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A Face in the Crowd Overview:

A Face in the Crowd (1957) was a Drama - Film Adaptation Film directed by Elia Kazan and produced by Elia Kazan.

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 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 Schulberg, who also wrote the script.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

A Face in the Crowd was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2008.

A Face in the Crowd BlogHub Articles:

A Face in the Crowd (1957): Lonesome Rhodes is No Andy Taylor

By 4 Star Film Fan on Sep 26, 2019 From 4 Star Films

It begins unobtrusively enough. In a backwater Arkansas jail, a drunkard plays his guitar on a radio segment of “A Face in the Crowd” being broadcast from his cell. They don’t know it quite yet but soon the host who found him, Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal), and Larry “Lone... Read full article

A FACE IN THE CROWD ( 1957 )

By Theresa Brown on Nov 6, 2016 From CineMaven's Essays from the Couch

One of my favorite films is “A FACE IN THE CROWD.” Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau were wonderful. In fact, I enjoyed every one’s characterizations and Elia Kazan’s message of cynicism was spot on. Power brokers…false prophets… charlatans…snake oil salesmen... Read full article

A Face in the Crowd (1957)

By Beatrice on Jun 17, 2016 From Flickers in Time

A Face in the Crowd Directed by Elia Kazan Written by Budd Schulberg 1957/USA Newtown Productions Repeat viewing/Netflix rental Lonesome Rhodes: Marcia, I put my whole self into everything I do. This is must-see viewing during any U.S. political campaign but is fantastic any time. Marcia Jeffri... Read full article

A Face in the Crowd

By Alyson on Jun 20, 2013 From The Best Picture Project

Most know Andy Griffith best from his popular show, The Andy Griffith Show, and his later years on Matlock.  However, few realize that his screen debut came in 1957 in the film by Elia Kazan, A Face in the Crowd.  Here, Griffith is a downtrodden young man found in jail with enormous talent for win... Read full article

A Face in the Crowd (1957) (1)

By Angela on Sep 15, 2010 From Hollywood Revue

Spending some time in jail for drunk and disorderly conduct turns out to be a life altering event for Larry Rhodes (Andy Griffith).  While he’s in jail, Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal) stops by to broadcast her radio show and the sheriff makes a deal with Larry that he’ll be released ea... Read full article

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A Face in the Crowd Quotes:

Marcia Jeffries: Betty Lou is your public, all wrapped up with yellow ribbons into one cute little package. She's the logical culmination of the great 20th-centure love affair between Lonesome Rhodes and his mass audience.
Mel Miller: Didn't you know? All mild men are vicious. They hate themselves for being mild, and they hate the windy extroverts whose violence seems to have a strange attraction for nice girls. You should know better.
Joey DePalma: Illegal? Honey, nothing's illegal if they don't catch you!
Mel Miller: [of writers] Here you see the lepers of the great television industry. Men without faces. Why, they even slide our paychecks under the door so they can pretend we're not here.
Mel Miller: [commenting on one of Lonesome Rhodes' on-air tirades after the two have had a falling out] I'll say one thing for him, he's got the courage of his ignorance.
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A Face in the Crowd Facts
The Vitajex tablets that Lonesome Rhodes hawks have 6 grains of dextrose, 5 grains of inert material, 2.5 grains of caffeine, and 3.5 grains of aspirin. That's roughly equivalent to a 16 oz café latte and two baby aspirin tablets.
The majority of the movie was filmed at Biograph Studios built in 1912 by American Mutoscope & Biograph us. The studio was sold several times throughout the years until it burned down in 1980.
MSNBC host Keith Olbermann refers to FOX News host Glenn Beck as "Lonesome Rhodes" Beck after Andy Griffith's character in this movie.
According to a 1983 interview with the actor, the debut role of Charles Nelson Reilly as a saxophonist did not make the final cut of the film.
In the "Making of" documentary on the 2005 DVD release of A Face in the Crowd, Andy Griffith says that the inspiration for way that Marcia reveals Rhodes' hypocrisy (by broadcasting his true feelings about his audience after he believes the sound has been cut off) came from the famed "Uncle Don incident," in which "Uncle" Don Carney, a longtime children's radio host, was supposed to have been broadcast saying "there, that oughta hold the little bastards" into a live microphone after he thought it had already been turned off. Griffith recounted this story as fact, even though it is believed by most broadcasting historians to be nothing more than a widespread and very popular urban legend.
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