View more about All the King's Men reviews
from the title
Domenica 2022-03-23 09:02:54
There is no king in the movie, so what does the King in the title mean? There is a scene in the film where the governor sings a song in the studio called "Every Man a King". The song was written in 1935 by then Louisiana Governor Huey Long (the prototype of the film's leading actor) and Louisiana State University bandleader Castro Carazo. "Every Man a King" is both the song title and the title of Huey Long's political slogan and autobiography. This can't help but remind people of a lyric "Every man will be a king" in the musical "Les Miserables", which is probably also borrowed from this allusion. The meaning is probably that everyone is their own king and only obeys himself, not the king who commands orders from above. In this way, the King in the title actually refers to every common person, while Men can say that he is a "subordinate", "servant" or "public servant", in short, a person who does things for the people. In the film, the actor shouted during his speech, "We're going to nail them up! Give me a hammer and I'll do it!" It can be seen that he wants to do this for the people. The thing, so to speak, is King's Men.
Extended Reading
-
Willie Stark: Time brings all things to light, I trust it so.
-
Jack Burden: The friend of your youth is the only friend you'll ever have. For he doesn't really see you. He sees in his mind a face which doesn't exist anymore, speaks a name... Spike, Bud, Red, Rusty... Jack... that belongs to that now nonexistent face. He's still the young idealist you used to be, still sees good and bad in black and white and men as sinners or saints but never both and feels superior in the knowledge that you no longer can distinguish the two. That's what drives you to it. To try to stick the knife in. There is a kind of snobbery in failure like the twist to the mouth of a drunk.