Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

mkiekenapp Truly think Andy Griffith would of been Hollywood's next big man on the silver screen if it wasn't for his time as a small town sheriff. He simply owns the screen not only with his large frame and big booming voice but, owns it with his range from a small town hick to a man that believes his own hype once coming to the big city. This by far is one of the best performances you will see not only from Andy but from anyone.

rossangela This film is an underrated masterpiece, and it is mind-boggling that it didn't win Best Picture, and certainly Best Actor for Andy Griffith. I would add that (since I'm writing this in March 2017) it seems to be art predicting life, because the character and story of Lonesome Rhodes is so much like the rise to power of entertainer, Donald Trump. Both of those men knew how to manipulate the populace through mass media and outrageous statements that enthralled the less educated public. My husband and I saw this on TCM late last night, and with each scene in the film we were more and more convinced that this is a very significant film, and deserves to be resurrected on the big screen in some trendy art cinema. As a total cinephile, I believe that this is one of the best political/social satires I've ever seen. I has given me much more respect and admiration for Andy Griffith -- who knew he was such an outstanding actor?! The script and directing are top notch and deserve the highest awards. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as a revealing metaphor for Trump-like scoundrels.

Hitchcoc Andy Griffith, Sans Opie, is the central figure in this drama about an everyman who is a lot more. He is an evil man, a man who has been given power by an unsuspecting public. He ingratiated himself by being so subtle and so clueless, when his machinations are as calculating as can be. He is an egoist and a snake oil salesman, and the people who put him where he is lose the snake's tail. Griffith, whose world before was that of the hillbilly who bumbles through life, is excellent in this film. We sometimes forget he was the calming influence on his TV show, surrounded by eccentrics and weirdos. He, himself, was sometimes guilty of missteps at times but was always the calming, kindly influence. It's nice he got a role like this so he could show his dramatic chops.

tieman64 Released in 1957, Elia Kazan's "A Face in the Crowd" stars Andy Griffith as Larry Rhodes, a fast-talking drifter who's hired by the producer of a small-town radio show. As the plain-speaking Rhodes appeals to listeners, he quickly becomes famous, and thus a powerful marketing tool.Pre-dating "Network" (1976) by almost two decades, "Crowd" reveals a world in which newspaper, radio and television have become powerful tools of manipulation. Rhodes is not only used as a pawn to push products, but political candidates as well, Kazan anticipating the rise of a new breed of political pundits, folksy "everymen" used by those in power to sell lies to the masses. Kazan's films have often been about the pitfalls of "success". If films like "On the Waterfront", "America, America" and "Viva Zapata!" observe the struggles of social climbers, fare like "The Arrangement", "The Last Tycoon" and "A Face in the Crowd" are explicitly about "success stories" who become painfully disillusioned. Rhodes himself shifts from a man who wanted little to do with money, power or politics, to a man who embodies everything he once detested. Selling products and political candidates on television, Rhodes then begins to despise his many fans and viewers; he deems them simple-minded dupes. Earlier in the film, others condescendingly viewed Rhodes the same way."You gotta be a saint to stand all the power that little box gives you," a character played by Walter Matthau states. It's a lesson Rhodes soon learns. By the film's second half, media, advertising, capitalism and politics have become a messy entanglement from which Rhodes is unable escape. Everything has become a game of surfaces, sales and deceit, and when audience faith in Rhodes collapses, he's ejected from the game."A Face in the Crowd" was ignored upon release, but has since come to be regarded as one of Kazan's masterpieces. Though very heavy-handed, it remains a prophetic, funny and fast little film. Expertly acted by Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal.8.9/10 - See Wilder's "Ace in the Hole".