Tonight at 7, I’m hosting a screening of the 1957 Elia Kazan-Budd Schulberg drama, “A Face in the Crowd,” as part of the monthly “Martini and a Movie” series at the Fairfield Theatre Company.
The picture is the second in a three-film series devoted to “Politics & Hollywood.”
Last month’s movie “State of the Union” was a look at the way politicians often have to bend their beliefs to get elected.
“A Face in the Crowd” was made at a time when smart people were starting to worry about the negative impact of television on almost every aspect of American life — in particular, the way that TV was changing political campaigns (and even the choices of potential national candidates).
Kazan and Schulberg looked at the issue three years before John F. Kennedy brought a new youthful “charisma” to the presidential race, changing some of the ground rules of what the public looked for in a leader because he used TV so brilliantly as an image-building tool. Everyone knows the story of how radio listeners believed the sweaty and far-from-charismatic Richard Nixon won his election season debates with Kennedy, but that the vastly larger audience that saw the debates on TV thought the cool and handsome senator from Massachusetts was the winner.
“A Face in the Crowd” is about the creation of a national celebrity out of a rather sleazy backwoods country singer named “Lonesome” Rhodes.
A small-town radio personality played by the wonderful Patricia Neal discovers Lonesome in an Arkansas jail and turns him into a local star. Soon, he becomes a regional sensation via a Memphis TV show. Lonesome is brought to New York where he builds a huge national audience and thoughts of a political career.
A key scene involves the critiquing of some footage of a national political aspirant by corporate types and ad men .
One of these hucksters says, “Instead of long-winded public debates, the people want capsule slogans: ‘Time for a change!’ “The mess in Washington!’ ‘More bang for your buck!’ (They want) punchlines and glamour!”
Andy Griffith plays Lonesome in a truly scary performance — the moral opposite of the country sheriff he would play on TV a decade later.
“A Face in the Crowd” was a financial flop in 1957, but has been elevated over the years in the same manner as another cynical “flop” that year, “Sweet Smell of Success.”
Kazan and Schulberg were free to attack TV 50 years ago because the movie studios saw the relatively new medium as their enemy. Now that the same global corporations own film production companies and broadcast and cable TV networks it would be much tougher to mount a major film that is this savage about the way “home entertainment” has changed every aspect of private and public life in this country.
“A Face in the Crowd” still has the power to provoke, so there should be a very interesting discussion after tonight’s free showing.
(The Fairfield Theater Company is at 70 Sanford St. in Fairfield. The doors and the bar open at 7. The film will be shown at 8.)
