Review of A Face in the Crowd (1957) by Berta A — 08 Apr 2007

When you think of Andy Griffith, what do you think? It's either [i]The Andy Griffith Show[/i] or [i]Matlock[/i], isn't it? I think [i]Matlock[/i], personally, but then, I watched a lot of [i]The Simpsons[/i], and I love crying, "Matlock!" in my best Grandpa Simpson impersonation. (It's not very good.) Oh, and let's not forget infomercials for awful-looking gospel compilations. Blech.

However, before that, before anyone had heard of him, there was [i]A Face in the Crowd[/i] and Lonesome Rhodes. (Lonesome Rhodes seems to have become President, but we'll not go there just now.) This is actually a pretty good acting job, though he has to hit fewer notes than pretty much anyone else--two, in fact. He must be genial and a drunken bastard.

We as Americans seem to want to believe that our heroes are just ordinary people, even when they're about as far from such as they can possibly be. At least Lonesome hadn't actually led a lengthy life of privilege before becoming just an ordinary guy--"Just Plain Folks," as they say. Lonesome Rhodes is not the affable country boy everyone thinks he is, but as long as the illusion is kept up, who cares?

Interestingly, among other things, Lonesome Rhodes invents canned laughter in this. It seems an inevitable invention, but at the time the movie was filmed--and the short story was written some years earlier--if there was an audience, it was by God live. If there was laughter, it was by God an audience. Lonesome Rhodes, who held audiences in the palm of his hand, still created an audience that didn't have to like him, just do what he wanted it to.

Funnily enough, Andy Griffith would end up spending the rest of his career playing the same character that Lonesome Rhodes did. I can't help wondering if he'd like to try more developed roles. His costar in this, Walter Matthau, did; Lonesome Rhodes gave way to Andy Taylor and Benjamin Matlock and not much creativity.