All the King's Men

To find something, anything . . .

. . . a great truth , or a lost pair of glasses. . .

. . .you must first believe there will be some advantage in finding it.

l found something a long time ago . . .

. . . and have held on to it for grim death ever since .

l owe my success in life to it.

lt put me where l am today .

This principle:

What you don't know won't hurt you .

They called it idealism in a book l read .

Get the gun . Get the gun . Get the gun .

Oh , my God .

The judge won't scare easy .

l don't count on him scaring easy .

You think it's beneath my dignity?

Well , you're governor, they tell me .

Yeah , l'm governor.

The trouble with governors is they think they gotta keep their dignity .

There's nothing worth doing a man can do to keep his dignity .

H uman frame ain't built that way .

When l'm not governor anymore because l'm president. . .

. . . l wanna meet somebody at midnight, l'll do that then too .

Hope you leave me to get a night's sleep .

No , Jack, you going with me because that's what you want.

Yeah , you and Sugar with me in the White House .

l'll give Sugar a pistol range right out there in the garden .

Brace of Republican senators can set up his tin cans for him .

And l'm gonna appoint a special member to Cabinet for you :

Secretary to the Bedchamber of Mr. Jack Burden .

Somebody to keep them telephone numbers straight. . .

. . . and return their little pink silk articles that get left behind .

But we gotta do this first.

l n the middle of the night when we could just do it in town sometime .

Sometime ain't never now.

Bastard .

Which way up there?

Jack, tell Sugar how to get to the house .

lt's your people live down here .

Suppose he don't open up?

Make him . What l pay you for?

Hey , Jack.

Mr. Duffy .

This is Willie Stark from up Mason City .

-County treasurer. -Glad to meet you .

-Jack Burden . -F rom The Chronicle .

Good to meet you , Mr. Burden .

Yeah , Willie's on business for Mason City .

Bond issue them got up there .

Gonna build a schoolhouse .

Yeah . Me and Willie was in school together.

Oh , you was in school , Alex. l didn't know.

Not the teacher's favorite , l don't expect.

No , sir, that's true .

Willie was , though . Still is, ain't you , Willie?

Yeah , Willie married a schoolteacher.

Well , you know. . .

. . .they tell me that schoolteachers are made with it. . .

. . . in the same place as the rest.

Now, is that right or not, Mr. Stark?

Yeah , that's right.

Slade !

Beers all around .

Not for me , thanks .

Oh , that little schoolteacher don't like it when you drink?

Well , she don't favor it, for a fact.

Well , beers all around .

Well , l sell beer to those who want it.

l don't make nobody drink them .

Well , maybe you got some orange pop for him .

That's what he wants.

Yeah , l think l'd like some orange pop . Two straws .

Jack, get up Mason City .

See who's this fella who thinks he's Jesus Christ. . .

. . . come down off the cross to scourge the moneychangers . . .

. . . out of that shinplaster courthouse they got them there .

l know who he is . Fella with a Christmas tie . . .

. . . pushed a school bond through .

-You know him? -Met him .

Watched him drink a bottle of orange pop once . . .

. . .through two straws on account of a wife who don't favor drinking .

She favor him staying parish treasurer?

Don't you know how things are run up there?

Run up there like they're run down here .

Yeah? Well , you leave down here and run on up there .

As a commissioner, as chairman , l guess you're in a position . . .

. . .to know the situation regarding the schoolhouse contract.

Ain't no situation .

Maybe not, but maybe so .

Ain't any situation .

Board took a bid offer.

A. J . Moore's bid , the fella's name . . .

. . . schoolhouse gets built.

This Moore fella's bid , l take it, was the lowest?

Now, you lookie here .

Ain't nobody tells a board what bid to take .

Anybody can come along put in a little pissant bid .

Board doesn't have to take it.

Board takes somebody who can do the work right.

Ain't nothing done but legal .

Who was it put in the little pissant bid?

-Name of Jeffers, if l recollect. -Jeffers Construction?

-Yeah . -Well , that's a real firm , a big firm .

The board picks who can do the work right.

That's all l got to say .

Don't you wanna tell mama. . .

. . . you wanna see yourself shining in the table? No?

All right. l wish l could have sold some to you .

Be out of your way in a second here . And no brushes , you sure?

-l'm sure . -All right.

Thank you . Thank you for your time . Bye-bye .

Mr. Stark.

Why , Mr. Jack Burden , how are you , sir?

You know , people would think parish treasurer paid well enough . . .

. . . a man wouldn't have to sell household fix-it kits door-to-door.

-People would think. -Doesn't in Mason City .

Well , l'm maybe not so good at mathematics . . .

. . . as some other parish treasurers you may've met.

Or too good at it.

How much they steal on the schoolhouse contract?

Well , let's see . . . .

Jeffers come in $ 1 42, 000 .

Moore , $ 1 75 , 000 .

That's $33 , 000 split six ways, 5500 per commissioner.

They done it so plain and pretty , well , you'd almost have to admire them .

J ust point out Jeffers uses nigra laborers . . .

. . . skilled men , you know?

Next thing , it's, "Lookie here , nigras making more money than you men .

Pushing wheelbarrows , hauling dirt. "

And that's it. "Goodbye , Mr. Jeffers and your low bid .

You go build your nigra schoolhouse somewhere else . "

Not that you didn't try and get people to see what was going on .

Oh , l yelled so long and loud about these old boys lining they pockets . . .

. . . l'm lucky to have any job in Mason City:

Government, door-to-door, or any other variety .

l stood out there on that street corner. . .

. . . pencil in one hand , paper in the other. . .

. . .trying to show people the numbers .

But you stop people out there in that hot sun . . .

. . .try to show them arithmetic. . .

. . .well , they can't see it so clear. . .

. . .through the sweat pouring in they own eyes from they own hard labor.

Especially if you put nigras in the equation .

-Why , you're likely to get beat up . -Likely?

Once or twice .

You gonna run again in November?

No , l'm done . A lame duck. Lucy too . They got her fired from teaching .

And l don't care . l don't want to teach there just so they can steal money .

That's right. You're looking at your own private two-person leper colony .

Sipping pop .

So , what are you gonna do , then?

l don't know. String my pa a fence , slop some pigs , milk some cows .

l'm gonna keep the faith , Mr. Burden , that's what l'm gonna do .

l'm gonna keep the faith in the people , because you know why?

Time . . .

. . . brings all things to light.

l trust it's so .

Joe .

Did you get a photograph of him?

Who?

The next mayor of this town .

You know what people are saying?

People are saying that God himself had a hand . . .

. . . in this schoolhouse business .

That God stepped in on Willie Stark's side .

Yes , sir. He does work in mysterious ways sometimes .

Sometimes. . .

. . . he has somebody else do it.

Sends over a fat man in a striped suit with a big car to do his will .

Well , l have had some worse employers , l admit that.

What you want?

Well , l wanna work for you , Mr. Stark.

And you wanna work for the people , unless l been misinformed .

People vote me , l'd be privileged to serve them .

-What, as the county treasurer? -Yes , sir.

Mr. Stark, you could run for mayor of Mason City . . .

. . . and you could win without climbing out of bed in the morning .

You just put the word out. . .

. . . about Willie Stark, who tried to take on the crooks single-handed . . .

. . .Willie Stark, who tried to warn us . . .

. . . Willie Stark, who could have saved our kids if we'd have just listened .

Now, l'm not talking about Willie Stark for the mayor of Mason City . No , sir.

l'm talking about Willie Stark. . .

. . . as the next governor of the great state of Louisiana.

Now, you saw a man holding out a handful of cash to you . . .

. . . and you said no .

This is what l see .

l see a man in a booth . . .

. . . looking down at a ballot, a working man .

And he sees three names there: Harrison , MacMurphy and Stark.

Now, what this man really sees . . .

. . . is that picture in the newspaper of them three little coffins . . .

. . . and the one man since the great Governor Stanton died . . .

. . .that had the guts to buck the powers that killed them .

Now, that man , that voting man , he's got a pencil . . .

. . . he checks a box, you wake up governor.

And that little lady lying beside you . . .

. . .the one that don't favor liquor. . .

. . . she wakes up the governor's wife .

That's what l see .

Now, why don't you take a minute with your orange pop . . .