Griffith’s ‘Face’ Is Frightening

Imagine an almost demonic Will Rogers, an aw-shucks broadcast shyster using his folksy delivery to cloak his avarice. Then imagine him armed with a fiery Jerry Lee Lewis style of rockabilly to further sway and incite his millions of listeners. Then, finally, imagine him with a political agenda.

The frightening end-product would be Lonesome Rhodes (Andy Griffith), a guitar-toting Arkansas drifter catapulted to fame after an impromptu jail cell performance lands him on the airwaves in the brilliant but overlooked 1957 film “A Face in the Crowd.”

At first, Rhodes’ candid, rural humor, which instantly charms the public, makes him seem like an affable hobo who likes booze and parties a little too much. But as his small radio audience quickly expands to millions of television viewers, the true side of the amoral lout becomes clear.

Willing to sell himself and anyone else, Rhodes soon uses his fame to hawk shady products and back sleazy politicians. To his legions of fans, he is a plain-speaking man of the people, but when the cameras go off he is a brutal, maniacal tyrant hoping to parlay his ratings into Washington power at the expense of the “trained seals” tuning in.

Like “Network” almost two decades later, “A Face in the Crowd” is a prescient and startling commentary on media excess that plays out as true today as it did at its release.

But it is the electrifying performance of Griffith that earns “A Face in the Crowd” its status as a classic. There is very little of Mayberry or Matlock in this the screen debut of Griffith, and viewers may be surprised by the power and desperation in his voice as his influence grows beyond his dreams, and, finally, beyond his control.

“A Face in the Crowd” (1957), Elia Kazan, 125 minutes. Not rated.