How many times this year will today's Hollywood know-nothings take the classic films of yesteryear and remake them into dreadful, awful, insulting trash? Is there perhaps a remake of Casablanca planned for maybe Cindy Lauper and Adam Sandler? Sean Penn, regardless of his personal politics, is just plain dreadful and silly; going around screeching like a madman, as if anyone would listen to this pint sized jerk except maybe Newsweek or the New York Times. Citizens of rural Louisiana 60 years ago? No way on earth! It takes a man, not a boy-man, to fill a man's shoes. Broderick Crawford played Willie Stark in the 1948 Academy Award winning (best picture, best actor) original. He's a tough act to follow; but... but most people these days didn't see the original and you can bet Columbia Pictures hopes they never do. Only one man alive could possibly have stepped into Crawford's shoes and play Willie Stark with conviction. That man is James Gandolfini. The makers of this alleged remake are so brain-dead they actually have Gandolfini in the movie --- but playing the wrong role. Besides that, the new picture lacks the award winning direction of Robert Rossen as well as the superior black and white cinematography of the original. As Humty Dumpty might say: All the king's horses --- and all the king's men --- couldn't put Columbia Pictures --- back together again.
Review of All the King's Men
