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A FACE IN THE CROWD
Director Elia Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg, the creative force behind the Oscar winner for Best Picture of 1954, On the Waterfront, struck gold with their next collaboration, 1957's A Face in the Crowd, a blistering and unflinching look at, among other things, the power of celebrity and the abuse of same, fan obsession, the power of advertising and the media and the constant monitoring of the bottom line. The film also introduced a brand new movie star to the world named Andy Griffith.
Griffith plays Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, a drunken womanizer who is discovered in a sleepy little farm town called Pickett, Arkansas by a radio station employee named Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal) whose performance of a song on Marcia's show becomes an overnight radio sensation in Pickett, which leads to an offer to do his own television show in Memphis, which leads to Rhodes becoming a media sensation and eventually a player in the political arena and how his elevation to the position of pop culture icon also turns him into a monster, manipulating and using anyone he has to in order to get what he wants.
Needless to say, this film was WAY ahead of its time and was probably a bit of shock to 1957 filmgoers and was clearly an inspiration for later works like Elmer Gantry and Network. It is unsettling watching the journey that Lonesome Rhodes makes here...he starts out as a simpleton who practically has hayseed coming out of his ears as he is finishing off a spell in an Arkansas drunk tank. We laugh as we watch the man shout whatever he wants over the airwaves, without filter and ignoring any kind of attempts at control or censorship. However, attempts to control fall to the wayside when he actually begins to attract an audience and it is no accident that there is a strong female demographic who he magically casts a spell over. This is troubling to Marcia, who while trying to "package" Lonesome into something marketable, is trying to fight her own feelings for the man.
It's unsettling that we find ourselves laughing at Lonesome when he's trying to figure out how to deal with a television camera or how to read a television commercial and later wanting to strangle him as he uses Marcia and the rest of his handlers to the point where he thinks he doesn't need them anymore. I can't recall the last time I saw a movie character who had me rolling on the floor laughing at the beginning of the movie and cheering when he finally experiences consequences of his actions at the end.
It is shocking to me that this film didn't receive a single Oscar nomination but I have a feeling that this film shed such an unflattering light on the business of show business that the Academy might have been offended by a lot of what happens in the course of this often ugly and uncomfortable story. The primary snubs being Schulberg's bold, take-no-prisoners screenplay and Kazan's solid direction that features some imaginative camera work and some solid editorial choices. The direction and screenplay were both worthy of Oscar nominations and I think their work here easily trumps On the Waterfront. This film just might be Kazan's masterpiece.
Andy Griffith was nothing short of brilliant in his mesmerizing performance as Lonesome Rhodes, a performance that should have earned him a nomination as well. Griffith proved to be an actor of depth and power here and those of you whose only exposure to Griffith is as Sheriff Andy Taylor, you are going to be in for quite the shock. His work here reminded me so much of Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry, but Griffith made some gutsy acting choices here that Lancaster shied away from. Patricia Neal is stylish and strong as Marcia and there are a couple of razor sharp supporting performances from Walter Matthau and Anthony Franciosa as a writer who Rhodes steps on and as a slick press agent who jumps on the Rhodes bandwagon. This film also marked the film debut of Lee Remick as a 17 year old baton twirler who catches Lonesome's eye. This was a one of a kind motion picture experience that left me limp.
Director Elia Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg, the creative force behind the Oscar winner for Best Picture of 1954, On the Waterfront, struck gold with their next collaboration, 1957's A Face in the Crowd, a blistering and unflinching look at, among other things, the power of celebrity and the abuse of same, fan obsession, the power of advertising and the media and the constant monitoring of the bottom line. The film also introduced a brand new movie star to the world named Andy Griffith.
Griffith plays Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, a drunken womanizer who is discovered in a sleepy little farm town called Pickett, Arkansas by a radio station employee named Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal) whose performance of a song on Marcia's show becomes an overnight radio sensation in Pickett, which leads to an offer to do his own television show in Memphis, which leads to Rhodes becoming a media sensation and eventually a player in the political arena and how his elevation to the position of pop culture icon also turns him into a monster, manipulating and using anyone he has to in order to get what he wants.
Needless to say, this film was WAY ahead of its time and was probably a bit of shock to 1957 filmgoers and was clearly an inspiration for later works like Elmer Gantry and Network. It is unsettling watching the journey that Lonesome Rhodes makes here...he starts out as a simpleton who practically has hayseed coming out of his ears as he is finishing off a spell in an Arkansas drunk tank. We laugh as we watch the man shout whatever he wants over the airwaves, without filter and ignoring any kind of attempts at control or censorship. However, attempts to control fall to the wayside when he actually begins to attract an audience and it is no accident that there is a strong female demographic who he magically casts a spell over. This is troubling to Marcia, who while trying to "package" Lonesome into something marketable, is trying to fight her own feelings for the man.
It's unsettling that we find ourselves laughing at Lonesome when he's trying to figure out how to deal with a television camera or how to read a television commercial and later wanting to strangle him as he uses Marcia and the rest of his handlers to the point where he thinks he doesn't need them anymore. I can't recall the last time I saw a movie character who had me rolling on the floor laughing at the beginning of the movie and cheering when he finally experiences consequences of his actions at the end.
It is shocking to me that this film didn't receive a single Oscar nomination but I have a feeling that this film shed such an unflattering light on the business of show business that the Academy might have been offended by a lot of what happens in the course of this often ugly and uncomfortable story. The primary snubs being Schulberg's bold, take-no-prisoners screenplay and Kazan's solid direction that features some imaginative camera work and some solid editorial choices. The direction and screenplay were both worthy of Oscar nominations and I think their work here easily trumps On the Waterfront. This film just might be Kazan's masterpiece.
Andy Griffith was nothing short of brilliant in his mesmerizing performance as Lonesome Rhodes, a performance that should have earned him a nomination as well. Griffith proved to be an actor of depth and power here and those of you whose only exposure to Griffith is as Sheriff Andy Taylor, you are going to be in for quite the shock. His work here reminded me so much of Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry, but Griffith made some gutsy acting choices here that Lancaster shied away from. Patricia Neal is stylish and strong as Marcia and there are a couple of razor sharp supporting performances from Walter Matthau and Anthony Franciosa as a writer who Rhodes steps on and as a slick press agent who jumps on the Rhodes bandwagon. This film also marked the film debut of Lee Remick as a 17 year old baton twirler who catches Lonesome's eye. This was a one of a kind motion picture experience that left me limp.