Just imagine if instead of rebelling against the new order of things that Edward Arnold planned for the country, Gary Cooper had collaborated and eventually took it over in Meet John Doe. Then you have some idea of what Elia Kazan was trying to say in A Face In The Crowd.
A few years later there's no way on the planet that Andy Griffith could have been cast as Larry 'Lonesome' Rhoads the John Doe of American nightmares. Griffith had starred on Broadway in No Time for Sergeants, cut some comedy albums, did some television appearances, but he was not a big or a small screen name. So with no image to counteract, Elia Kazan could cast him and he gives one powerful performance. But it never would have happened had he been Sheriff Andy Taylor first.
Local radio station manager Patricia Neal discovers this country boy philosopher in the local jail in her Arkansas home town. Seeing he's got charisma, she puts him on the air. She figures she has another Will Rogers on her hands, but Griffith proves to be a far more malevolent person than Will Rogers ever was.
Rogers was the guy who said he never met anyone he didn't like. Griffith feels there isn't anyone he ever met he couldn't clip. The frightening thing is he comes real close to proving it.
Some future stars make some early appearances in A Face In The Crowd besides Griffith. Anthony Franciosa is the smooth talking ad man who rides a good thing when he sees it and that comment can be taken a lot of ways. Lee Remick is the wide-eyed cheerleader seduced by Griffith, and the good life. Walter Matthau who in his early years played a lot of hoodlums in this case is the writer who catches on early what Griffith is all about.
My favorite is Kay Medford however. She has only one scene in the film with Patricia Neal. But she really scores with it as Griffith's forgotten wife who even when tipsy knows exactly how much of a piece she can get on his celebrity.
A Face In The Crowd is written by Budd Schulberg who along with Elia Kazan were friendly witnesses at the House Un American Activities Committee. The ironic thing is that both these guys considered themselves as men of the left and certainly A Face In The Crowd wasn't written by any Republican. The unkindest cut of all to Elia Kazan was the fact he got booed at the Oscars when he received a deserved Lifetime Achievement Award and was eulogized eloquently by Pat Buchanan when he died. What a world.
Eleven years after A Face In The Crowd came out, Kazan and Schulberg proved to be prophets of sorts when George C. Wallace ran for president. If his campaign wasn't a 'Lonesome Rhoads' special I don't know what was.
Of course Griffith falls, but how he falls is something else. I won't reveal it, but think back to that much imitated ending from another Elia Kazan masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire.
A Face In The Crowd is a very relevant film today considering the influence some of these pious country types have in the religious right of today.
A few years later there's no way on the planet that Andy Griffith could have been cast as Larry 'Lonesome' Rhoads the John Doe of American nightmares. Griffith had starred on Broadway in No Time for Sergeants, cut some comedy albums, did some television appearances, but he was not a big or a small screen name. So with no image to counteract, Elia Kazan could cast him and he gives one powerful performance. But it never would have happened had he been Sheriff Andy Taylor first.
Local radio station manager Patricia Neal discovers this country boy philosopher in the local jail in her Arkansas home town. Seeing he's got charisma, she puts him on the air. She figures she has another Will Rogers on her hands, but Griffith proves to be a far more malevolent person than Will Rogers ever was.
Rogers was the guy who said he never met anyone he didn't like. Griffith feels there isn't anyone he ever met he couldn't clip. The frightening thing is he comes real close to proving it.
Some future stars make some early appearances in A Face In The Crowd besides Griffith. Anthony Franciosa is the smooth talking ad man who rides a good thing when he sees it and that comment can be taken a lot of ways. Lee Remick is the wide-eyed cheerleader seduced by Griffith, and the good life. Walter Matthau who in his early years played a lot of hoodlums in this case is the writer who catches on early what Griffith is all about.
My favorite is Kay Medford however. She has only one scene in the film with Patricia Neal. But she really scores with it as Griffith's forgotten wife who even when tipsy knows exactly how much of a piece she can get on his celebrity.
A Face In The Crowd is written by Budd Schulberg who along with Elia Kazan were friendly witnesses at the House Un American Activities Committee. The ironic thing is that both these guys considered themselves as men of the left and certainly A Face In The Crowd wasn't written by any Republican. The unkindest cut of all to Elia Kazan was the fact he got booed at the Oscars when he received a deserved Lifetime Achievement Award and was eulogized eloquently by Pat Buchanan when he died. What a world.
Eleven years after A Face In The Crowd came out, Kazan and Schulberg proved to be prophets of sorts when George C. Wallace ran for president. If his campaign wasn't a 'Lonesome Rhoads' special I don't know what was.
Of course Griffith falls, but how he falls is something else. I won't reveal it, but think back to that much imitated ending from another Elia Kazan masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire.
A Face In The Crowd is a very relevant film today considering the influence some of these pious country types have in the religious right of today.