Masterful Movie

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I started watching this film on television. The information about the film described it as being a film about a corrupt American politician. Very run of the mill you might think!However when I started watching the film I realised that this man was unusual. He campaigned vigorously and he helped poor people, often helping individuals he met on his campaign. He also helped black people.I decided to look up Huey P Long on Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_LongI realised that Huey P Long was an interesting character. I am not sure I would have realised that if I had watched the film to the end.

In current times that have a populist tone to them, the likes of which we've not seen since the Depression Thirties, a film about Huey P Long is good thing to view. It would be instructive to read and learn about Long and what he did in Louisiana it could happen again. For reading I recommend T. Harry Williams Pulitizer Prize winning biography of Long which I'm sure was the basis for a lot of this film, credited or not.Long organized a political machine second to none in this country's history. The state of Louisiana was a personal fiefdom that he ruled over like a medieval duke. Opposition wasn't eliminated, it never was, but it was sure put in its place. One thing the film does not make clear was that while Long was Governor of Louisiana and had about a year or so for his term to run out he was elected to the US Senate for a term that would have begun March 4, 1931. But he and his Lieutenant Governor broke politically so rather than see this guy who was named James Noe take office, he simply never took the oath of office for US Senator. For a year he held both offices and Louisiana had for all intents and purposes one US Senator. Can you imagine the people of Louisiana putting up with that? I do so wish that was explored in the film.But he built and modernized the state in many ways. He took on big oil and that would sure make him popular today. But as he said during the film 'he was the Constitution of the State of Louisiana'. Legal niceties weren't for Huey P. Long.John Goodman does a fabulous job as Long who also took a lot of other liberties, personal ones. His doormat of a wife Ann Dowd played Rose McConnell Long who got a temporary appointment to fill Huey's seat after his demise. Their son Russell was elected to the US Senate in 1948 and served many decades. They are the only husband, wife, and child trio to serve in the US Senate.Anne Heche's character is real, but her name is changed. It was really a woman named Alice Grossjean. Heche does well by the part. I imagine Alice's family would not given any consent to her real name being used.Some really nice sets and period music capture the times of Huey Long. The life is in the capable hands of John Goodman and he delivers magnificently.

John Goodman is best remembered for being Roseanne's husband on tv, as far as I'm concerned, he deserves a purple heart for just putting up with her! However, he is a fine dramatic actor as well and have repeatedly proven it in films like Sea Of Love and The Babe. He is a larger then life screen prescence who dominates every film that he is in, even when he played Fred Flintstone! He takes on a real life "Larger then life" character in playing Huey Long, the infamous Louisiana "Kingfish". People have forgotten Long's assassination in 1935 rocked the country like the JFK, RFK and MLK deaths three decades later. Long was really nothing but a bombastic dictator who turned the state of Louisiana into his own private political machine. You shudder when you think what would have happened if he had been elected President. Goodman shows Long's bombast and bluster, but also his great charm that appealed to the Louisiana voters. History tells us that Long was killed one night in 1935 at the Louisiana State Capitol by a young doctor named Wiess. However, ballistic and modern forensic examination seems to rule this out. Weiss had gone there to speak with Long because he was gerrymandering his Judge father in law's district and wanted to stop him from doing it. What happened is that they got into a shoving matfch and Weiss hit Long in the mouth. His bodyguards went beserk and shot Weiss over sixty times. One of the stray bullets hit Long and killed him. Its inronic and perhaps poetic justice that this dictator's death should have been at the hands of his brutal bodyguards.

John goodman has proven his acting ability with this movie. It should be considered the height of his career. It is extremely doubtful that any actor could have played Huey P. Long with such conviction and believability as John Goodman. Combined with a lovely performance by anne heche, the movie is an acting coup. A must-see for lovers of historical films.