A Face In The Crowd (1957)

People who only know Andy Griffith as the down home sheriff on "The Andy Griffith Show" or wily "Matlock" on the show of the same name, will be surprised to learn that Griffith plays underhanded men real well, too.  In this film, Griffith plays a Will Rogers type celebrity named Lonesome Jones.  Jones is a legend in his little Arkansas town, where he runs a popular radio show.  Jones spouts his opinions, and a lot of people listen to him and follow what he says.  Marcia Jeffreys (Patricia Neal) discovers him first, and is drawn to Jones.  His fame grows, and he is asked to come up to Memphis to appear on a TV show. When they get on the train to leave, Jones makes a comment about being glad to get away from the small town folks in Arkansas.  Marcia gives him a look, and Jones maintains that he was just playing.  It's foreshadowing of the problems to come.

Jones' fame grows as he ends up headlining his own TV show.  He gets an manager -- or rather, brash Joey dePalma (Anthony Franciosa) sees a meal ticket and forces his way into Jones' life.  Advertisers clamor to be sponsors on Jones' show, and soon, he's asked to help an uninteresting politician, Senator Fuller (Marshall Neilan) in his campaign to become President of the U.S. by his wealthy backers.  Jones, who already has a big ego, gets further drunk on power.  A few people around him, including Mel Miller (Walter Matthau), see the real guy behind Jones' alleged down-to-earth country boy persona.  Marcia keeps sticking up for Jones, even as he keeps letting her down and breaking her heart.  But sooner or later, something has to give.

A very good film about how fame can corrupt, and how the media can be used by those inside it to manipulate people.  There is a lot of food for thought here.

Patricia Neal, who passed away not long ago, was a great actress, and she's excellent here.  She was the one who was the first originated the role of Olivia Walton in the TV movie "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" (1971), which served as a pilot for the TV series "The Waltons".  Anthony Franciosa went on to be a cast member on the TV series, "The Name of the Game" (1968-1970).  Lee Remick was also in this movie; she appeared in Experiment In Terror (1962) and The Omen (1976).

Experiment In Terror (1962)

Kelly Sherwood (Lee Remick) returns home from a party, parks her car in the garage, and gets the shock of her life. A man grabs her and tells her she will steal $100,000 from the bank where she works. If she doesn't comply, he'll kill her or her younger sister, Toby (Stefanie Powers). The man, named Red Lynch (Ross Martin), warns her that he'll be watching her every move, so there'll be no alerting the police. Kelly calls the FBI anyway, and connects with an agent named Ripley (Glenn Ford). Once a check on Lynch's background reveals the man is even more psychotic than previously thought -- and a body turns up -- the race is on to stop him.

This is a very taut thriller. Remick's character is continually under stress, and at times it looks as if she will crumble. Martin's character is very creepy, even using disguises to unnerve his victim. The camera angles make you wonder who is watching whom in various scenes.

Ms. Remick appeared in the original version of the horror movie The Omen (1976). Ms. Powers was in two TV series, "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E."(1966-1967) and "Hart To Hart"(1979-1984). Mr. Martin, a fine character actor, also did a lot of TV work including, "Mr. Lucky"(1959-1960) and "The Wild, Wild West" (1965-1970). Blake Edwards directed this movie. His TV and film work include the aforementioned "Mr. Lucky", "Peter Gunn" (1959-1961), 10 (1979), and The Pink Panther (1963).