This Saturday, February 12, 7 p.m., in Brooks Hall of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 5801 Hampton Street, Highland Park, a free presentation of the 1949 classic film, "All the King's Men." All are welcome. We are invited to bring a snack to share . . . . <<-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All the King's Men (1949) is the fictionalized account of the rise and fall of a backwoods rebel - a story inspired by the rule (and abuse of power) of Louisiana's colorful state governor (1928-32) and Democratic U.S. Senator (1932-35), notorious Huey Pierce Long - "The Kingfish." It is a melodramatic story of the corruption of power by an ambitious demagogue, adapted and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling 1946 novel of the same name by Robert Penn Warren, and filmed from a script by producer/screenwriter/director Robert Rossen (known for directing other films such as Body and Soul (1947) and The Hustler (1961)). The main difference between the novel and the film is the reversal of the major roles: the narrating newspaper reporter takes precedence over the power-hungry governor in the novel. In the film, the secondary character is the reporter, while the central character is lawyer-turned-politician Willie Stark. One of the film's posters proclaimed: "He thought he had the world by the tail...till it exploded in his face...with a bullet attached..." The great political film was a breakthrough film for Broderick Crawford from his B picture status - his performance is very compelling and impressive as he is transformed from a backwoods, honest and naive lawyer into a dirty, unscrupulous and sleazy politician. Of the film's seven Academy Awards nominations, it won three major honors: Crawford won the Best Actor statuette, Rossen (as producer) won the Best Picture Oscar, and Best Supporting Actress went to Mercedes McCambridge (in her screen debut). Its other nominations were: Best Supporting Actor (John Ireland), Best Director and Best Screenplay (both for Rossen), and Best Film Editing.>>