A Face in the Crowd1957
A Face in the Crowd (1957)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: A raucous Andy Griffith channels the corruptive influence of celebrity in Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd, a prescient critique of American media.
A Face in the Crowd Photos
Movie Info
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Cast
as Lonesome Rhodes
as Marcia Jeffries
as Joey Kiely
as Mel Miller
as Betty Lou Fleckum
as Col. Hollister
as Beanie
as Mr. Luffler
as J.B. Jeffries
as J.B. Jeffries
as Macey
as First Mrs. Rhodes
as Jim Collier
as Sen. Fuller
as Sheriff Hosmer
as Abe Steiner
as 1st Printer
as 2nd Printer
as Herself
as Herself
as Herself
as Himself
as Himself
as Himself
as Himself
as baton twirler
as Radio Announcer
Critic Reviews for A Face in the Crowd
All Critics (33) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (29) | Rotten (4) | DVD (3)
Instead of implying their criticism of TV values through asserting their own, Kazan and Schulberg make a token gesture of protest, in which they have no faith.
A Face in the Crowd has never ceased to be relevant.
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.
A little overdone, but Neal and Remick are brilliant.
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.
Audience Reviews for A Face in the Crowd
A drifter becomes a radio personality, becomes a television personality, becomes a national influence, all by cleverly telling people what they want to hear while playing a simpleton. It so closely hews to the current trump presidency that it counts as precognitive. Andy Griffith is a whirlwind force as the cheesy manipulator but Patricia Neal holds her own as the woman holding onto a lit firecracker (no pun intended). Lee Remick surprises by baton twirling.
Super Reviewer
This one is disturbing for all the right reasons. Watching Andy Griffith play a money-grubbing, amoral, unlikeable bastard is like watching Mister Rogers play Hannibal Lector. After all, this is the same Andy that kept the streets of Mayberry safe for all those years and the same Andy that taught Opie how to fish and throw a curve ball. It's even more unnerving because Griffith does it so well.
Super Reviewer
Holy central performance Andy Griffith! This movie is full on fantastic. Elia Kazan has brought to life a story that is years ahead of it's time. A must see.
Super Reviewer
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