Face in the Crowd

Some say this is not a true film noir. Noir is as noir does, and Face in the Crowd does. It's as downright cynical and pessimistic as you could want, brimming with ruthless dysfunctional characters. The story follows a charismatic drifter who shoots from obscurity to national fame, only to have his ambition and contempt for the public ultimately devour him.

If you know Andy Griffith only as a good ol' boy single-dad Sheriff, this movie will shock you. It shocked him, too. Griffith - in his first big screen performance - found the role of amoral, narcissistic charlatan “Lonesome” Rhodes so personally distasteful he declared never to play such a character again.  In 1960, he moved permanently to Mayberry.

Co-starring Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau, directed by Elia Kazan, and written by Budd Schulberg (On the Waterfront), the film provoked a national stir when released in 1957. A scathing critique of mass media, mass manipulation, and creeping conformity, A Face in the Crowd is a thick slice of sour American pie.

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