Face in the Crowd

Arrived in mint condition and sooner than what I expected.
Pretty darn cool....I popped the shiny disc into a DVD player and talking "colour" pictures appeared on my TV set. AMAZING!!!

This is a great movie with incredible performances by Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal, Walter Matthau, Tony Franciosa, and Lee Remick. It's over the top at times but that's okay because it makes it all the more frightening. Don't be fooled, however. This isn't just about Lonesome Rhodes. This about Beany, the Patricia Neal character (hope that's the right name). It's about a priviledged young woman who is mersmerized by a man who she perceives to be "his own man," and how seductive that perception is. When she's forced to see who he has become, she realizes she made this monster, she created him, she imbued him with qualities he never really possessed, and she nurtured him. He had no real definition when they met, beyond her fantasy of him. And at the end of the movie he still has no definition beyond his power to persuade. He has no idea what the senators and politicians are even talking about. But he knows he's powerful, and that power has been intoxicating to HER for a long time. And that power becomes very, very dangerous. But she gave him that power and she is devastated when she realizes she's the only one with the power to take it all away. This movie is about sex, desire, warped perception, delusions of all kinds, and the danger of manipulation. Don't be too sexist or you'll miss what's happening with the female lead in this classic story.

The movie, A Face in the Crowd, was one of the best movies I've ever seen. I cannot believe that Andy Griffith did not get nominated for an Academy Award for his performance.