A vicious, criminal southern drifter with a warm, friendly singing style becomes a TV and radio star with disturbing political ambitions in this overblown and melodramatic fifties satire.
Two things spoil this ambitious and admittedly still relevant dark comedy about the negative power of media celebrities.
First of all, whatever you've heard from other reviewers, Andy Griffith is terrible -- and I mean William Shatner terrible -- as the psychotic, power-mad hillbilly, Lonesome Rhoads. The concept of a "Hillbilly Hitler" is smug and patronizing to begin with, but then Andy Griffiths goes so over the top in every scene that the "chilling truth" just makes you roar with laughter.
"Ah'm the only wun what unner-stands these people!" He roars. "They's too igg-nant to speak so I has to speak fur them!!!!!" If this stuff wasn't fall down laughing funny, it would be really, really offensive. Is this really what the elite urban left thinks about rural America? Budd Schulberg is long dead, thankfully, but when you read people like Joel Klein or Joel Stein you get the feeling things haven't changed.
But no matter. Andy Griffiths is so funny (when he is NOT trying to be) that the offensive liberal smugness just backfires completely. Walter Matthau as the "conscience" of the film doesn't help matters much, either. He's much better as a rank creep in KING CREOLE, where he works with the "real" Lonesome Rhoads, a hillbilly cat named Elvis Presley.
Now, is there anything good about this movie? You bet there is -- Patricia Neal. A born southerner, stunningly beautiful, natural in every scene, playing all sides of a woman who is appalled by Lonesome, ashamed of him, and deeply attracted to him, all at the same time. For her sake, I give this movie four stars.
A FACE IN THE CROWD is a magnificent train wreck -- the satire is crude, the underlying snobbery is repellent, but the career-crushing grandstand performance by Andy Griffiths makes it a lot of fun.
Two things spoil this ambitious and admittedly still relevant dark comedy about the negative power of media celebrities.
First of all, whatever you've heard from other reviewers, Andy Griffith is terrible -- and I mean William Shatner terrible -- as the psychotic, power-mad hillbilly, Lonesome Rhoads. The concept of a "Hillbilly Hitler" is smug and patronizing to begin with, but then Andy Griffiths goes so over the top in every scene that the "chilling truth" just makes you roar with laughter.
"Ah'm the only wun what unner-stands these people!" He roars. "They's too igg-nant to speak so I has to speak fur them!!!!!" If this stuff wasn't fall down laughing funny, it would be really, really offensive. Is this really what the elite urban left thinks about rural America? Budd Schulberg is long dead, thankfully, but when you read people like Joel Klein or Joel Stein you get the feeling things haven't changed.
But no matter. Andy Griffiths is so funny (when he is NOT trying to be) that the offensive liberal smugness just backfires completely. Walter Matthau as the "conscience" of the film doesn't help matters much, either. He's much better as a rank creep in KING CREOLE, where he works with the "real" Lonesome Rhoads, a hillbilly cat named Elvis Presley.
Now, is there anything good about this movie? You bet there is -- Patricia Neal. A born southerner, stunningly beautiful, natural in every scene, playing all sides of a woman who is appalled by Lonesome, ashamed of him, and deeply attracted to him, all at the same time. For her sake, I give this movie four stars.
A FACE IN THE CROWD is a magnificent train wreck -- the satire is crude, the underlying snobbery is repellent, but the career-crushing grandstand performance by Andy Griffiths makes it a lot of fun.