Review of A Face in the Crowd (1957) by Jack G — 14 Feb 2011
Some of it has dated (i.e. the notion that someone can rise up and become a celebrity in lickedy split time in a culture with perpetual ADD, plus more attention paid seeing as it was only a few channels back then), but some of it sticks a LOT (i.
E. the notion that someone who has just a minor modicum of talent- i.e. Susan Boyle- can come up and become "somebody"). It's kind of like Network meets Frankenstein. Also, Andy Griffith is full of super-vinegar and BELLOW-sounds, a big, fantastic performance the likes of which one might see recently in Forest Whitaker in Last King of Scotland.
Probably most startling of all though about the film is the cult of personality, and how that is made, and what commentary is done on entertainment-business-politics. In other words, Network meets Frankenstein.
The last act is almost like a horror movie, complete with a "laugh/audience track" used by Lonesome Rhodes as he's by himself with his Nothing-Empire left.
This review of A Face in the Crowd (1957) was written by Jack G on 14 Feb 2011.
A Face in the Crowd has generally received very positive reviews.
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