Das Gesicht in der Menge

hymn Most people will think this movie is about Andy Griffith as Lonsome Rhodes, hick entertainer storyteller megalomaniac. What this film REALLY is is a condemnation of mass media and how the media builds up people to images they can't possibly fulfill. Take Griffith, small town drunk, in jail, with a story to tell and a woman to record it. His story goes over with the public and the woman decides to make Rhodes a media darling. On the other side of the screen is the smoke filled room political machine out to publicize a washed up yokel as politician that they put up for election. Sound familiar? See the film NETWORK and compare Rhodes to the Peter Finch character, Howard Beale.

This film is a scathing indictment of misuse of media, pseudo stardom and all that goes with it. It is allegory to be sure, but then everything old is new again. Take a look at the so called "celebrities" of today and how they got that way and what makes them tick... then watch "A Face In The Crowd!!!!!

Elia Kazan will always be remembered as one of the most important directors of his era. With great movies like A Streetcar Named Desire and On The Waterfront, he forever established his position in cinema history. A Face in the Crowd is one of his lesser known movies that flopped at the box office when it was initially released, and was completely ignored by the Academy. It only got some following much later, when it was released on DVD, which is a shame since A Face in the Crowd doesn't greatly differ from Kazan's more popular movies. To correct this historical injustice, I decided to review this movie and spread the word about it as much as I can.

The movie opens with a young woman, named Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal), visiting the prison in her small town. She is doing a radio show called 'A Face in the Crowd' during which she talks with everyday people, transmitting their stories. In the prison she meets a man who calls himself 'Lonesome' Rhodes (Andy Griffith) – a hobo arrested for drunk and disorderly behavior. She tapes him for her show and the episode becomes a huge hit. Marcia and her uncle, who is the owner of the local radio station on which 'A Face in the Crowd' airs, offer 'Lonesome' a job on the radio station. He accepts and soon becomes a sensation with the local populace – and eventually, with the whole country.

A Face in the crowd is what you may call a movie ahead of its time, and that's maybe why it wasn't recognized when it was initially released. It deals with topics like the media, celebrities, propaganda and politics. And in this day and age, when we are surrounded by the internet and the mass media, A Face in the Crowd may seem more actual than ever. A Face in the Crowd is essentially about a corrupted man who has a gift for public relations, and uses this gift as means to an end – the end being his own benefit. I think every last one of us knows at least one politician, public personality or celebrity who is just like that. A Face in the Crowd is a dark, frighteningly realistic movie which is brilliantly directed and masterfully paced. It runs for over 2 hours but never feels dull or boring.

In a character study movie like this one, the actor portraying the character plays a very important part in the quality of the movie. 'Lonesome' Rhodes is portrayed by Andy Griffith in his first movie performance ever. He did an astonishingly great job and, like I said before, it's a shame that the Academy overlooked this movie, especially his performance. Andy Griffith later went to start in the very popular sitcom 'The Andy Griffith Show', and since his character in the sitcom was much different from his 'Lonesome' Rhodes character, he managed to show his amazing acting range – which makes makes his performance in A Face in the Crowd even more astonishing. Patricia Neal also did a very good job in portraying the character of Marcia Jeffries. Overall, A Face in the Crowd is an amazing movie, made by talented people, which doesn't deserve to be just another face in the crowd – it deserves to be more popular.

Rating: 8/10 Read more at http://passpopcorn.com/

A timeless story,as evidenced by all the allegories to recent personalities here ( Howard Stern, Clinton, etc...)...HOWEVER..the film is based (loosely) on a personality of the mid-50s: one Arthur Godfrey..yes, the IL' Redhead himself. Skillfully wrapped in the cliché of 'country boy makes good' story, the Godfrey story was hot news in 1957,and there weren't too many people back then who missed its allusions For those who do not know: Arthur Godfrey was one of THE hottest things in the country in the early to mid 1950's: he literally had about two or three different TV shows on the schedule, plus a radio show that was among the most popular in the day. Godfrey was JUST like this movie in this respect: on the air, he was America's home-spun hero..telling folksy stories....crooning in an off tone baritone, and presenting pure, CLEAN entertainment. OFF the air,however the legend that is Arthur Godfrey to this day is one of THE biggest control freaks in show biz history..to the point of controlling the lives of all of his 'family'..unfortunately that turned out to be downfall...One Julius LaRosa had been a singer that Godfrey had 'discovered' in the US Navy Band...after he was discharged LaRosa became a singer on Godfrey's nighttime TV show "Arthur Godfrey and Friends",where he became an instant star among the bobby sox set. In time, LaRosa started a recording career,and started to have VERY successful records..then suddenly, in 1953, Godfrey suddenly fired LaRosa from his show for the mysterious reason of him having 'no humilty' ...it has been assumed since then that Godfrey was extremely jealous of Larosa's success...Anyways, this exposed the 'real' Godfrey to the public.,and while it didn't happen as quickly or as totally as Lonesome Rhodes' career,Godfrey's career as a superstar was effectively over after that..he eventually was reduced to hosting game shows and such. Writer Schulberg obviously also puts in his 2 cents on fame...politics..the show business...and early television here, but as I said,there wasn't NO ONE in those days who didn't know it was about Godfrey....

The fictional story of a vagabond who is discovered and becomes a mega entertainment star who not only aquires fame and fortune but also political power. I came away from this film with the thinking that in 1957 when the picture came out in a strange way it must have terrified viewers. The film was clearly ahead of its time. By todays standards the egotistical, cynical and power hungry Lonesome Rhodes actually is quite tame but in 57 he must have been viewed as a cross between Hitler and Arthur Godfrey. Andy Griffith is nothing less than brilliant as Rhodes. Superb support from Patricia Neal, Walter Matthau, Anthony Franciosa and Lee Remick in her first motion picture. The movie never lags as it grips the viewer from the opening right to the final scene.

There are two major things that I find quite fascinating as I watch this 1957 classic. The first is the prophetic, hyper-realistic portrayal of television as a pervasive medium encroaching upon people's lives in ways unheard of back in the 1950's. The second is Andy Griffith's pull-all-the-stops performance as drunken hobo-turned-media sensation "Lonesome" Rhodes. For those who know Griffith only for his homespun TV portrayals, you will be surprised how remarkably he shows the venal underbelly and high-octane charisma of a character miles away from kindly, soft-spoken Sheriff Andy Taylor.

Master filmmaker Elia Kazan and writer Budd Schulberg, collaborating for the second and last time after their brilliant "On the Waterfront" three years earlier, tell the story of Rhodes, a burgeoning pop-culture phenomenon thanks primarily to the efforts of Marcia Jeffries, a young radio program host who discovers him sprawled in a hangover on the floor of a rural Arkansas jail. He mesmerizes the local radio audience with an improvised country song about his predicament, "Free Man in the Morning", and this marks the beginning of his meteoric rise all the way to his own weekly national TV program. As he capitalizes on his folksy charm and empathetic manner, he becomes a power-crazed tyrant behind the scenes. A corporate tycoon wants to use Rhodes' influence to sway a Presidential campaign in his favor, and Rhodes' megalomania moves him lockstep into a Citizen Kane-like form of paranoia.

It all seems exaggerated but it's brilliantly observed much like a film that covered the same themes twenty years later, Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky's "Network". However, even with strong doses of black comedy sprinkled throughout, Kazan and Schulberg use more melodramatic elements in their skewering until the near-Shakespearian climax when Rhodes' comeuppance takes on a grandly theatrical fervor. In a way, it seems a shame that Griffith never got another chance to bring out his dark side on the big screen. While sometimes wildly undisciplined in his film debut, he dexterously shows the cunning and charisma of his character to a level that makes his national celebrity utterly credible.

Showing his amazing facility to elicit stellar work from a wide variety of actors, Kazan assembled a strong cast to back him up starting with Patricia Neal, who is just as devastating as Marcia, a woman torn between ambition, decency and her fateful attraction to Rhodes. An impossibly young Walter Matthau shows the beginnings of his cynical screen persona as Mel, a crafty television writer who de facto becomes Marcia's conscience. In their film debuts and making indelible impressions, Anthony Franciosa and Lee Remick play Joey, an office lackey who turns into Rhodes' immoral agent, and Betty Lou, a teenaged baton twirler seduced easily by Rhodes' power, respectively.

If the film has one flaw, it's that it runs on a bit long for the parable it tells especially since Rhodes' moral ambiguity is pretty much settled in the first half of the story. Nevertheless, this movie is essential viewing as it not only shows a powerful early indictment of television (and supports Marshall McLuhan's mantra, "The medium is the message") but provides another example of the under-appreciated artistry of Kazan and Schulberg. The 2005 DVD has unfortunately no commentary track but one strong extra, a half-hour 2005 featurette, "Facing the Past", which spotlights Kazan's polarizing testimony in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the threatening role of television in the 1950's, both major factors in making the film. Griffith, Neal, Schulberg are interviewed. There is also a widescreen version of the original film trailer.