Review of A Face in the Crowd (1957) by Geoff C — 20 Jul 2012

A spellbinding film that does not disappoint by any scale of the imagination. I bought this in honor of the recently deceased Andy Griffith, and I had read countless retrospective articles on his life that mentioned what a masterpiece this film was.

Naturally, I wanted to see it. However, I had a nagging doubt in the back of my mind, because it was directed by Elia Kazan, and I had found his earlier "legendary" effort "On The Waterfront" to be quite tawdry and underwhelming.

To avoid disappointment, I avoided getting my hopes up, but when I sat down and finally watched it, I knew that had been unnecessary. By the end of the film, I had chills. Griffith's performance is nothing short of haunting, A surprisingly far cry from his calming, sober performances as the sheriff and essential patriarch of Mayberry, and the stodgy, yet lovable Atlanta Defense attorney.

It is quite remarkable to watch him go through the character transitions as a deranged megalomaniac. Part of a consequence for Griffith's acting talent was people's inability to know he was acting, therefor not giving him the credit he was due for his talent.

Everyone assumed that Griffith was Sheriff Andy Taylor. That was not the case. He just was able to bring the local yokel sheriff to life with the needed subtleties that would be attributed to a man of the Sheriff's small town background, and it seemed real, so you assumed it was.

The same goes for Griffith's performance as Lonesome Rhodes. You can actually see the rage and insanity in Griffith's eyes. As far as the film it's self goes, the filming and visual editing look great, It even includes an astonishing montage sequence and a prophetic story arc.

Unfortunately, because Hollywood was pissed off at Elia Kazan for naming names to HUAC, the film was majorly snubbed at the Oscars, and in my humble opinion got screwed, along with Griffith. Both of which were deserving of accolades.

Hopefully, this amateurish review 55 years later will make up for the academy's lapse of judgement. The film gets an A+ from me, and as a final note, this may be the best film of the fifties.