A Face in the Crowd (1957)

An Arkansas hobo becomes an overnight media sensation. But as he becomes drunk with fame and power, will he ever be exposed as the fraud he has become?

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writer:

Budd Schulberg (story)

Stars:

Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Andy Griffith	...	Larry 'Lonesome' Rhodes
Patricia Neal	...	Marcia Jeffries
Anthony Franciosa	...	Joey DePalma
Walter Matthau	...	Mel Miller
Lee Remick	...	Betty Lou Fleckum
Percy Waram	...	Gen. Haynesworth
Paul McGrath	...	Macey
Rod Brasfield	...	Beanie
Marshall Neilan	...	Senator Worthington Fuller
Alexander Kirkland	...	Jim Collier
Charles Irving	...	Mr. Luffler
Howard Smith	...	J.B. Jeffries
Kay Medford	...	First Mrs. Rhodes
Big Jeff Bess	...	Sheriff Big Jeff Bess
Henry Sharp	...	Abe Steiner

Storyline

"A Face in the Crowd" charts the rise of a raucous hayseed named Lonesome Rhodes from itinerant Ozark guitar picker to local media rabble-rouser to TV superstar and political king-maker. Marcia Jeffries is the innocent Sarah Lawrence girl who discovers the great man in a back-country jail and is the first to fall under his spell.

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Plot Keywords:

power | song | fame | personality | television | 

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Taglines:

POWER! He loved it! He took it raw in big gulpfuls...he liked the taste, the way it mixed with the bourbon and the sin in his blood!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

June 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Budd Schulberg's A Face in the Crowd

Filming Locations:

Biograph Studios, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Newtown Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to a 1983 interview with Charles Nelson Reilly, he made his film debut in this picture playing a saxophonist, but it was cut before the film's release.

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Goofs

When the Sheriff escorts Marcia into the jail holding cell, he welcomes her to the "Tomahawk County Jail". However, in the exterior shot just prior the cornerstone of the building plainly reads "Clay Co." That's because the exterior was shot at the Clay County Courthouse in Piggott, Arkansas. There is no Tomahawk County in Arkansas.

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Quotes

Lonesome Rhodes: There's always Vanderbilt '44.
Marcia Jeffries: He's gone back to Memphis. I think he wants to forget us both.
Lonesome Rhodes: I thought he'd wait for you till there was ice on the equator.
Marcia Jeffries: That's how long he did wait.

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #19.105 (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Old Fashioned Marriage"
(1957) (uncredited)
Music by Tom Glazer
Lyrics by Budd Schulberg
Sung by Andy Griffith

User Reviews

A real hidden masterpiece.

I just saw this movie very late the other night, and I must say WOW! Like the rest of you, I saw "A Face In the Crowd" on a regular VHS edition, but it wouldn't matter which edition I saw it in because this was one of the few movies recently that made the jaw of this movie snob literally DROP with amazement over how daring, how edgy, and how much mastery this movie had over the film-making craft.

I'm beginning to realize that in the 1950's there was a short period of time (1955-1960, say) where the world of Broadway and the theater, Television, and Hollywood came together, and the careers of people like Rod Serling, Sidney Lumet, and "A Face In the Crowd"'s own Budd Schulberg were started. The best screenwriters in the movie business became innately aware of the increasing importance and influence of the new media form Television, while the best directors (like Elia Kazan), many of whom had directed numerous plays, knew how to cull the talents of Broadways hottest and most gifted performers, and at least for a couple of years, managed to get some awesome performances out of them. That's why I view this movie in the same sort of category as "The Sweet Smell of Success", that ever so sour and bitingly satiric parable on the corruption of American glamour and fame, and how publicity is just as much of a curse as a blessing. The performances in that film are like few others in the same era, and I think its no coincidence that "A Face In the Crowd" came out the same year as the other film. The main scribes of both those films, Clifford Odets and Budd Schulberg, were experienced with TV work by the time they penned their masterpieces (though Schulberg could also claim as his masterpiece 'On the Waterfront').

So anyway, I suggest to all who can hear me and have a love enough for this film to want to see it given the presentation it deserves, that we all write to the Criterion Collection and other DVD distributing companies and ask, no DEMAND that a restored, cleaned up version of "A Face In the Crowd", with as many special features as can be rustled up, be released as soon as possible. It's like writing your congressman, except instead of asking for a new factory of national park, we're asking for the wider availability of a piece of art that has gone with far too little acclaim for far too long. Who's with me?!?