By Seamus McGraw

September 25, 2006:

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There is a moment early on in director Steve Zaillian's largely disappointing adaptation of "All the King's Men" when for one brief instant, all the comfortable movie conventions about politics and power and the perniciously seductive force of populism are swept away.

Sean Penn

In that moment, Sean Penn as Willie Stark, the self-described redneck and political savior of the underclass, a seminal character in American literature, based loosely on the Kingfish, Huey Long, realizes, as he rides on a whistle-stop tour to political oblivion that he has been duped, used by the political establishment of Louisiana to split the poor white and black vote, and that in so doing, his handlers have used him to grease the tracks for the reelection of a corrupt incumbent. He doesn't saw the air, or spit venom at those who have exploited him. Instead, in one of the film's few masterful moments, he offers just a glimpse of the rage within, a terrifying primal rage, a rage that is as much a force of nature as a hurricane edging toward a cane field.

It is in that moment that the audience gets what is perhaps the most authentic glimpse of the raw force that propelled Huey Long to almost unimaginable heights of political power more than 70 years ago, and helped him establish a powerful dynasty that controlled Louisiana politics for more than a generation and whose impact continues to be felt today.

It is a rare moment in the film.

It would, of course, be unfair to judge the film against the rigorous yardstick of historical accuracy. There are thousands of literary liberties taken in Robert Penn Warren's story, and nearly as many in the film. (See: "The Huey Long Story; a Bloody Sunday in Baton Rouge").

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The Huey Long Story; a Bloody Sunday in Baton Rouge

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