Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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69 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ugly and amazing, July 20, 2002
When this was recently shown on cable, the host said that Andy Griffith threw himself so totally into the role that the nastiness impacted his personal life; when filming was completed, he purportedly told his family that he would never do a role like it again.He never did. He went on to endear himself to millions on The Andy Griffith Show and Matlock-- the folksy but wise nice guy. While I was watching A Face In The Crowd for the first time (it took me until age 40 before I discovered this film), I felt numbed, my emotions felt...BLASTED. I told my husband that I didn't think I could ever watch Matlock again-- how could this towering terror have "sold out" by playing the nice guy the rest of his life? How DARE he deprive his audience of the power he so obviously was able to bring to the screen? I was perplexed, even angry-- what happened? Now that I've heard the story of why his career took the path it did, I can watch his other work, smile, and appreciate it all the more. Because it's OK; they caught lightning in a bottle with this one. Most actors go their entire lives without leaving this kind of legacy. I'd never seen Patricia Neal play her emotions this raw, either. The HOWL she lets out when she throws herself across the console to keep Rhodes on the air...Kazan had a way of really wringing his actors. I won't go into any synopsis or further analysis; other reviewers have done just fine on that count. However, I am dumbfounded that this film is NOT on DVD, was NOT nominated for a single Academy Award; while I suppose the latter can be explained away by the politics of the times, it doesn't explain why Wiley and Bona's otherwise exhaustive tome "Inside Oscar" doesn't even MENTION the film as having made an impact. We were paranoid, yes, and we were cautious then (what goes around,comes around,huh?), but were audiences and critics also deaf, dumb, and blind? I intend to do further research on that note; this film is not likely to leave my psyche soon.
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77 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Dark Side of Mayberry, December 5, 2001
A Face in the Crowd, director Elia Kazan's criminally underrated 1956 political melodrama, tells the all-too plausible story of Lonsome Rhodes. Discovered by a local reporter (Patricia Neal) while spending time in a jail cell for vagrancy, Rhodes (Andy Griffith) is a drifter whose folsky charisma quickly makes him an instant celebrity. Soon, Rhodes has taken Neal as his lover and has his own television show where he gives out his home-spun opinions to a charmed nation. However, Rhodes is hardly the benevelolent country bumpkin that he presents himself to be. Instead, he is a power hungry meglomaniac who uses his fame to promote a fascist political organization. Much as he seduces a niave nation, he seduces a teenage cheerleader (Lee Remick) into being his bride. By the time that Neal and cynical television writer Walter Matthau come to realize the monster they've helped unleash on the world, it may indeed be too late.If this film was too easily dismissed when released, it has become all the more plausible and relavent in recent years. Certainly, the current popularity of talk radio can be seen as a fulfilment of the film's prophecy. However, a more disturbing parallel can be made between Rhodes and the recent emergence of several political leaders whose popularity has been based less on their abilities and more on the "straight-talking" personalities that they skillfully display to a public disillusioned with "politics-as-usual." (Ross Perot and Jesse Ventura being just two of the more obvious examples.) Best known for working with certifiably great actors like Marlon Brando and James Dean, Elia Kazan assembled a cast for A Face in the Crowd that may appear unlikely at first. Who could ever imagine a dark political drama starring Walter Matthau and Andy Griffith -- two seemingly polar opposites best known for their comedic efforts? However, it is a risk that plays off beautifully. Matthau's urban glumness stands in perfect contrast to Griffith's country-corn routine and both are such relaxing presences that even the most sophisticated of viewers will find it hard not to be drawn into a false sense of security that makes the film's ultimate revelations all the more disturbing. A Face in the Crowd was Andy Griffith's first film and he gives an amazing performance that will surprise anyone who knows Griffith only as the sheriff of Mayberry. While still displaying his own unique charisma, Griffith also doesn't shy away from revealing -- subtly but surely -- that Lonesome Rhodes is a truly evil man. What's now forgotten is that even as Sherif Andy Taylor, Griffith's performance had a certain edge. If the people surrounding him were funny, Taylor was always a no-nonsense authoritarian who luckily had a good sense of humor. In his performance as Rhodes, Griffith gives us a portrait of Andy Taylor without the sense of humor or the grounding-influence of family. Its an amazing, all-too realistic performance that makes one wonder what Griffith could have accomplished if he'd continued to explore that edge. Though Griffith dominates the film, the supporting cast is also strong. Along with the aforementioned Matthau, Patricia Neal gives a strong performance and brings both a subtle class snobbery and a repressed sensuality to her role. Her scenes later in the film, when she is forced to confront what she has set loose on the world, are devastating. Though her role is tiny, Lee Remick is both sexy and sympathetic as Griffith's child bride. Interestingly, Kazan doesn't present her character as a total innocent. Perhaps much like the film's America, if Remick is seduced and abused Rhodes, it is a seduction and degregation that she, at least partially, seems to desire. After naming names during the red scare, Kazan often seemed to be drifting. Shunned by Hollywood, Kazan's films soon became obsessed with justifying his own actions. His last two great films -- On the Waterfront and a Face in the Crowd -- both deal with the McCarthyism of the 1950s. If Waterfront was Kazan's justification for informing, A Face in the Crowd is Kazan's attack on the men who perpatrated the Red Scare. Rhodes becomes Kazan's horrific imagining of Joseph McCarthy. It as if after justifying his own choice to name names, Kazan now wanted to make sure it was understood that he was still opposed to the excesses of the times. All-in-all, its a self-centered way to view the power of cinema. However, personal motivations aside, Kazan's need to justify himself produced at least two great films. On the Waterfront is an acknowledged classic. A Face in the Crowd deserves to be.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beware of trolls in Media Land!, April 28, 2008
Once upon a time, oh, about 1957, in the far-off northeastern corner of Arkansas lived a princess, Marcia Jeffries, who has a radio show. She calls it "A Face in the Crowd" because she believes she can coax "talent" from anyone.
One day she goes to the county jail for that face which, it turns out, belongs to Larry Rhodes. He speaks right up and says, "What's in it for me?," a phrase that becomes his magic words. She gives him the luminous name Lonesome Rhodes and puts him on her morning show where he becomes an immediate local hit. Here on radio he proves he can get people to do outrageous things just by asking. Lonesome has the stuff, star quality, and becomes a radio personality. No need of wands for Lonesome--he has his own magic: the raw vitality of animal magnetism even sight unseen.
Before long Marcia and Lonesome go to Memphis for his own television show.
On their way there, she learns he is really a warty toad inside that Prince Charming disguise, but as a princess is wont to do, she ignores it. In Memphis Lonesome is growing in influence and growing to fit inside that influence. He brings a black woman off the streets and asks the television audience to help raise money to rebuild her burned down house. More than enough money is raised. It's a magic kingdom, television is, with all kinds of far-reaching influence.
Lonesome proves he can sell anything his way-- by belittling the product or boosting the product. He becomes a "wielder of opinion, a man of influence, a strong hand of the elite to guide the masses," and is backed by a maker of presidents. At this point the toad has shed that skin to become a troll.
Meanwhile, what has happened to Princess Marcia? Who is the real knight who comes to the rescue? And what happens to that troll?
"A Face in the Crowd" is one of the most overlooked films about media manipulation, misuse and abuse of the power of mass appeal by a television personality, a dark look at behind-the-scenes television. What could have been a magic kingdom is twisted by the corruption of power into desolation.
The acting is mesmerizing, with kudos going to Andy Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes and Patricia Neal as Marcia. New actor Walter Matthau excels as the intellectual writer behind the scenes, and Lee Remick as Everywoman in love with Lonesome Rhodes. Elia Kazan directs. The film should have been an Academy Award nominee, if not winner.
"A Face in the Crowd" is a must-see film and is as relevant today as the day it opened.
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