A Face in the Crowd (1957)

Touches You

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Great. Really great. Deserves wider recognition, because as a study of power and populism it's up there with "Citizen Kane".No, Elia Kazan didn't have Orson Welles' dazzling technical brilliance (though there's a wonderful natural feel of being onstage with the performers throughout), but he was very much an actor's director and brings some spectacular performances to the screen here.I'm a child of the early '60s, so I grew up with The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry RFD, and Matlock. I'd experienced many, many stories on TV with Andy Griffith, and he was a comfortable, familiar presence. Maybe the best compliment I can pay this film and his performance in it was that I quickly forgot he was Andy Griffith at all.Griffith's character of "Lonesome" Rhodes is honestly a performance for the ages. He's by turns charming, pitiful, and terrifying as he quickly ascends from an Arkansas county drunk tank to become a powerful media presence. The story is plotted conveniently but Griffith is utterly believable through the entire climb.Though Rhodes is the focus of the story, there's a great surrounding ensemble, too. The great Walter Mattheau has a strong supporting role as one of Rhodes' writers who eventually becomes disillusioned, and Patricia Neal is fantastic as the reporter who brings attention to Rhodes to begin with and tries to follow him all the way up. The performances are all amazing.Some personal speculation: I understand that Kazan was very demanding on Griffith during shooting, and that Griffith's experience on set was dark and difficult. His subsequent, more prosaic television career may well have been shaped by a desire to atone for his performance here.Kazan did this movie following his classic "On the Waterfront", and perhaps it's overshadowed unfairly. It's a great story of power, populism and corruption and deserves to be known more widely.

A Face in the Crowd is about the rise of television personality called Lonesome Rhodes played by Andy Griffiths. We first meet him in jail. He is discovered by a producer played by Patricia Neal, who sets him on the road to stardom.His appeal is that he is "authentic", a real man of the people. He talks like them, he knows what they like and what they don't like. He soon rises in popularity and even more sinister, his influence grows. Politicians soon appear on his TV show, eager to be seen with him. The power and the fame goes to his head.Apart from Griffiths, who is amazing in this, look out for a young Lee Remick, Anthony Franciosa and Walter Matthau. Patricia Neal is great as the woman who realises that she has created a monster.She is the first to spot what lurks beneath the easy going facade.Bear in mind that this film was released before reality TV and you will be amazed at how prophetic it is. The film also touches on the dangers of populism and how a demagogue can poison political debate via the medium of television. It also demonstrates how fleeting TV fame can be. Please watch this film. It may be a black and white movie from the 1950s , but it has so much to say about our culture in the 21st century.

This gem is proof the late Andy Griffith had the range to play drama as well as the nice guy hew would be remembered as later. Andy is so good he proves here is is uncommonly comfortable as a Darth Vader type of character.While the Elia Kazan film gets a little heavy handed late in the film, this one is a must see for any fan of Andy Griffith. Once you see this one, you will miss him even more than we do already. A lot of people have forgotten this movie. Andy proves here CBS missed an opportunity to have Andy play JR Ewing and even without Hagman the series would not have missed a beat. Griffith shows off his corrupt side and Patricia Neal is Brilliant too. Not to be missed.

I'm no longer a young man, yet this is the very first time I've seen or even heard about this movie that was made a few years before I was even born. My interest was kindled by the story of the Director himself, Elia Kazah. The air-heads who infest Hollywood generally know little about economics or history but know enough in their ignorant Utopian filled heads to try to tell the rest of us how things should be run. It is because so many people in Hollywierd despised Elia Kazah I figured I'd probably like him.I was not disappointed. This movie is prophetic. Imagine a slick talking crook from Arkansas. A womanizing liar pushed forward by a manipulative female self-publicist who masters the TV-Government- Business iron triangle. This charismatic country-boy woes millions with his smooth down-home delivery. He makes love to the TV camera and convinces you he loves you more than that rotten spouse you are stuck with at home . Sounds familiar don't it? You don't need to imagine that because you already know a certain disbarred impeached ex-president ! Now you know why this movie stuck pay dirt with me : this movie nailed the truth even before it came true by 50 years!Kazah was brutal and mean, but that was part of the technique he perfected. By getting an actor to feel the way a scene called for he got the camera to record it. He brought out the very best performance an Actor had in him. You've never seen how good Andy Griffith could be until you've seen this movie . Kazah was a true master of his craft and this movie easily is in my top 10 of all time favorites now.Just a few words about the Kazah-Commie controversy. My version of the DVD had a feature on this history. Historic Soviet records now prove Hollywood was infiltrated with Soviet agents. Agents who attacked Kazah and whom he owed nothing but payback. Agents who were working for the most evil country on Earth. Agents who Kazah knew Congress knew. He loved America and he defended it by naming those agents.What angered the Hollywierd crowd most was Kazan's defiance. He was right and he knew he was right. That shined the light back on them and there is nothing that gets a self righteous know-nothing-at-all more angry than to have their cherished beliefs deflated by someone they once liked. Rather than admit THEY were the problem they will blame the person who points it out . Kazah become the scapegoat of choice . That is why I think Kazah is an American hero. It takes a tough man to confront his enemies, it takes a stronger one to confront his friends. Oh, and by the way, did I mention Kazah made GREAT movies? This one is my favorite Kazah flick. So far. I'm still have a few more to see!