Remaking a classic film can either be considered courageous, foolish or pointless. Or all three. When the idea to update the 1949 Oscar winner for Best Picture was suggested, the film's subject matter of political greed and corruption made it appear a timely and pertinent venture. However, the overwrought and ineffective result has proved the theory about redoing classics all too provident.
Based on Robert Penn Warren's 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, All The King's Men was inspired by the notorious Louisiana governor Huey Long who rose from humble origins to be elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate. He was seeking the Democratic candidacy for President when he was assassinated in 1935. Warren's book focuses on the destructive influence of power and greed, how it corrupts and changes people. While the present United States political regime exemplifies many of the worst excesses highlighted in Warren's book, the truth is the sentiment expressed would be timely at any point in history. It has as much to do with the nature of man as it does the venality of politics.
The Huey Long figure is named Willie Stark and portrayed with one of Sean Penn's more extravagant displays. Rarely one for restraint, Penn's scenery-chewing performance imbues Stark with all the passion and bluster of an evangelical market trader. Flailing arms and rousing rhetoric, he could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. But Stark isn't selling household appliances. He's selling himself. He didn't start out that way of course. Initially he was a reserved man of strong beliefs, morals and integrity.
Growing up in the impoverished South, Stark was witness to the hardships of the depression. He saw how those in power used their position for profit and gain at the expense of the powerless. Initially thrust into local politics by the opportunist Tiny Duffy (James Gandolfini), Stark shows he is not prepared to be anyone's stooge. Championing the cause of the disenfranchised, he sets about to play political Robin Hood, but along the way, as he gains status, he loses sight of his original intentions. He is joined on his journey by the once idealistic Jack Burden (Jude Law) whose privileged background and influential relatives become an issue of internal conflict when Stark endeavours to utilize them for his own advancement.
Directed and written by Steven Zallian, All The King's Men has a warm, rich luster. As beautiful as it is, the look is somewhat incongruous with the depression era setting. If some of the acting is overblown, then it is nothing compared with James Horner's melodramatic score. There is some marvelous dialogue, as you'd expect from such an auspicious source, but in the end All The King's Men becomes waylaid by its self-importance and theatrics. That those involved wanted to bring Warren's prescient work to a new audience is to be applauded, but those looking for a more accomplished screen interpretation would be better served by seeking out the original.
Kevin Murphy
