Elia and Andy

I've always suspected Andy Griffith was far more gifted than his television show ever allowed him to let on. Sheriff Andy Taylor was nothing more than a straight man for the likes of Barney, Gomer and Floyd. But before being consumed by Mayberry, Griffith did a movie in 1957 called "A Face In the Crowd". In that film you will see what has to be one of the most fascinating and disturbing portrayals of an addict ever filmed. Griffith's character, Lonesome Rhodes (whose first name is Larry by the way) becomes addicted to fame, and ultimately the power that accompanies it. The support Griffith's performance gets from the likes of Patricia Neal and Walter Mathau doesn't hurt him either.

I watched "A Face . . . " a couple of nights ago. I'd say it's every bit as powerful as Network, Citizen Kane or the Manchurian Candidate. I'm not going to go into a detailed review, however, because 1.) Many others already have, 2.) I waited too long to sit down and write about it, so most of the initial gut impressions I had have faded some and 3.) I'm lazy. That said, I do recall thinking during several scenes, “This could be the greatest film I’ve ever seen.” The acting, writing, editing, cinematography--it was all woven together with near perfection. Excuse the gushing, but I think you get my point. I can't recommend it enough.

Besides wanting to see Andy Griffith play a dark character, the other reason I Netflixed the film was due to my recently acquired interest in Elia Kazan. Despite being one of the most gifted directors in the history of film, Kazan was, and is still, reviled by many (mostly nostalgic left wingers--i.e. Harvard sociology profs and aging hippies) for his role in the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee—i.e. McCarthy) hearings. By a stroke of luck, the behind-the-scenes documentary on the DVD goes into quite a bit of detail about that very topic. Based on what I learned there, the Cliff Notes version of Kazan’s story goes something like this.

He joined the Communist Party in the early 30's because he felt it was the best hope for real social justice. Somewhere about the late 30's, early 40's he began to hear about authors and artists in the Soviet Union being "liquidated" by Stalin. Here in the states, he and others began to come under attack by fellow communists for not marching in lock step to party ideology. He became disillusioned. While he always remained, in essence, a left-wing socialist at heart, he was deeply suspicious of the American Communist Party. When first called to testify before HUAC he pleaded the 5th. When he was called to testify a second time, he gave the names of 8 other communists.

Now, according to the documentary, lots of other directors and actors testified and gave names, but they managed to stay in the left's good graces. And every person Kazan named had already been fingered by previous witnesses. So how did he get on the receiving end of the kind of hard left hatred usually reserved for the likes of Karl Rove or Tom Delay? Apparently the day after he testified he took out a full page ad in the New York Times basically saying he was glad he testified and that it was every good American's duty to do so if they were called. According to one of the experts interviewed in the documentary, this was simply Kazan's attempt to prove to the rest of the country that you could be a member of the left and still be loyal to America. Obviously it backfired.

This hatred was passed down to the next generation of limousine leftists, most of whom were in diapers during the HUAC hearings, who dogmatically towed the party line. I remember the 1999 Oscar ceremony in which Kazan received a Lifetime Achievement award. Several of these next gen limo lefties, like Sarandon and Nolte, vowed to protest his award by refusing to stand and/or applaud when he received it. And they stayed true to their word. As I recall, when Kazan came on stage to receive his award the camera panned to them sitting legs and arms crossed tightly with petulant looks on their faces. As if their blind hatred and pointless grand standing in the shadow of a truly great filmmaker hadn't made them look small enough already, they actually had to pout on live TV.

But back to the movie . . . if you fancy yourself a lover of great films, you have to see A Face In the Crowd. I just wish I'd seen it before I made such a big deal about The World's Fastest Indian. I feel like a guy who just screamed to everyone, "Hey, check out that cool strip mall!" right before he sees the Grand Canyon.