In 1953, a cashier poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work through, but the injustice around him pushes him to take a stand.
Sextuplets star Marlon Wayans takes cues from Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor to transform into an entire fictional family.
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Title: The Front (1976)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Woody Allen | ... | Howard Prince | |
| Zero Mostel | ... | Hecky Brown | |
| Herschel Bernardi | ... | Phil Sussman | |
| Michael Murphy | ... | Alfred Miller | |
| Andrea Marcovicci | ... | Florence Barrett | |
 |
Remak Ramsay | ... | Francis X. Hennessey |
|
|
Marvin Lichterman | ... | Myer Prince |
| Lloyd Gough | ... | Herbert Delaney | |
| David Margulies | ... | William Phelps | |
|
|
Joshua Shelley | ... | Sam - Resort Operator |
|
|
Norman Rose | ... | Howard's Attorney |
| Charles Kimbrough | ... | Committee Counselor | |
| Josef Sommer | ... | Committee Chairman (as M. Josef Sommer) | |
| Danny Aiello | ... | Danny LaGattuta | |
| Georgann Johnson | ... | T.V. Interviewer | |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Plot Synopsis
Storyline
In the early 1950s Howard Prince, who works in a restaurant, helps out a black-listed writer friend by selling a TV station a script under his own name. The money is useful in paying off gambling debts, so he takes on three more such clients. Howard is politically pretty innocent, but involvement with Florence - who quits TV in disgust over things - and friendship with the show's ex-star - now himself blacklisted - make him start to think about what is really going on. Written by Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
Taglines:
America's Most Unlikely Hero. See more »Genres:
DramaParents Guide:
View content advisory »
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See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
January 1977 (Austria) See more »Also Known As:
El testaferro See more »Company Credits
Production Co:
Columbia Pictures, Devon/Persky-Bright, Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions See more »
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
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Florence Barrett: Connecticut.
Howard Prince: That's very ritzy.
Florence Barrett: It's very proper anyway. I was very well bred - the kind of family where the biggest sin was to raise your voice.
Howard Prince: Oh yeah? In my family the biggest sin was to pay retail.
See more »
Music by Carrie Hoffman
Lyrics by Ira Gassman
Performed by Zero Mostel
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
Star Billing: Woody Allen (1st), Zero Mostel (2nd), Herschel Bernardi (3rd), Michael Murphy (4th) and Andrea Marcovicci (5th). See more »Goofs
An establishing shot up the Bowery to the Peter Cooper statue (before the script exchange) doesn't include the El tracks, which would have still been present until the Third Avenue El made its last run in May 1955. See more »Quotes
Howard Prince: Where are you from?Florence Barrett: Connecticut.
Howard Prince: That's very ritzy.
Florence Barrett: It's very proper anyway. I was very well bred - the kind of family where the biggest sin was to raise your voice.
Howard Prince: Oh yeah? In my family the biggest sin was to pay retail.
See more »
Crazy Credits
During the credits the people involved with the movie who were blacklisted are listed along with the year they were blacklisted. See more »Soundtracks
Come On DaisyMusic by Carrie Hoffman
Lyrics by Ira Gassman
Performed by Zero Mostel
See more »
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It's the 1950's, and Senator Joseph McCarthy has whipped America and especially Hollywood into an anti-communitst frenzy. Anyone who ever had ties to the left wing is persecuted and denied employment. Which means a big opportunity for Woody Allen (acting only, he didn't write or direct) to make a few bucks selling scripts written by blacklisted writers, being the "Front" of the title. Little does he know what he's getting into. Woody's masquerade starts as a favor to a pal in trouble and a chance for easy money, but it quickly snowballs into serious involvement with some very ugly things.
Great script and excellent performances by Allen and Andrea Marcovicci, but the film is lifted to terrifying heights by the magnificent Zero Mostel as a blacklisted comic. Every indignity and loss he faces is reflected in his wonderful face with a terrible sweet-natured dignity, you can see the weariness and hopelessness growing in his eyes scene by scene. His tragedy changes the lives of all the other characters, and makes the film the fine thing that it is.
There's a lot of wit and black humor in this film, but overall it's a very affecting tragedy, one with a fine, strong, yet hopeful ending.