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.

John Goodman played a good mean guy, but Huey wasn't a mean guy.In this movie the main character claims to be Huey, displaying a bad temper and hitting people, hardly an accurate portrayal of the real "Kingfish." Everyone loved Huey, except for a few greedy elitists. Huey opposed the unjust status que, where 85% of the wealth was owned by 5% of the population. They owned the Papers, oil wells and plantations. He was a valiant public servant working hard for the; oppressed, uneducated and poor of Louisiana. These people loved Huey. Consequently, he won the governorship with over 93% of the popular vote. He gave them reason to believe in good government.Paul Monash wrote an interesting book but not an accurate book. Taking historical liberties to sell a movie, is wrong. But, to taint a fallen hero's character, while doing it is an insult.

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.