A Face in the Crowd (film)

Last updated
A Face in the Crowd
A Face in the Crowd (1957 poster).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Elia Kazan
Screenplay by Budd Schulberg
Based on"Your Arkansas Traveler"
by Budd Schulberg
Produced byElia Kazan
Starring
Cinematography
Edited by Gene Milford
Music by Tom Glazer
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • May 28, 1957 (1957-05-28)
Running time
125 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

A Face in the Crowd is a 1957 American satirical drama film directed by Elia Kazan and starring Andy Griffith (in his film debut), Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau. The screenplay by Budd Schulberg is based on his short story "Your Arkansas Traveler" from the 1953 collection Some Faces in the Crowd.

Contents

The story centers on Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, a drifter who is discovered by the producer (Neal) of a small-market radio program in rural northeast Arkansas, and who rises to great fame and influence on national television. The character was inspired by Schulberg's acquaintance with Will Rogers Jr. The successes of Arthur Godfrey and Tennessee Ernie Ford were also acknowledged in the screenplay.

The film launched Griffith into stardom, but it received mixed reviews on its release. Subsequent reappraisals have been kinder to the film. In 2008, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". [1] [2]

Plot

In late 1950s America, radio journalist Marcia Jeffries encounters drunken drifter Larry Rhodes while recording a segment at a rural Arkansas jail. She invites him to speak to the audience and sing while playing his guitar, and he becomes instantly popular. Marcia dubs him "Lonesome" Rhodes and fast-tracks him onto his own radio program. Marcia enlists the support of the show's writer Mel Miller and witnesses the charismatic Rhodes ad-lib his way to Memphis-area popularity, effectively criticizing local politicians along the way.

When Rhodes pokes fun at his sponsor, a mattress company, it initially pulls its ads, but when his adoring audience revolts by burning mattresses in the street, the sponsor discovers that the issue actually increased sales. Rhodes returns to the air with a new awareness of his persuasive power. He begins an affair with Marcia and proposes marriage to her.

Rhodes is offered a deal—put together without his knowledge by Joey, the overambitious assistant to the owner of the mattress company—to star in a new television show in New York; the rising star accepts the offer and signs a contract that allows Joey to manage him. Rhodes also becomes the national spokesman for the energy supplement firm that sponsors his show, and his buoyant charisma tremendously increases their sales. As his fame, influence and ego increase, Rhodes is enlisted to improve the appeal of a presidential hopeful, Senator Worthington Fuller of California, and rebrands Fuller as an everyman with the folksy nickname "Curly".

In contrast to his friendly onscreen persona, Rhodes has become an egomaniac who berates his staff. Marcia's hopes of marrying Rhodes are dashed, first when a woman claims to be his legitimate wife, and again when he returns from Mexico married to 17-year-old drum majorette Betty Lou. Rhodes and Marcia enter into a profit-sharing agreement after she reminds him of her role in his success. Mel, who loves Marcia, leaves to write an exposé on Rhodes. Joey has an affair with Rhodes's young wife, and Rhodes sends her back to Arkansas. However, he cannot extricate himself from the business arrangement with Joey, as Joey owns 51% of the company. Rhodes goes to Marcia's home, where he tells her about his political ambitions and admits that she helped him become who he is. While he falls asleep, Marcia gets dressed and leaves in a taxi.

Disgusted with Rhodes's behavior, Marcia activates a live microphone during the end credits of Rhodes's television show, which reveals him contemptuously mocking Fuller and the station's "idiot" viewers. His popularity and the show's ratings plummet, and advertisers cancel their sponsorships. When Rhodes reaches his penthouse home, he finds nobody there, except for his friend Beany and a handful of African American servants, whom he dismisses when they do not respond to his demands. Rhodes threatens suicide by jumping from the penthouse roof, causing Marcia to goad him, telling him to get out of everyone's lives, especially hers.

Having waited for Marcia to break free from Rhodes's spell, Mel insists that Marcia tell Rhodes that she exposed his rant. At Rhodes's home, Mel and Marcia find Rhodes speaking to the empty room, with an applause machine replacing the people whose support that he has lost. Marcia tells Rhodes that she was responsible for the open-microphone incident and demands that he never call her again.

Before they leave, Mel predicts Rhodes's future: his career is not completely over, and he will likely find further TV work soon, but will never again enjoy the same level of popularity and prestige. After leaving the building, Mel and Marcia hear Rhodes screaming from the penthouse for Marcia to return to him, but they ignore him as they depart. Marcia expresses guilt for having elevated Rhodes to power, and Mel replies that a faker like Rhodes may fool people for a while, but "we get wise to him―that's our strength".

Cast

Production

Andy Griffith with Patricia Neal (right) and Lee Remick (left) on the set of A Face in the Crowd Andy Griffith-Neal-Remick.jpg
Andy Griffith with Patricia Neal (right) and Lee Remick (left) on the set of A Face in the Crowd

Development

The film was produced under the working title of The Arkansas Traveler, [3] which was the name of Budd Schulberg's source short story from his 1953 collection Some Faces in the Crowd. [4] Schulberg had stated that a conversation with friend Will Rogers Jr., son of Will Rogers—who was known for earthy anecdotes and folksy style—had inspired him to create the Lonesome Rhodes story. The younger Rogers stated that his "father was so full of shit, because he pretends he's just one of the people, just one of the guys". [5]

Director Elia Kazan and Schulberg based the character of Lonesome Rhodes on Arthur Godfrey, as well as on Billy Graham and Huey Long. [3]

Casting

In April 1956, columnist Walter Winchell wrote that Andy Griffith was due to leave the cast of his Broadway show No Time for Sergeants at the end of July, vacation for a month and begin shooting the film. Kazan and Schulberg spent much of July and August in Memphis and in Arkansas. [6] Patricia Neal's involvement was announced by early August.

Griffith, Lee Remick, Charles Irving, Charles Nelson Reilly and uncredited actors Lois Nettleton and Rip Torn all made their film debuts in A Face in the Crowd. [7]

On the set, Griffith faced difficulty generating the intensity of the stage and asked to have discarded chairs available to destroy in order to instigate his rage before filming. [8]

Big Jeff Bess, who portrayed the sheriff under his own name, was a country singer and bandleader in Nashville who led Big Jeff and his Radio Playboys. Cameo appearances in the film include those by Walter Winchell and Mike Wallace. [3]

Filming

Patricia Neal and Andy Griffith A Face in the Crowd publicity photo (Patricia Neal & Andy Griffith).jpg
Patricia Neal and Andy Griffith

Location shooting occurred in Memphis, Piggott, Arkansas and Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where the fair and baton-twirling competition scenes were filmed. The Poplar Bluff scenes involved 5,000 extras paid $1 per hour, 380 dogs [9] and baton twirlers and musicians from six high school bands from Arkansas and Missouri. [10] Remick spent two weeks in Piggott with a teenage baton twirler to improve her twirling skill and local accent, although a double was utilized for several baton-twirling scenes. [11]

Shooting in New York included 61 sets at Biograph Studios in the Bronx, as well as some exteriors. [12] The scene of the network headquarters switchboard was NBC at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Schulberg remained involved throughout filming. He said, "I went on a trip in 1955 to scout a location in Arkansas, and I've been on the set every day since shooting started in August [1956]." [13]

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times , critic Bosley Crowther called A Face in the Crowd a "sizzling and cynical exposure" and wrote:

Lonesome Rhodes, the two-faced hero, is pretty much the whole show, and what he symbolizes in society is barely hinted—or discreetly overlooked. ... Everyone condescends to him—in the script of Mr. Schulberg, that is—instead of taking positive positions that would better represent reality. ... [A]ll play their roles capably, but they're forced to behave as awed observers, not as flexible factors in the scheme of things. As a consequence, the dominance of the hero and his monstrous momentum, driven home by a vast accumulation of TV detail and Mr. Kazan's staccato style, eventually become a bit monotonous when they are not truly opposed. Reality is proved by inadvertence. We finally get bored with Lonesome Rhodes. Thus the dubious device of having his girl friend switch him on the air when he thinks he is finished with his program (and is scorning his public) is inane. This type would either have become a harmless habit or the public would have been finished with him! [14]

Harrison's Reports wrote: "On a whole, however, it is a fascinating picture, superbly directed and finely acted. Much credit for the film's impact is due [to] Andy Griffith, a newcomer to the screen, for his exceptional performance in the principal role. It is not a sympathetic part, but he plays it with explosive vigor and makes the characterization entirely believable. Worthy of special mention, too, is Patricia Neal for her fine portrayal" as Marcia Jeffries. [15]

Hy Hollinger of Variety praised the film as "provocative and hard-hitting", summarizing that "Kazan once again demonstrates his ability as a director and why major studios are willing to give him carte blanche in selecting his own story material and working under his own conditions". [16]

Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Far and away outstanding in their stellar performances are Griffith, Miss Neal and Matthau, with Franciosa also very capable. They are nearly all at their peaks in their interpretations, even though the actual reading of lines is not too easy to understand at times. Schulberg has, however, written a splendid screenplay, and the picture is by far one of Kazan's most penetrating and incidentally ironic." [17]

In his review for Cahiers du cinéma , critic François Truffaut called it "a great and beautiful work whose importance transcends the dimensions of a cinema review". [18]

Karel Reisz, reviewing the film in Sight & Sound , critiqued more harshly, writing, "If we are to accept its attack on the jungle values of American sponsored television then we must be able to sense a more decent, rational tone in the film which is attacking them. And this becomes more and more difficult as the film goes on. When it comes to the test Kazan and Schulberg seem to have little more respect for their audience than the [t]elevision showmen. Dramatic scenes are all played at full blast, while the more intimate scenes are slurred over." [19]

In a 2015 interview, filmmaker Spike Lee credited the film with inspiring his Bamboozled (2000). [20] Writing in The Washington Post in 2020, Ann Hornaday ranked it at number 14 of her list of the best political movies. [21]

Musical

A stage musical version of A Face in the Crowd directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah began a run at the Young Vic in London on September 10, 2024. Its music is composed by Elvis Costello and the script is an adaptation of Budd Schulberg's book by Sarah Ruhl. [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>On the Waterfront</i> 1954 film by Elia Kazan

On the Waterfront is a 1954 American crime drama film, directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, and features Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning and Eva Marie Saint in her film debut. The musical score was composed by Leonard Bernstein. The black-and-white film was inspired by "Crime on the Waterfront" by Malcolm Johnson, a series of articles published in November–December 1948 in the New York Sun which won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, but the screenplay by Budd Schulberg is directly based on his own original story. The film focuses on union violence and corruption among longshoremen, while detailing widespread corruption, extortion, and racketeering on the waterfronts of Hoboken, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elia Kazan</span> American film and theatre director (1909–2003)

Elias Kazantzoglou, known as Elia Kazan, was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by The New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Griffith</span> American actor and singer (1926–2012)

Andy Samuel Griffith was an American actor, comedian, television producer, singer, and writer whose career spanned seven decades in music and television. Known for his Southern drawl, his characters with a folksy-friendly personality, as well as his gruff but friendly voice, Griffith was a Tony Award nominee for two roles. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's film A Face in the Crowd (1957) and No Time for Sergeants (1958) before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead roles of Andy Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show (1960–1968) and Ben Matlock in the legal drama Matlock (1986–1995).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Franciosa</span> American actor (1928-2006)

Anthony George Franciosa was an American actor most often billed as Tony Franciosa at the height of his career. He began his career on stage and made a breakthrough portraying the brother of the drug addict in the play A Hatful of Rain, which earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He reprised his role in its subsequent film adaptation, for which he won the 1957 Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

The year 1957 in film involved some significant events. The Bridge on the River Kwai topped the year's box office in North America, France, and Germany, and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Remick</span> American actress (1935–1991)

Lee Ann Remick was an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film Days of Wine and Roses (1962) and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role in Wait Until Dark (1966). She also earned seven Emmy Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Neal</span> American stage and film actress (1926–2010)

Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She is well known for, among other roles, playing World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), radio journalist Marcia Jeffries in A Face in the Crowd (1957), wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and the worn-out housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud (1963). She also featured as the matriarch in the television film The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971); her role as Olivia Walton was re-cast for the series it inspired, The Waltons. A major star of the 1950s and 1960s, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and two British Academy Film Awards, and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.

<i>Laughing Gas</i> (novel) 1936 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Laughing Gas is a comic novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 25 September 1936 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 19 November 1936 by Doubleday, Doran, New York. Written in first person narrative, the story is set in Hollywood in the early 1930s and is, compared to, say, Budd Schulberg's What Makes Sammy Run? (1941), a light-hearted and exclusively humorous look at the film industry and in particular at child stars. Both Schulberg and Wodehouse describe the methods of all those would-be screenwriters and actors hunting for jobs, but Wodehouse's depiction is not at all serious or critical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Budd Schulberg</span> American writer (1914–2009)

Budd Schulberg was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his novels What Makes Sammy Run? (1941) and The Harder They Fall (1947), as well as his screenplays for On the Waterfront (1954) and A Face in the Crowd (1957), receiving an Academy Award for the former.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Barry Winchell</span> Murder of United States Army soldier

On July 6, 1999, Barry Winchell, a 21-year-old infantry soldier in the United States Army, was murdered while he slept outside of his barracks by fellow soldier Calvin Glover for dating a transgender woman, Calpernia Addams, after a physical altercation between the two. The murder became a point of reference in the ongoing debate about the policy known as "don't ask, don't tell", which did not allow members of the U.S. military who were homosexual, bisexual, or transgender to be open about their sexual orientation.

<i>The Undead</i> (film) 1957 film by Roger Corman

The Undead is a 1957 horror film directed by Roger Corman and starring Pamela Duncan, Allison Hayes, Richard Garland and Val Dufour. It also features Corman regulars Richard Devon, Dick Miller, Mel Welles and Bruno VeSota. The authors' original working title was The Trance of Diana Love. The film follows the story of a prostitute, Diana Love (Duncan), who is put into a hypnotic trance by psychic Quintus (Dufour), thus causing her to regress to a previous life. Hayes later starred in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958). The film was released on February 14, 1957 by American International Pictures as a double feature with Voodoo Woman.

Oscar Boetticher Jr., known as Budd Boetticher, was an American film director. He is best remembered for a series of low-budget Westerns he made in the late 1950s starring Randolph Scott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. P. Schulberg</span> American film producer (1892–1957)

B. P. Schulberg was an American pioneer film producer and film studio executive.

<i>A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies</i> 1995 film directed by Martin Scorsese and Michael Henry Wilson

A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies is a 1995 British documentary film of 225 minutes in length, presented by Martin Scorsese and produced by the British Film Institute.

Goodyear Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was telecast live on NBC from 1951 to 1957 during the first Golden Age of Television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Horne</span> American actor (born 1933)

Geoffrey Horne is an American actor, director, and acting coach at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. His film and television credits include The Bridge on the River Kwai, Bonjour Tristesse, The Strange One, Two People, The Twilight Zone, and The Outer Limits.

<i>Rock All Night</i> 1957 film by Roger Corman

Rock All Night is a 1957 crime drama film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Distributed by American International Pictures, it is based on a 25-minute television episode of The Jane Wyman Show from 1955 called "The Little Guy." It stars Dick Miller, Russell Johnson and Abby Dalton. It co-stars Mel Welles, Ed Nelson and Clegg Hoyt. The film was released as a double feature with Dragstrip Girl.

A Face in the Crowd may refer to:

Harvey Breit was an American poet, editor, and playwright as well as reviewer for The New York Times Book Review from 1943 to 1957.

A Face in the Crowd is a musical with music and lyrics by Elvis Costello, book by Sarah Ruhl, based on the short story and 1957 film of the same name by Budd Schulberg.

References

  1. ↑ "Cinematic Classics, Legendary Stars, Comedic Legends and Novice Filmmakers Showcase the 2008 Film Registry". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  2. ↑ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  3. 1 2 3 "A Face in the Crowd (1957)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute. 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  4. ↑ Schulberg, Budd (1953). "The Arkansas Traveler". Some Faces in the Crowd. New York: Random House. pp. 3–44. LCCN   53-5011 . Retrieved 2016-09-30– via Internet Archive Book Reader.
  5. ↑ Tapper, Jake (November 2020). "Why Americans Fall for Grifters - A warning from a 1957 film" . The Atlantic . Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  6. ↑ "Arkansas Movie Sets Production for Near Future", Kingsport, TN: Kingsport Times, July 9, 1956.
  7. ↑ Georges Sadoul (1972). Dictionary of Films . Translated, edited, and updated by Peter Morris. University of California Press. p.  108. ISBN   978-0-520-02152-5.
  8. ↑ Hal Boyle, "He Fights Furniture Before Acting as If in a Rage", Lumberton, NC: The Robesonian, November 16, 1956.
  9. ↑ "Dogs in Demand", Aiken, SC: Aiken Standard and Review, August 20, 1956.
  10. ↑ "Want to be in Movies? Extras Needed in Piggott", Blytheville, AR: Blytheville Courier News, August 8, 1956.
  11. ↑ Erskine Johnson, "Hollywood", Ardmore, OK: Daily Ardmoreite, April 21, 1957.
  12. ↑ Scott McGee; Jeff Stafford. "A Face in the Crowd (1957)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  13. ↑ Rob Burton (AP), "Novelist Stays for 'Face' Film", Amarillo Globe-Times, December 31, 1956.
  14. ↑ Crowther, Bosley (May 29, 1957). "Screen: The Rise and Fall of a TV 'Personality'". The New York Times . p. 33.
  15. ↑ "'A Face in the Crowd' with Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal and Anthony Franciosa". Harrison's Reports . p. 88. Retrieved June 21, 2022– via Internet Archive.
  16. ↑ Hollinger, Hy (May 29, 1957). "Film Reviews: A Face in the Crowd". Variety . p. 6. Retrieved July 21, 2022– via Internet Archive.
  17. ↑ Schallert, Edwin (May 30, 1957). "Power, Irony Hit in 'A Face in Crowd'". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 6. Retrieved July 21, 2022– via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  18. ↑ Truffaut, François (2009). The Films In My Life. Da Capo Press. pp. 113–115. ISBN   978-0-7867-4972-0.
  19. ↑ Reisz, Karel (Autumn 1957). "Film Reviews: A Face in the Crowd". Sight & Sound . p. 89 – via Internet Archive.
  20. ↑ Spike Lee on the legacy of Bamboozled. 2015-10-30. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13. Retrieved May 30, 2021– via YouTube.
  21. ↑ Hornaday, Ann (January 23, 2020). "The 34 best political movies ever made" . The Washington Post . Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  22. ↑ "A Face in the Crowd". Young Vic website. 2024-09-10. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.