  18. Going My Way (1945)
  19. How Green Was My Valley (1942)
  20. Wings (1929)
  21. Mrs. Miniver (1943)
  22. Cavalcade (1934)