the audience applauded

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

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 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.

I originally rented this not knowing it was made for television. When I found out, it explained a lot.The structure of the film is horrible, it is as if your watching a mini-series with numerous episodes missing. It just wasn't put together well at all.Now it sports an all-star cast but it seems as if they didn't even take it that seriously. John Goodman, who I usually like, is pretty bad here. He goes in and out of his southern accent quite often, and comes off as phony as I've ever seen him (and it isn't just his character). Anne Heche isn't that bad but she is hardly on screen so it doesn't help this sinking ship.The execution is just awful. There is an interesting story here but they don't do it well at all. I'd skip this unless you really enjoy taking in a lousy movie.