Product: All the King's Men [Blu-ray] (2007)
Rating: 5.0
A classic despite the critics opinions
The re-make of"All the king's men" based upon the novel by Robert Penn Warren is a classic,despite the general atmosphere of failure and mis-casting fabricated by many of the paid critics..One need only watch the film to understand this.Sean Penn,a great actor but also an outspoken critic of The Bush war and the Bush white house,and an unapologetic"liberal"to boot,stars as Louisiana politician Willie Stark,a personage based on real life Louisiana icon Huey"Kingfish"Long..The fact that Penn is widely recognised not so much for his acting as for his own politics perhaps made him an easy target,both for critics and for the viewing public at large..James Carville,political pundit and Bill Clinton confidant produced the film as much as a political statement as a piece of entertainment,another strike against it...and then there is the storyline itself,still rich and alive despite the fact that it was first outlined more than half a century ago..A basicly honest populist small time politician defeats both the entrenched interests and the political bosses and becomes the people's govenor,only to fall prey to flaws in his own charecter,and ultimately fail..Sound familiar?(I mean other than as the plotline of this movie & the novel upon which it is based that is?)...Once again it would seem to me that reactions to this film,with this star,this producer and this message at this time had more to do with the poor reception the film got than with any short-comings in either acting or direction...