Tuesday Nights at the Movies presents “All the King’s Men,” a 1949 Oscar-winning drama about a small-town idealist whose rise to political heights becomes a case study in the corrupting influence of power, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, Election Day.

Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford) is an earnest country lawyer determined to expose local government corruption. Plainspoken and lacking powerful connections, he has an almost touching faith that telling the truth will be enough to win over voters. It isn’t, of course, but Willie is a quick study. He learns to channel his indignation into fiery rhetoric.

Telling people what they want to hear takes Willie from political outsider to the governor’s mansion. With success comes a growing appetite for power, and because he genuinely still cares about helping ordinary people, he is able to justify his escalating ruthlessness.

Based on Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1946 novel, “All the King’s Men” draws inspiration from the career of Huey Long, a powerful Louisiana politician known as “The Kingfish.” While championing ambitious public programs for the poor during the Great Depression, he simultaneously built a powerful, personality-driven political machine that relied on intimidation and patronage. His story — and Willie’s — asks an unsettling question: Can the ends ever justify the means?

As Willie, Crawford (“Born Yesterday”) delivers a spellbinding performance. A veteran character actor better known for playing tough guys than leading men, he was hardly an obvious choice for the role. But his rough-hewn appearance and booming voice are perfectly suited to a man who discovers he can hold a crowd in the palm of his hand. Interestingly, the role was originally offered to John Wayne, who reportedly rejected the screenplay as unpatriotic. Crawford went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, beating Wayne, who was nominated for “Sands of Iwo Jima.”

Crawford makes the change from naïve reformer to commanding political operator so convincing that it’s easy to see why people continue to follow Willie as his behavior becomes more and more appalling. Among those drawn into his orbit are Jack Burden (John Ireland), a journalist who becomes one of his closest associates, and Sadie Burke (Mercedes McCambridge, in an Oscar-winning performance), his sharp-tongued political adviser. Both can see what Willie is becoming, yet still find reasons to remain loyal — and complicit.

Writer-director Robert Rossen (“The Hustler”) brings an almost documentary immediacy to the film. Working with cinematographer Burnett Guffey, he makes effective use of real locations, like crowded political rallies, and focuses on ordinary faces rather than the polished glamour of so many Hollywood productions of the period. Instead, “All the King’s Men” creates a political world that feels as noisy and untidy as it is thoroughly believable. Particularly effective are the rally scenes, where Willie learns to work a crowd, sensing its mood and discovering just how — and how much — he can influence it.

In the late 1940s, many Hollywood filmmakers were tackling difficult subjects — from antisemitism in Elia Kazan’s “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947) to organized crime and corruption in Abraham Polonsky’s “Force of Evil” (1948). Rossen similarly explored the darker side of American political life in “All the King’s Men.” Critics praised the film’s energy and realism. And while its cynical view of American politics wasn’t universally welcomed, it received seven Academy Award nominations and won three, including Best Picture.

Rossen’s interest in power and moral compromise was more than merely academic. He once had been a Communist Party member and, in 1949, he already had come under scrutiny. Only two years after “All the King’s Men” was released, Rossen was blacklisted after refusing to name former Communist Party associates before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He ultimately would reverse course, returning to testify in 1953. There’s an uncomfortable irony in Rossen’s own story, given how perceptively his film explores the compromises people make when their principles come at a price.

There are no easy answers in “All the King’s Men.” Willie accomplishes things that genuinely improve people’s lives, even as he becomes increasingly willing to destroy anyone who stands in his way. And the people who help him aren’t necessarily blind to his faults. Some see them perfectly well and decide, for their own reasons, to look the other way. Perhaps that’s why the story still strikes a nerve. Whatever lessons “All the King’s Men” has to offer, each of us is left to decide what, if anything, we take from it.

“All the King’s Men” (1949, 110 minutes) screens at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at Woodmere, 9201 Germantown Ave., in partnership with the Chestnut Hill Film Group. Light refreshments are available before the screening. Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted.