Three fine British actors, one grade-A U.S. ham, and writer-director Steve Zaillian bring Robert Penn Warren's great American novel of political corruption and wrecked idealism to the screen in an adaptation that's more faithful than, if ultimately inferior to, Robert Rossen's 1949 Academy Award winner. Set in the post-WWII South and loosely based on the colorful career of real-life Louisiana governor Huey Long, the film charts the rapid rise and precipitous fall of the essentially good but corruptible Willie Stark (Sean Penn), who took on the moneyed Old Guard that kept "hicks" like Stark down in the mud while enriching themselves through cronyism, corruption and gr...
Released:
2006
Rated:
PG-13
Length:
n/a