Amazon.com video review:
Writer-director Robert Rossen and character actors Broderick
Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge (in her film debut) took home Oscars
(for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress,
respectively) for this excellent adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's
Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Crawford stars as Willie Stark, a
charismatic populist Southern politician (inspired by the real
Louisiana Governor Huey Long) who belies his "man of the people" roots
as he ruthlessly maneuvers, lies, and deals his way into the halls of
power. John Ireland is his right-hand man, Jack Burden, a newsman
turned political flack who hangs on to Stark's early idealism even in
the face of Stark's most reprehensible acts of corruption. McCambridge
is Stark's cool mistress come calculating assistant. The immediacy of
the drama is due in part to a documentary-like style, notably in the
scenes on the campaign trail where Stark sways crowds with his folksy
rhetoric and estimable charm. Joanne Dru and John Derek also
costar. Rossen's savage screenplay and firm direction give the film a
powerful punch, but it's Crawford's blustery charm and oversized
performance that carry the picture. --Sean Axmaker
