Description
Reporter Jack Burden is
sent to cover the
campaign of Willie Stark,
a small-town Southern
reform candidate for
county treasurer. Willie
is
determined to expose
government corruption,
and
those in power are
equally determined that
he
will not be allowed to
run. After Willie is
released from jail,
having been arrested for
illegally holding a
political rally, he takes
Jack home to meet his
father, his wife Lucy, a
former schoolteacher, and
their teenaged, adopted
son Tom. Jack is
impressed by the Starks's
fortitude and, convinced
of Willie's honesty,
writes a series of
favorable articles about
him.
On a trip home to
Burden's Landing, Jack's
wealthy stepfather, Floyd
McEvoy, scoffs at the
idea that Willie is
honest and unbuyable.
Later,
Jack proposes marriage to
Anne Stanton, the niece
of their neighbor, Judge
Stanton, and sister of
his best friend, Adam,
but she turns him down.
Willie loses the election
but later, with Lucy's
tutoring, acquires a law
degree. Sometime later,
several grade-school
children are killed when
a
fire escape they are
using collapses during a
fire drill, and Willie
files a damage suit
against the builders. The
voters, remembering his
charge that the building
contract went to a
relative of the county
commissioner, are now
willing to support
Willie. Threatened by a
serious reform movement,
corrupt state
politicians convince
Willie to run for
governor,
thinking that he will
split the reform vote and
allow their candidate to
win. Jack travels with
the campaign but, like
the voters, is
unimpressed
by Willie's dull, fact-
filled speeches. One
evening, while Jack works
with Willie to improve
his oratorical skills,
Sadie Burke, who has been
sent on the campaign by
the political machine to
keep an eye on Willie,
tells him the truth--that
he is a decoy. The next
day, in the best speech
of his career, a hungover
Willie presents the
facts to his audience,
telling them that they
are
"hicks" just like him.
Although he loses the
election, he has learned
what it will take to win
in the future. Four years
later, Willie again
runs for governor and
hires Jack as his aide.
This time, he finances
his campaign by making
deals with anyone who
will help him. On a trip
to
Burden's Landing with
Jack, Willie admits that
he
has made promises, but
argues persuasively that
good can come out of evil
and thus wins the
support of the Stantons,
particularly Anne. After
he is elected, Willie
pushes bills through the
legislature, instituting
benefits for farmers and
allocating money for
schools, football
stadiums
and hospitals. He also
starts drinking heavily
and pursuing young women,
to the disgust of
Sadie, who has become his
mistress. Willie
appoints Stanton to the
office of Attorney
General, but Stanton
resigns when Willie
suppresses information
about graft in his
administration. Willie
then assigns Jack to dig
up scandal in Stanton's
background. Although he
is reluctant, Jack is too
dependent on Willie to
refuse, even after Sadie
reveals Willie's ongoing
affair with Anne. After a
drunken Tom causes the
death of Helene Hale
during a driving
accident,
he publicly admits his
guilt, despite Willie's
attempts to cover up the
incident. Willie then
offers Helene's father a
bribe, which is refused.
Later, Willie insists
that Tom play in a
football
game, and Tom ends up
paralyzed after an injury
sustained in the accident
is exacerbated. When
Adam refuses to head
Willie's new medical
center,
Jack shows Anne the
evidence he has uncovered
about the judge and
offers to keep it a
secret if
Adam takes the job. Then
Hale is killed, and
Stanton accuses Willie of
murder. As impeachment
proceedings begin, Willie
demands that Jack
disclose what he has
discovered about Stanton.
Privately, Jack begs
Stanton to stop the
proceedings, and is
stunned when Willie
reveals
that he already knows
about the judge's
background. Stanton
commits suicide, and
Jack,
suspecting that Anne was
the source of Willie's
information, quits his
job in disgust. When
Willie is not impeached,
Adam shoots him during a
victory speech and is
killed himself by the
police. After Jack
unsuccessfully tries to
convince Anne to reveal
the truth about Willie to
the crowd, Willie dies in
Jack's arms, without
understanding why he has
been killed.
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