All the King's Men

All the King's Men follows Willie Stark, a man from rural Louisiana whose talent for speaking to ordinary people lifts him from obscurity into statewide politics. A reporter, Jack Burden, is drawn into Stark's orbit and becomes his aide and confidant, watching as the reformer's ideals give way to the methods of those he once opposed, and as the pursuit of power reshapes everyone around him. The story is set in the 1930s and was adapted from Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1946 novel, which drew loosely on the career of a real Louisiana politician. It is also a remake of a 1949 film of the same name, and Judge Irwin and Anne and Adam Stanton are among the figures whose lives intersect with Burden's.

Steven Zaillian directed and wrote the screenplay, with Mike Medavoy, Ken Lemberger and Zaillian producing. It was his third film as director, after Searching for Bobby Fischer in 1993 and A Civil Action in 1998. Sean Penn plays Stark, Jude Law plays Burden, and the cast includes Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo and Patricia Clarkson, among 42 credited performers. Made for about 55 million dollars, it took roughly 9 million dollars worldwide, a large shortfall. On IMDb it holds 6.1/10 from over 25,000 votes and on TMDB 5.8/10 from 344 votes, while critics rated it 4.3/10 across 158 reviews, lower than audiences did.