Rating: NR
Genre: Drama
Release Date: 05/10/2005
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 126 Minutes
Flags: Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video

The meteoric popularity of Arthur Godfrey was allegedly the basis of the 1957 drama Face in the Crowd. Andy Griffith makes a spectacular film debut as Lonesome Rhodes, a philosophical country-western singer discovered in a tanktown jail by television talent coordinator Patricia Neal and her assistant Walter Matthau. They decide that Rhodes is worthy of a TV guest spot, the result being that the gangly, aw-shucks entertainer becomes an overnight sensation. As he ascends to stardom, Rhodes attracts fans, sponsors and endorsements by the carload, and soon he is the most powerful and influential entertainer on the airwaves. Beloved by his audience, Rhodes reveals himself to his intimates as a scheming, power-hungry manipulator, with Machiavellian political aspirations. He uses everyone around him, coldly discarding anyone who might impede his climb to the top (one such victim is sexy baton-twirler Lee Remick, likewise making her film debut). Just when it seems that there's no stopping Rhodes' megalomania, his mentor and ex-lover Neal exposes this Idol of Millions as the rat that he is. She arranges to switch on the audio during the closing credits of Rhodes' TV program, allowing the whole nation to hear the grinning, waving Rhodes characterize them as "suckers" and "stupid idiots." Instantly, Rhodes' popularity rating plummets to zero. As he drunkenly wanders around his penthouse apartment, still not fully comprehending what has happened to him, Rhodes is deserted by the very associates who, hours earlier, were willing to ask "how high?" when he yelled "jump". Written by Budd Schulberg, Face in the Crowd was not a success, possibly because it hit so close to home with idol-worshipping TV fans. Its reputation has grown in the intervening years, not only because of its value as a film but because of the novelty of seeing the traditionally easygoing Andy Griffith as so vicious and manipulative a character as Lonesome Rhodes.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Cast:
Andy Griffith - Lonesome Rhodes
Patricia Neal - Marcia Jeffries
Anthony Franciosa - Joey Kiely
Walter Matthau - Mel Miller
Lee Remick - Betty Lou Fleckum
Kay Medford - First Mrs. Rhodes
Rod Brasfield - Beanie
Charles Irving - Mr. Luffler
Howard I. Smith - J.B. Jeffries
Paul McGrath - Macey
Alexander Kirkland - Jim Collier
Big Jeff Bess - Sheriff Hosmer
Henry Sharp - Abe Steiner

Production:
Elia Kazan - Director
Elia Kazan - Producer
Tom Glazer - Composer
Gene Milford - Editor
Budd Schulberg - Screen Writer
Gayne Rescher - Cinematographer
Harry Stradling - Cinematographer
Anna Hill Johnstone - Costume Designer
Charles H. Maguire - First Assistant Director
Richard Sylbert - Production Designer
Budd Schulberg - Short Story Author
George Justin - Production Manager

Putney Swope
    Stanley Gottlieb / R / 1969
The Greatest Man in the World
    1980
Payday
    R / 1972
Ruthless
    Zachary Scott / 1948
Bamboozled [WS]
    Damon Wayans / R / 2000
Citizen Cohn
    James Woods / R / 1992

1957 Directors Guild of America

2003 Telluride Film Festival