Lonesome Rhodes
One of my all-time favorite movies, “A Face In The Crowd,” will air Saturday night on TCM as part of “The Essentials,” hosted by Robert Osborne & Rose McGowan.
I’ve blogged about it countless times before, but if you haven’t seen it, you need to see it. It’s probably more relevant today than when it came out in 1957. It’s about the corrosive power of fame, especially as it relates to the immediacy of television, as an Arkansas vagrant is turned into a superstar and then begins to believe he can tell his fans what to buy — and, ultimately, whom to elect. Andy Griffith plays the vagrant, Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, with Patricia Neal as Marcia Jeffries, the Doctor Frankenstein who discovers and promotes him, only to realize too late what a monster she has created. Walter Matthau plays Mel, the voice of conscience, who also carries a torch for Marcia in the same way she carries one for Lonesome Rhodes.
If you somehow haven’t seen it, set your VCR or TiVo now. It’s worthy of being called “Essential.”
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Southern Beale
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Greg
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