Robert Penn Warren

Set in the Depression, follows the life of a young farm boy who turns from an honest political hopeful to a powerful but corrupt governor. Based on Robert Penn Warren's novel which loosely fictionalized the life of Louisiana's Gov. Huey P. Long.

Willie Stark is an uncorrupted small-town mayor in 1950s Louisiana. He gets picked by the political machine to run as a wild card candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial race. But, when Willie realizes that he is being manipulated, he veers off on his own to become the darling of the electorate's downtrodden and forgotten hicks. Covering the campaign for a local paper is Jack Burden, whose editorial pieces become so admiring of Willie that he's fired....