Free Republic

Rarely and perhaps not in modern times has a presidential campaign more resembled the classic 1957 film, "A Face in the Crowd." Written by Budd Schulberg and starring Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau, the storyline follows an Arkansas hayseed named Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes (Griffith), whom Marcia Jeffries (Neal) discovers in a county jail. Jeffries has a local radio show on which she interviews interesting characters. She finds Rhodes irresistible and puts him on the air. Rhodes becomes a sensation, eventually climbing the ladder to his own network TV show and then, as politicians approach him for endorsements, a...

Perhaps Katrina vanden Heuvel, publisher of the far left The Nation, had the Oscar ceremonies tonight on her mind when she appeared this morning on ABC's This Week. She compared Donald Trump to Andy Griffith's character of Lonesome Rhodes in the movie "A Face In The Crowd" and even cited the fictitious scene which she thinks/hopes translates into real life when Lonesome mocked the television audience when he thought his mike was turned off. First let us watch vanden Heuvel described the scene she so desperately wants to happen at the 7:50 mark followed by the actual scene where poor...

Rarely and perhaps not in modern times has a presidential campaign more resembled the classic 1957 film, "A Face in the Crowd." Written by Budd Schulberg and starring Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau, the storyline follows an Arkansas hayseed named Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes (Griffith), whom Marcia Jeffries (Neal) discovers in a county jail. Jeffries has a local radio show on which she interviews interesting characters. She finds Rhodes irresistible and puts him on the air. Rhodes becomes a sensation, eventually climbing the ladder to his own network TV show and then, as politicians approach him for endorsements, a...

Elia Kazan’s classic A Face in the Crowd is a good primer on Barack Obama’s rise and fall. Lonesome Rhodes arises out of nowhere in the 1957 film, romancing the nation as a phony populist who serially spins yarns in the most folksy ways — confident that he should never be held to account. Kazan’s point (in the film Rhodes is a patsy for conservative business interests) is that the “folks” are fickle and prefer to be charmed rather than informed and told the truth. Rhodes’s new first name, Lonesome, resonates in the film in a way that Barack does...

Has Barack Obama turned himself into Lonesome Rhodes from the underrated but BRILLIANT movie "A Face in the Crowd?" Something about Obama whining that "If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill," about his jobs bill (is it in writing yet?) sounded familiar. I kept thinking and thinking where I heard that theme before and then it hit me...at the end of "A Face in the Crowd" in which a disgraced Lonesome Rhodes is begging for love. Watch the VIDEO and you can see Lonesome Rhodes begging for love at about the 35 second mark. It...

The familiar statue of Andy and Opie that greets those passing by the Surry Arts Council building on Rockford Street has a noticeably different look due to being painted red and green during a weekend vandalism. “It’s very disappointing,” Arts Council Executive Director Tanya Jones said Monday of an act that will require a huge expense to correct. “It’s disheartening that you’ve got people out here in the community that would do that,” said Lt. Jeff Inman of the Mount Airy Police Department, which is investigating the crime. “It’s a childish-prank kind of thing.”