All the King's Men (2006)

Oscar®-winning actor Sean Penn (Best Actor, Mystic River, 2003), two-time Academy Award® nominee Jude Law (Best Supporting Actor, The Talented Mr. Ripley, 1999; Best Actor, Cold Mountain, 2003), four-time Academy Award® nominee Kate Winslet (Best Supporting Actress, Sense and Sensibility, 1995; Iris, 2001, Best Actress, Titanic, 1997; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004), and Oscar® winner Anthony Hopkins (Best Actor, The Silence of the Lambs, 1991) star in this riveting story of a humble man's rise to political power and the destructive force of corruption and betrayal that would ultimately unravel his soul, based on Robert Penn Warren's 1946 classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Willie Stark (Penn) is an ordinary man from a rural town, demanding that crooked politicians and shady businessmen in Lousiana be held accountable for the collapse of a poorly built school. Urged to run for Governor by a dubious political advisor, Tiny Duffy (three-time Emmy® Award winner James Gandolfini, Lead Actor in a Drama Series, The Sopranos, 2000, 2001, 2003) Stark, finds his voice as a charismatic man of the people. He then befriends a young idealistic journalist, Jack Burden (Law), who eventually ends up working for him. But when Stark asks Burden to dig deep for damaging information on an old family friend, Judge Montague Irwin (Hopkins), Burden begins to question his own morality and Stark's surprising transformation into an inflexible leader that will stop at nothing to remain in power.

Sean Penn gives another powerhouse performance in All the King's Men, leading a topnotch cast in writer-director Steven Zaillian's underrated adaptation of the Pulitzer prize-winning 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren. When you consider that the previous 1949 film version earned well-deserved Academy Awards for director Robert Rossen and actors Broderick Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge, it's no surprise that Zaillian's film was expected to earn similar acclaim, but lukewarm critical reception and disappointing box-office gave it the stigma of a noble failure. And while the film (which moves Warren's story from the Depression-era '30s to the early 1950s) suffers from uneven pacing, partial miscasting, and an occasional lack of dramatic tension, it still qualifies as a first-class production that resonates with the timeless relevance of Warren's piercing political classic. Like Broderick before him, Penn is riveting as Louisiana governor Willie Stark, an upstart political dynamo (freely inspired by controversial real-life Louisiana governor Huey P. Long) whose rise to power is ultimately doomed by corruption and betrayal.

Jude Law costars as political reporter Jack Burden, our firsthand witness to Stark's rise and inevitable fall; his orbit of political insiders includes a corrupt judge (Anthony Hopkins) with a dark secret to hide; a longtime friend (Mark Ruffalo) and former lover (Kate Winslet) who fall victim to Stark's influence; and political staffers (James Gandolfini, Patricia Clarkson) who remain powerless against Stark's ill-fated populist juggernaut. At Sean Penn's request, former child star Jackie Earle Haley (from the original Bad News Bears) makes a welcome return to movies as Willie Stark's quietly intense bodyguard, "Sugar-Boy." Coproduced by Louisiana-born political consultant James Carville, filmed on authentic Louisiana locations and boasting all the stately, luxurious production values of a would-be Oscar contender, All the King's Men clearly benefits from Penn's fiery performance and Zaillian's earnest embrace of Warren's still-potent subject matter. And while the film's shortcomings may have prevented it from achieving unanimous acclaim, this is still a serious, well-crafted drama with much to say about the insidious potential for fascism in America, especially when well-meaning politicians lose their souls to power.

--Jeff Shannon