All the King's Men (1950)

All the King's Men 1950. 22nd Film to win the Academy Awards' Best Picture Oscar. All the King's Men was the 36th film to get more than six Academy Awards nominations. It won three Academy Awards. A drama film with noir themed overtones, it was directed by Robert Rossen and based on the Robert Penn Warren novel of the same name.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men is a roman à clef inspired by the career of Louisiana governor Huey Long. Broderick Crawford won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Willie Stark, a backwoods Southern lawyer who wins the hearts of his constituents by bucking the corrupt state government. Journalist Jack Burden (John Ireland) is impressed by Willie's seeming sincerity, and aids Stark on the road to political power. Once he's reached the governor's mansion, however, Willie proves himself to be as dishonest and despotic as the crooks whom he's replaced. He also cheats shamelessly on his wife with both his campaign manager (Mercedes McCambridge, another Oscar winner) and with Anne Stanton (Joanne Dru), the sister of idealistic doctor Adam Stanton (Sheppard Strudwick). Fiercely protective of his power, Willie organizes a fascistic police force and arranges for

Broderick Crawford (as hung-over stooge candidate Willie Stark) winning his Academy Award, famous scene in which he throws off his masters, his handlers (Mercedes McCambridge, John Ireland) thrilled, in Robert Rossen's All The King's Men, 1950.