The Front (1976)

just watch it!

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

This movie was criticized when it came out because of it's humor and supposedly too lighthearted approach to blacklisting. But the director, writer and many of the actors were black listed and I think they knew it was a better way to approach the material than some turgid drama about blacklisting. Zero Mostel gives simply one of the most extraordinary performances on film in this movie. He runs the gamut and it is a crime he didn't win the supporting Oscar for this film. Woody Allen has never been better as an actor. The writer and director expose the black listing system in a way that makes you understand the human aspect of it. The acting throughout is convincing and in Zero Mostel's case, heartbreaking. His performance is reason enough to see this film. It is tremendous in it's humor, pathos and skill. You will witness many great character performances in this movie and the patina of an era long gone but not forgotten in this country. You will find familiar faces in this film which draws on many of the talents that populated the era of blacklisting.

In the 50's, in New York City, the screenplay writer Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy) meets his apolitical friend, the cashier of restaurant and smalltime bookmaker Howard Prince (Woody Allen) and tells him that he can not work anymore since he is blacklisted. Prince offers to sell his scripts to the producer of a TV station using his own name and Alfred offers a 10% commission to Prince.Prince uses the money to pay his debts and improve his life and soon he offers his name to two other blacklisted writers. Meanwhile he dates the TV screenplay editor Florence Barrett (Andrea Marcovicci). When the veteran actor Hecky Brown (Zero Mostel) is blacklisted and fired by the producer Phil Sussman (Herschel Bernardi), the idealistic Florence quits her job. But when Hecky Brown commits suicide, Prince takes a stand against the unjust system.Today I have just watched "The Front" on VHS maybe for the third or fourth time (last time was on 31 May 2002). This fairytale about the dark period of the North America history known as McCarthyism is wrongly categorized as "comedy" and is actually one of the most important and a serious movie by Woody Allen that perfectly works with the situation of a figurehead that realizes the damage caused by the Powers that Be to the careers and lives of his compatriots and decides to react against them.Another attraction is that the director Martin Ritt; the writer Walter Bernstein and the stars Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi and Lloyd Gough had been blacklisted in the 50's. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Testa de Ferro por Acaso" ("Figurehead by Chance")

The screen time may belong to Woody Allen, but the movie belongs to Zero Mostel. Few actors are more improbable than the artfully bulky Mostel, whose round head, tiny snub nose and large expressive eyes resemble a cartoon more than an actual person. Yet his range is phenomenal. Watch the breadth as he slyly tries to work around head witch-hunter Francis Hennesee, or comically greets the diminutive Allen, or explodes in eye-popping rage at the Borscht-belt proprietor who cheats him. His metaphorical loss in the film mirrors the very real loss film-goers suffered during his years of blacklist. And it's to Allen's credit that he generously showcases this prodigious talent in what would be Mostel's last film. The movie itself handles the blacklist of the 1950's with a congenial light touch. Allen is perfect as the nebbish who fronts for his screenwriter pals, and it's fun to watch him puff up and fluff out as the spotlight shifts abruptly his way. As expected, there are many amusing Allen bits scattered throughout. Even the romantic angle with Marcovicci works nicely into Allen's character as he evolves through the story-line, ending in a perceptive example of the old "worm turns" plot twist. All in all, this 1976, Martin Ritt film amounts to an amusing look at a dark period in American civil liberties, made unusually memorable by the sublime presence of the unforgettable Zero Mostel.

Having been personally involved in battling McCarthyism, I well remember the pervasive fear that blanketed much of America during the period documented in "The Front." And there were many figures in the entertainment world, including several associated with this film, who were blacklisted and denied livelihoods mainly because of the poison spread by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, not directly by McCarthy himself. He was after bigger fish -- officials at the State Department whom he ruined without any evidence and no compunction. It was the HUAC who "exposed" the Hollywood Ten (and many other actors, writers, directors and performers who had once been Communists or flirted with Communism or fellow-traveled in the 1930's).Woody Allen is mildly funny as the schmeggeh who pretends to be a writer fronting initially for a friend and eventually for a trio of blacklisted writers. But this is a serious film, and Woody is overshadowed by Zero Mostel and Herschel Bernardi, who were actually on the blacklist as was the director of the movie, the author and others in the cast. Mostel's character, driven to desperation, eventually commits suicide.Careers and lives were shattered by the HUAC and McCarthy,as well as by State and local officials who took up the witch hunt at nearby university campuses and at other convenient targets. "The Front" is realistic and so is the schmeggeh and the victims and the idealistic love interest, Andrea Marcovicci, who ultimately spurs Woody's character to tell congressional investigators where they can shove it.I can identify with Marcovicci's character because I was one of those naive young idealists who assumed the risk of battling the Boogey Men. That's what they actually were. The fear, though real, was finally dispelled by a few brave souls who staked their careers on exposing McCarthy for what he was: a drunk, a liar and a bully. Ultimately, the monsters retreated under the bed where they belonged, leaving a lot of human wreckage behind. A side note:Marcovicci was seen as a rising young star on the strength of her role in this movie, but she never reached her potential in films; instead, she became a singer on the cabaret circuit. Although hardly a headliner. she is still flourishing in her early sixties and has a number of CDs to her credit.