A Face in the Crowd 04/16/19

Elia Kazan never stopped making great pictures, but much of his output after 1952 was politically defensive in nature. This powerful indictment of American media madness is a genuine classic, but it also points up the need for ‘good folk’ to sometimes betray their associates. The target this time around is the most kill-worthy monster in the history of sardonic satire: Lonesome Rhodes, a faux-populist master manipulator of the pushover public. Kazan and Budd Schulberg’s premise has come to pass in real life, but their silver bullet of truth has lost its power: even when unmasked publicly, some media monsters thrive. Stars Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Anthony Franciosa, and Walter Matthau, and introduces none other than Lee Remick. On Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
04/16/19