We are 79 weeks away from the 100th Academy Awards and today we discuss the rise and fall of a somewhat fake but mostly real (but still fake) American politician named Willie Stark in 1949's All the King's Men.


Willie Stark is the governor of a fictional and unnamed American state that is stealthily set in Stockton, California.  He is a stand-in for the very real politician Huey Long - the polarizing social Democrat from 1920s Louisiana.  Known for his commitment to wealth redistribution and helping the poor - he also ran the state as the closest thing we've seen to an American dictator; full of corruption and self-enrichment.  All men a king, but no one wears a crown... except for him.  This real life persona was adapted by Robert Penn Warren into a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which then became All the King's Men.  It's an American political drama that definitely doesn't remind us of anything else - but how does it hold up in the Best Picture canon?


In this episode you're gonna hear:

  • Deep history from our resident Huey Long apologist
  • How nearly 75% of this movie was left on the cutting room floor
  • What a Huey Long rap would have sounded like
  • Which Real Housewives city each character would have been in 



Follow us @bestpicturebrainrotpodcast as we keep delving into Oscars history with a brainrot spin

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