BuzzFlash Reviews
August 19, 2005
A Face in the Crowd (DVD) Directed by Elia Kazan
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When a reader wrote us and recommended offering this film, we were skeptical. After all, when we read Andy Griffith was the star, all we could think of was Don Knotts, Opie, and Aunt Bee from the "Andy Griffith Show." And while we don't, unfortunately, have the time to read/watch every BuzzFlash reader-recommended book/movie, let's just say a conjunction of circumstances resulted in our viewing this 1957 black and white film, reissued in May of 2005.
Our conclusion: a more prophetic and cynical film about the power of television to influence the masses, at such an early stage in the medium, could not be found. Andy Griffith comes off with a performance as strong and robust as Burt Lancaster in "Elmer Gantry." And the supporting cast of Patricia Neal, Walter Matthau and Lee Remick all do their jobs. (It's a special kick to see Matthau as a relatively youthful news writer.)
When the film opens, you have no idea where it's going. Patricia Neal is a roving "slice of life" radio reporter for her father's station in Arkansas. She comes across one "Lonesome Rhodes" (Griffith) in the county jail, who cantankerously serenades her in between offering up heaps of defiant down home wisdom.
Soon "Lonesome Rhodes" becomes a radio star, and then a national television star. He has "it," that rare charisma of communicating directly through the TV camera to the viewer at home, a down-home populism that puts the audience in the palm of his hand.
But, of course, Rhodes is really a hypocritical louse, a philanderer, and a totally cynical narcissist. Like the Republican Leadership today, he has nothing but contempt for the average American that he is manipulating, and he prides himself on his ability to shape their viewpoints like putty in his hand.
The script by Budd Schulberg takes awhile to develop the unbelievably prescient insight into how television and politics become inextricably intertwined. It happens as Rhodes, who is financially taken under the wing of a right wing industrialist, is given the job of repackaging a fringe 1950's wingnut Senator into a viable candidate for president by making him appear all folksy and likable. (We need not spend any time elaborating on the obvious parallel of how Rove did this with Bush, although Cheney would be a more apt comparison to the Senator in the film. Bush had more television "likability" karma to begin with than the senator in "A Face in the Crowd.")
Rhodes and his financial sponsor understand that television is a medium that requires soundbites and -- above all -- it responds and conveys images of "character" that trump public policy ideas. Seeing this all unfold in a 1957 film is just mind boggling. After all, television wasn't still in many American homes, it was barely out of its toddler stages -- and was still in black and white.
But "A Face in the Crowd" reveals that at least some people early-on knew the basic revolution that had occurred with the emergence of television: it was to be the new tool for selling snake oil by emphasizing image and soundbites over substance.
Most of "A Face in the Crowd" unfolds with an intertwined plot: the ill-fated love that Patricia Neal maintains for the unfaithful "Lonesome Rhodes," and the rise of Rhodes from itinerant drunken troubadour to national television star who cynically appeals to all the myths of American life and touches upon all the patriotic hot buttons.
At first, you may wonder where the film is going, because it begins in the county hoosegow, but be patient, Andy Griffiths, with a bravura performance, takes you for a ride that reveals why the media is the message.
To see how the dangerous the result of that reality is, we need only look to the White House today.
"Lonesome Rhodes's" full-throated laugh will ring in your ears for days.
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