Product: All the King's Men [Blu-ray] (2007)
Rating: 3.0
Well intentioned remake that falls a bit short
I'm a big fan of the original version starring Broderick Crawford. Like any remake, if you could combine the best of both versions together you would have the perfect movie. That said, I thought Sean Penn did a good job portraying Willie Stark. But I think he suffers from a script that is mess. I think it was a mistake first of all to move it to the 1950s. Huey Long, who Stark is based on, came to power in the grips of the Great Depression which explains why he built all those roads and bridges and the University and new capital. I think Steven Zaillian tried to be faithful to the book. He included scenes explaining the relationship between Jack Burden and the others at Burden's Landing, but they were choppy. He also doesn't do as good a job explaining Willie Stark before be became the power thirsty man that he turned in to. Patricia Clakrson's character is also wasted in this version. I'm glad the producers included the deleted scenes on the dvd release. They fill in a lot of the gaps and I just can't understand why they were ever left out in the first place. For example, the scenes explain what drove the doctor to shoot Stark. You find out that Tiny planted the seeds. Why was this scene deleted from the theatrial version? One other criticism is that it is difficult at times to understand Penn and some of the dialogue. I almost needed subtitles. Overall, it was a well intentioned effort that just falls a bit short.