all the king's men

August 10 movie: All the King's Men. Compelling, albeit sordid, story of Huey Long (aka "Willie Stark"), the 1930s Louisiana politician whose power was matched only by his corruption. It's pitched as the story of power corrupting everything it touches, although Stark's transformation from simple populist to sleazy pol happens so fast in the movie, it comes across as if he was a black-hearted cynic all along. I wonder if the book spends more time on Stark's descent. Tremendous acting all around, especially from Broderick Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge. I read that the end of the movie is pretty close to the actual end of Huey Long.