Watch A Face in the Crowd For Free

Sick Product of a Sick System

Overrated

hyped garbage

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Receiving an issue of film magazine Retro Cinema from a family friend,I took a look at movie reviewer Raymond Benson's best of 1958 films list,and was taken by a title that he said continued to be politically relevant today. A few days later I saw former IMDber MikeF list it as one of his best viewings of the month,which along with Benson's list led to me looking to the crowd.View on the film:Meeting future President LBJ a number of times for research into his speaking style and mannerisms, Budd Schulberg reunites with director Elia Kazan for a jet-black satire of populism in the TV age. Pulling Larry 'Lonesome' Rhodes out of the blue-collar grass-roots of On The Waterfront, Schulberg warns of the instant fame TV can give by dicing Lonesome from a good olde Southern boy just happy to hear his tune on the radio, to his bigly gain in popularity from starring in trash TV shows powering Lonesome towards politics and becoming a demagogue who is top of the world ma!Whilst the way he is caught out rings as a false,rushed move in the tale, Schulberg follows the puppet-strings of Lonesome that go up to the dry wit of politicians trying to get Lonesome's populism to rub off on them, and Lonesome's romance with Marcia Jeffries's crumbles as he becomes surrounded by power. Continuing his trademark theme of "social issues" films, director Elia Kazan brings a giddy excitement to Lonesome's early days with flashing TV studio lights and signs, that starkly dim to a black screen transmitting the empty space now at the core of Lonesome. Joined by the fellow debut of Lee Remick as the high-kicking Betty Lou Fleckum, Andy Griffith gives a magnetic debut performance as Lonesome, whose laid-back style Griffith uses to charm the crowds and the viewers, that Griffith sours into a cold sweat,as Lonesome looks out and sees no faces in the crowd.

Wonderful original screenplay by Budd Schulzberg and good performances by the leads. Good film that explores the power of the media on the same lines as Billy Wilder's "Ace in the Hole" made 6 years prior to this work. Only difference was the two films dealt with different media.

This film is an underrated masterpiece, and it is mind-boggling that it didn't win Best Picture, and certainly Best Actor for Andy Griffith. I would add that (since I'm writing this in March 2017) it seems to be art predicting life, because the character and story of Lonesome Rhodes is so much like the rise to power of entertainer, Donald Trump. Both of those men knew how to manipulate the populace through mass media and outrageous statements that enthralled the less educated public. My husband and I saw this on TCM late last night, and with each scene in the film we were more and more convinced that this is a very significant film, and deserves to be resurrected on the big screen in some trendy art cinema. As a total cinephile, I believe that this is one of the best political/social satires I've ever seen. I has given me much more respect and admiration for Andy Griffith -- who knew he was such an outstanding actor?! The script and directing are top notch and deserve the highest awards. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as a revealing metaphor for Trump-like scoundrels.

Released in 1957, Elia Kazan's "A Face in the Crowd" stars Andy Griffith as Larry Rhodes, a fast-talking drifter who's hired by the producer of a small-town radio show. As the plain-speaking Rhodes appeals to listeners, he quickly becomes famous, and thus a powerful marketing tool.Pre-dating "Network" (1976) by almost two decades, "Crowd" reveals a world in which newspaper, radio and television have become powerful tools of manipulation. Rhodes is not only used as a pawn to push products, but political candidates as well, Kazan anticipating the rise of a new breed of political pundits, folksy "everymen" used by those in power to sell lies to the masses. Kazan's films have often been about the pitfalls of "success". If films like "On the Waterfront", "America, America" and "Viva Zapata!" observe the struggles of social climbers, fare like "The Arrangement", "The Last Tycoon" and "A Face in the Crowd" are explicitly about "success stories" who become painfully disillusioned. Rhodes himself shifts from a man who wanted little to do with money, power or politics, to a man who embodies everything he once detested. Selling products and political candidates on television, Rhodes then begins to despise his many fans and viewers; he deems them simple-minded dupes. Earlier in the film, others condescendingly viewed Rhodes the same way."You gotta be a saint to stand all the power that little box gives you," a character played by Walter Matthau states. It's a lesson Rhodes soon learns. By the film's second half, media, advertising, capitalism and politics have become a messy entanglement from which Rhodes is unable escape. Everything has become a game of surfaces, sales and deceit, and when audience faith in Rhodes collapses, he's ejected from the game."A Face in the Crowd" was ignored upon release, but has since come to be regarded as one of Kazan's masterpieces. Though very heavy-handed, it remains a prophetic, funny and fast little film. Expertly acted by Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal.8.9/10 - See Wilder's "Ace in the Hole".