This won’t be a traditional RtR because it will be a very quick take. Last weekend I watched two different versions of All the King’s Men after finishing the novel, as well as Kingfish, a nonfiction film about the life and death of Huey P. Long starring John Goodman. Both of the movies have solid acting, though Broderick Crawford was more respectable and conventional in his demeanor than I took Willie to be. I was not expecting to watch the 2006 version because it was panned by critics, but when I saw clips of  Penn’s version on YouTube I had to try it. Frankly, I loved it. Both movies take some departures from the novel, especially in Stark deciding to run for governor ‘hisself’ instead of supporting McMurphy, as he does in the book.  I’m posting this mostly to invite readers to compare the delivery of the same ‘scene’ in both movies. I really like the Penn version though it starts off a little clumsy. Penn has more…populist charisma, I’d say, more of an ability to react spontaneously — whereas Crawford is just delivering lines. He’s delivering them well, but he’s delivering lines.  The setting: Willie Stark has just realized he was being played like a fool, used to split the hick vote so the establishment’s candidate could cruise to victory. He’s offended, angry, and ready to split skulls.

And the trailer for Kingfish, since I can’t find any clips for it online. Which is too bad — the “Evangline” speech alone makes me want to go on a Huey Long pilgrimage.

And for good measure, here’s the Kingfish ‘hisself’.