All the King's Men

[saavedra77]

Most reviewers seem to dislike Steve Zaillian's adaption of Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men (perhaps the best political novel I've ever read, despite Warren's penchant for obvious allegorical names).

For some obscure reason, I still feel drawn to see the movie, though.

I suppose that part of the reason is that I think the novel has cinematic possibilities that Robert Rossen's 1949  version didn't satisfactorily exploit: Broderick Crawford deserved the Oscar he won for his meaty, rabble-rousing portrayal of Willie Stark, but many of the other characters seemed to fall flat.

By contrast, Zaillian's film seems promising in precisely the areas that Rossen's was weak--interesting, plausible actors in all of the supporting roles: Jude Law has just watchful, troubled quality you'd want in a Jack Burden; it's easy to picture James Gandolfini as the cigar-chomping political boss Tiny Duffy; Patricia Clarkson is at least an intriguing choice as Sadie Burke (although I've never seen her play anyone nearly that tough ...).

Alas, Sean Penn in the central role is the wild card--and the critics don't seem that impressed.  Except, I note, for Kenneth Turan on NPR and John Meacham of Newsweek--who aren't exactly Gene Shallit-style yes-men, so I guess there's room for hope, there.

At any rate, I know there are some Seattle-area fans of the novel on my flist; is anyone curious to see Zaillian's picture while it's still in theaters?  I'd especially love to see it with folks who know the novel (although others are welcome, too, of course).