The first half of A Face in the Crowd is genuinely intriguing and competently handled by Kazan, but it quickly degenerates into moralizing diatribe.
A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:21
Fresh:19
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.8/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: A savagely funny look at the way sudden notoriety and power corrupt. A small-town windbag (Griffith in his film debut) becomes an overnight success when the TV show created for him by network and... A savagely funny look at the way sudden notoriety and power corrupt. A small-town windbag (Griffith in his film debut) becomes an overnight success when the TV show created for him by network and advertising execs hits the top of the ratings. But behind the scenes he turns out to be a vindictive monster, and the reporter who brought him out of the woods determines to expose him. Based on the short story "The Arkansas Traveler" by Schulburg, who also wrote the script. [More]
Starring: Andy Griffith, Lee Remick, Walter Matthau, Patricia Neal
Starring: Andy Griffith, Lee Remick, Walter Matthau, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa, Percy Waram, Rod Brasfield, Paul McGrath, Kay Medford
Director: Elia Kazan
Director: Elia Kazan
Producer: Elia Kazan
Screenwriter: Budd Schulberg
Reviews for A Face in the Crowd
What starts out as a seemingly liberal tract rapidly becomes a smug, cynical exercise in misanthropy.
This sizzling and cynical exposure... also presents Andy Griffith as the key figure in his first screen role.
Didactic but highly effective little black comedy from the folks who gave you 'On the Waterfront.' Andy Griffith is downright scary.
Andy Griffith, as a hick radio star modeled on Arthur Godfrey, delivers an astonishing, sinister performance in Elia Kazan's 1957 essay on media demagoguery.
Next time you feel like you're getting fooled again by a demagogue, rent this movie and get centered
It's a biting 'rise and fall' satire, sending out a warning to watch out for legends created on the boob tube.
...an important cautionary tale for all of us not take everything we see and hear at face value.
The remarkable thing about A Face in the Crowd is the way in which this 50-year-old film only seems to become only more relevant with the passing of time.
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