All The King's Men (1949)

A rough around the edges rural country hick (Broderick Crawford) slowly rises in political circles until he becomes the governor of his state. He also becomes a very dangerous man. Based on the Pulitzer prize winning novel by Robert Penn Warren and directed by Robert Rossen (THE HUSTLER). A thinly disguised version of the notorious 1930s Louisiana governor Huey Long, this kind of movie never loses its topicality. Alas, corruption in government never goes away. I've not read the source material so I don't know how it plays out in the book but the film is ambiguous towards Crawford's politician in the beginning. Was he an honest man corrupted by his political ambitions or was he always a bad egg. Crawford's Willie Stark and his manipulation of a blind adoring cult for whom he can do no wrong resonates in today's political climate. Crawford (in an Oscar winning performance) is terrific but he never again got such a plum of a role. This is hard hitting stuff, blunt but mesmerizing. The entire cast is excellent (even John Derek) and includes John Ireland, Joanne Dru, Mercedes McCambridge (also winning an Oscar for her work here), Shepperd Strudwick, Anne Seymour, Raymond Greenleaf, Walter Burke and Katherine Warren.