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A Face in the Crowd (1957)
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Movie Review by E
July 19th, 2008
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JUST A GOOD OL' BOY
Director Elia Kazan is famous for his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, when he (eventually) named communist party sympathizers. Whether one agrees with his decision to drop names or not, the film legacy Kazan has left us is indisputably rich, particularly during the 1950s. That decade yielded the eight-Oscar® winner On the Waterfront (1954), written by Budd Schulberg. Also working with screenwriter Schulberg, Kazan directed A Face in the Crowd (1957), one of the finest of all 50s films, and it remains surprisingly insightful over 50 years later. With McCain and Obama both hard at work this election year, I found myself wondering what the outspoken main protagonist of Kazan's film might have to say about their campaigns.
In an astonishing screen debut, Andy Griffith portrays Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, a fast-talking drifter fortunate enough to find himself in the right Arkansas jailhouse at the right time. Local radio personality Marcia Jeffries (the always capable Patricia Neal) plans to feature his singing/songwriting talent on her radio show, but gets much more than she realized when Rhodes quickly displays his down-home talent for swaying public opinion, cleverly starting with housewives. Then he converts the local sheriff into a dogcatcher, later he offers up a private pool for use by all the town's children. Rhodes' uncanny talent for appealing to the masses soon lands him on television in Memphis, where his mass appeal soars to new heights, all while alienating program sponsorship and causing those closest to him to have doubts. Eventually his grass roots platform allows him to shape a major politician's campaign, whereby Rhodes envisions unrivaled political power for himself.
Thanks to strong performances from the stars and the deep supporting cast, the film is loaded with noteworthy moments, like Rhodes' audacious abuse of a sponsor who sells mattresses you can sleep on only "if you're real tired," the screen debut of Lee Remick as an alluring young baton twirler, Marcia's sound editing of a career-altering Rhodes TV show (influenced by a supposed real-life broadcast by "Uncle" Don Carney), to name a few. But the star attraction here is Griffith, who makes the most of every scene in which he is featured with an incredibly bold performance as the gregarious, fast-living demagogue Rhodes.
The Rhodes character is an amalgamation of numerous real-life personalities, including the musical talent of Tennessee Ernie Ford, the sponsor-ridiculing Arthur Godfrey, the popular social commentary of Will Rogers, and probably many, many more. In a hilarious scene that perhaps best captures the essence of Rhodes, he transforms a poorly selling supplement called Vitajex into a hot-selling 50s version of Viagra, in spite of the pill's completely neutral properties. The message resonates throughout the film: when it comes to selling a product, a sexy TV ad is more critical than the product's actual worth. In truth there is nothing about Vitajex that would influence one's sex drive, but the power of suggestive TV selling makes that little fact unimportant, and sales skyrocket.
Also included on the 2005 Warner Home Video DVD is a fine documentary entitled Facing the Past, well worth your time. And after viewing A Face in the Crowd, do not be surprised if you never see television content in quite the same way again.
--Eric Somer, 7/18/2008
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