A Face in the Crowd

Genre: comedy drama (in black and white)

With: Andy Griffith (Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes), Patricia Neal (Marcia Jeffries), Anthony Franciosa (Joey DePalma), Walter Matthau (Mel Miller), Lee Remick (Betty Lou Fleckum), Percy Waram (General Haynesworth), Paul McGrath (Macey), Rod Brasfield (Beanie), Marshall Neilan (Senator Worthington Fuller)

Director: Elia Kazan

Screenplay: Budd Schulberg

Release: 1957

Studio: Newtown Productions (An Elia Kazan Production)

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.7/10

The Short Distance Between Humility and Megalomania

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Story-line: while doing a remote in an Arkansas town, reporter Marcia Jeffries stumbles upon a wanderer jailed for disorderly conduct and finds him so colourful that she wants him to do a morning show at her radio station.

Pluses: turbocharged performances by Andy Griffith (playing a funny and mysterious small-town boy) and Patricia Neal (the motivated Marcia), crucial support from Walter Matthau, Anthony Franciosa and cast, fast-paced and attentive direction (most evident in several complex scenes), a foresighted and rock-solid screenplay that brilliantly marries humour, drama and sarcasm, competent cinematography, an appropriate musical theme, quality editing and pertinent production values.

Minuses: none I can think of.

Comments: though it was produced when broadcast media and television were far less developed than today, A FACE IN THE CROWD awesomely illustrates their impact on daily life and the seedier aspects of entertainment stardom. It manages to be both hilarious and grave, its dramatic side presaging a more recent film about the media, Sidney Lumet’s much lauded NETWORK. As Lonesome would say, “I'm not just an entertainer. I'm an influence, a wielder of opinion, a force... a force!!!”   

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