I went looking for movies about the charismatic and controversial U. S. Depression era politician Huey B Long after hearing a song "Kingfish", being Long's adopted nickname, by Randy Newman on his "Good Old Boys" album. I then realised that I had already seen two fictionalised accounts of his life in the remarkable films, "A Lion Is In The Streets" starring James Cagney and "All The King's Men" starring Broderick Crawford, but outside of a Ken Burns-directed documentary which I will try to track down, this 1995 TV movie was the only depiction focusing on the real-life Long.
Playing a larger-than-life character of course needs a larger-than-life actor, so send for John Goodman, who is unleashed for an over-the-top performance as he bulldozes his way through the ironically-named Long's short life, which was truncated by an assassin's bullet at the height of his powers in 1935.
Naturally, a 100 minutes movie can only give a flavour of this man's turbulent life and times. I took a little time to fact-check some of the events in the film at least to his Wiki biography and certainly recognised a number of them, including his typically bravura answer "I am the constitution" when someone dared question the legality of his actions as Louisiana state governor, even as I recognised the usual dramatic licence taken with some or other of them.
America was in crisis at the time of the Great Depression when Long came to power as nationally FDR swept Hoover out of the presidency and commenced his New Deal legislature but Long's policies were even more left-leaning. He launched his "Share the Wealth" tax-the-rich idea to much popular acclaim, for which he even wrote a song "Every Man A King", a version of which you will also find on Newman's album. He would undoubtedly have been a factor in the 1936 presidential election, probably as a third party spoiler candidate, but behind the scenes his strong-arm, dictatorial political machine was attracting scrutiny and ultimately making him enemies. Of course, as we have since seen in recent times, other right, as opposed to left-wing populist demagogues are available, giving this film, a topical as well as historical relevance, when viewed today.
I enjoyed this breakneck tour through Long's career even as I suspect some short-cuts were taken with the truth for dramatic effect. Goodman didn't perhaps really convince me that I wasn't simply watching John Goodman-in-overdrive rather than an identifiable portrayal of Long himself, in fact putting him closer to the exaggerated performances of Cagney and Crawford before him. The late Anne Heche does her best to reel him in as his secretary / lover, while production values were as good as could be expected for a TV movie.
Personally, I think that this man merits a History Channel 10 or 12 episodes dramatisation of his life, but for those like me fascinated by this era and intrigued by Long's remarkable rise to power, this is a good place to start.
