All the King's Men is a 2006 American political drama film written, directed and produced by Steven Zaillian based on the 1946 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name by Robert Penn Warren.

The film narrates the rise to power and demise of the Governor Willie Stark (played by Sean Penn), taking his office in the American South.

Jack Burden, a Louisiana news reporter, takes a personal interest in Willie Stark, an idealistic small-town lawyer and parish treasurer.

His vigorous strategy attacks the corruption of the existing players and promises schools and roads for his "fellow ignorant hicks", resulting in Stark winning the election.

Stark convinces Stanton to head a new public hospital while he begins having an affair with Anne, provoking Burke's jealousy and Burden's disappointment.

Jack insists that there is no such information, but eventually discovers evidence of a bribe that Irwin used to get his appointment many years prior, leading an opponent to commit suicide.

[5] In spite of its high-profile cast, direction and production team, All the King's Men was a massive failure, both with critics and at the box office.

The website's critics consensus reads: "With a scenery-chewing performance from Sean Penn, an absence of political insight, and an overall lack of narrative cohesiveness, these Men give Oscar bait a bad name.

It is both overwrought and tedious, its complicated narrative bogging down in lyrical voiceover, long flashbacks and endless expository conversations between people speaking radically incompatible accents.

"[8] Michael Medved gave All the King's Men two stars (out of four) calling it "depressing and disappointing", a "stodgy melodrama" and a "pointless, pretentious, plodding period-piece".

[12] Kenneth Turan (Los Angeles Times) praised the film's "undeniable moral seriousness" and the actors' "exceptional ensemble work."

He argued that Zaillian's script and direction "expertly extracted the core of this greatest of American political novels, a work that is both of its time and outside it.