A Face in the Crowd

Director: Elia Kazan

1957 / 125min / DCP

This blistering American drama from Kazan finds the dark side of the gentle jes’ folks persona that Andy Griffith would eventually convey into television stardom, starring the then-rising comedian as a charismatic drifter, “Lonesome Rhodes,” who goes from unknown Arkansas folk singer to radio discovery to national political superstar—a combination of Will Rogers, Huey Long, and Mussolini. A ruthless dissection of how easily celebrity can segue into demagoguery, and a savage lampooning of commercial culture as disseminated through the rise of television in the mid-century. “Griffith delivers an astonishing, sinister performance... the picture has a sharp, dirty appeal.”—Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader