All the King's Men (1949)

Willie Stark is more gutsy than Bush or Clinton
Although this film is about corruption and politics, Willie Stark has
more 'guts' than anybody running today in the year, 2008.
And Sadie Burke(Mercedes McCambridge) could blow Hillary Clinton back
to Arkansas along with her wimpbag husband, Bill.
All said and done, this film is fantastic, better than the novel--too trashy, salty language(who needs it!)
Great cast, screenplay and director. John Ireland SHOULD have gotten
the OSCAR for best supporting actor--he could wipe the floor with Sadie and 'Ann'(Joanne Dru)both together. And a young John Derek was very good as the football player brother, Tom.
An excellent film. Didn't know about it until I saw it on TCM!

LOUISIANA LONGS FOR LONG
This film is seemingly an old black and white throwaway,hopelessly lost in time.Think again! This is a lightning paced multiple Academy Award winner that is really a timeless movie of both man and politics.Crawford gives the performance of his life portraying Willie Stark, whom everyone assumes is the long ago buried Huey Long, former governor of Louisiana. Enraged by backroom politics that cost him his first election, Stark appeals directly to the people,and never loses another election. In the process, he becomes what future president Truman labeled a law unto himself,someone who has put himself above the law,not an executor of it. The entire cast has sins, albeit McCambridge seems above the fray, calling things as she sees them (and winning an Oscar). If the ending is surprising, remember that politicians like Stark evoke strong, even beastial, feelings from the public. But it's a game that shows no signs of relenting, 59 years after the film's production.

Didn't Do It For Me
This morality tale, based in large part, of course, on the rise and fall of Louisiana's Huey Long, seemed shallow to me and needed more in the way of an emphasis on the back room dealings that placed the abruptly corrupted Willie Stark in power. This was a film that rushed along without ever giving its characters time or room to develop. I didn't care about anyone in the movie, start to finish, and don't think this is the great classic it's regarded to be. As for the novel on which it's based, or the recent re-make, I haven't read or seen those, and hope they're a little better.