A Movie You Might Have Missed #72 — A Face in the Crowd

It's been 11 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

POWER! He loved it!
He took it raw in big gulpfuls...
he liked the taste, the way it mixed with the bourbon and the sin in his blood!

Lonesome Rhodes (Andy Griffith) is a homespun philosopher and country singer discovered in a drunk-tank by a radio show producer in Northeast Arkansas (Patricia Neal). His charm and disarming honesty make him an influential overnight sensation. As Rhodes moves up the ladder into bigger markets he is courted by people who want to use his influence with his adoring audience who mistake image for truth. But the people behind the scenes know what he's really like.

You've never seen Andy Griffith like this! He could really act. Who knew there was so more to his abilities than he displayed on The Andy Griffith Show or Matlock? Despite that, it's Patricia Neal whose quiet performance anchors the film. Keep an eye on her subtle reactions for a deeper reading of the story.

This is a spiritual cousin to the also little known Ace in the Hole directed by Billy Wilder. That film examines sensationalist journalism while this one dives into the intertwining of cult of personality, mass media (TV) and politics. This was the second and final collaboration between Elia Kazan and Bud Schulberg after On the Waterfront. In its own way it is equally as good a film and definitely should be better known.