All the King's Men

"He Might Have Been A Pretty Good Guy . . . If Too Much Power . . . And Women . . . Hadn't Gone To his Head !"

1949 1h 49m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 250

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A man of humble beginnings and honest intentions rises to power by nefarious means. Along for the wild ride are an earnest reporter, a heretofore classy society girl, and a too-clever-for-her-own-good political flack.

“He Might Have Been A Pretty Good Guy . . . If Too Much Power . . . And Women . . . Hadn't Gone To his Head !”

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Cast

John Ireland
Jack Burden
Broderick Crawford
Willie Stark
Joanne Dru
Anne Stanton
John Derek
Tom Stark
Mercedes McCambridge
Sadie Burke
Shepperd Strudwick
Adam Stanton
Ralph Dumke
Tiny Duffy
Anne Seymour
Mrs. Lucy Stark

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Robert Rossen
Writers: Robert Rossen
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

77 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Robert Rossen, shot by Burnett Guffey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Louis Gruenberg. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Al Clark shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

John Ireland and Broderick Crawford and Joanne Dru carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "He Might Have Been A Pretty Good Guy . . . If Too Much Power . . . And Women . . . Hadn't Gone To his Head !".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0041113 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Rossen directs. Burnett Guffey behind the camera. Louis Gruenberg scores. Al Clark cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

177 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Robert Rossen, shot by Burnett Guffey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Louis Gruenberg. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Al Clark shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5John Ireland and Broderick Crawford and Joanne Dru carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "He Might Have Been A Pretty Good Guy . . . If Too Much Power . . . And Women . . . Hadn't Gone To his Head !".
7IMDB entry: tt0041113 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 16 themes, including "newspaper", "governor", "based on novel or book", "southern usa".

The technical file

Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Original score: Louis Gruenberg
Editing: Al Clark
Costume design: Jean Louis
Makeup / hair: Robert J. Schiffer
Runtime: 109 min · 1h 49m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: All the King's Men (1949)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Picture

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Robert Rossen

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-06-04
★ 9/10
Honesty, integrity, corruption and murder! Willie Stark is an upstanding pillar of the community, when he is coaxed into standing in the local election he gets a thirst for politics. As he progresses through the political ranks he loses sight of the very things that he first stood for, with him, and all those associated with him getting muddier by the day. Adapted by Robert Rossen (director and screenplay) from the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Robert Penn Warren, All The King's Men is the story about the rise and fall of a rotten politician. Almost certainly based on Louisiana Governor, Huey Pierce Long, it's a towering piece of work that is as politically cynical as it is ego centrically human. Not merely just another film about "when good guys go bad", this picture serves notice to the many things that drives politics on, for better or worse. The role of the press is under scrutiny for example, and just how come simple things such as rallies can be staged by some conniving aide sitting at the back? All roads in this gritty piece are paved with suspicious looking stones, the very foundations of which have been murkily formed. It's a testament to Rossen and his excellent cast that All The King's Men is still as potent today as it obviously was back at the tail end of the 40s. Every once in a while a similarly themed film will come our way, but few, if any, can boast the hard hitting realism that seams throughout Rossen's film. Helped by location shooting at run down Stockton in California, and boosted by a powerhouse performance from Broderick Crawford as Stark, this film most definitely is a hallmark in the political genre. Nominated for seven Academy Awards, it won three in the main categories, Best Actor (Crawford), Best Picture (rightly) and Best Supporting Actress (Mercedes McCambridge with an incredible debut performance). 9/10
CinemaSerf2026-06-30
★ 7/10
There's something of the "Animal Farm" to this powerful critique of the democratic process. Sick fed up with vested interests and corruption, "Stark" (Broderick Crawford) decides to fight the good fight against the establishment. Allied with only the steadfast "Sadie" (Mercedes McCambridge) and with half of the interest of journalist "Burden" (John Ireland) he sweeps the rural constituencies but the urban ones keep the powers that be in situ. Skip on four years and we revisit the campaign - but this time, "Stark" is playing a far more shrewd game. Still dependent on the quick-thinking "Sadie" and being followed by the now even more cynical "Burden", he seems to be able to fight on far more even terms. Clearly, he has used the intervening years to ensure that he can splash the cash and get himself elected. Once in the governor's mansion, though, his determination to improve the lot of his voters starts to see his lines of good versus evil begin to blur. Are his methods becoming exactly the same as his predecessors? Things begin to come to an head with his reputable Attorney General "Stanton" (Raymond Greenleaf) quits and the boss asks "Burden" to go a-digging throught the files to find a smoking gun. He's been an admirer of this jurist for years and so reluctantly agrees - but even if he does find something, will he share it with an increasingly megalomaniac "Stark" whose brusque treatment of his all-American lad "Tom" (John Derek) is beginning to have him question his loyalty to the machine he has been so instrumental in supporting over the years? The one thing I didn't especially like was the ending. It's a sort of cop-out that avoided the politician having to actually deal with the repercussions of his actions, but that very disappointment is an huge testament to a performance from Crawford who is on really sold form throughout. Add to his efforts the equally impressive and almost as ruthless one from McCambridge who treads on eggshells with some considerable skill and, I think, the best effort from Ireland that I've ever seen and we have an exercise in cinematic poaching-cum-gamekeeping, this is up there with the best.