The rise of a raucous hayseed named Lonesome Rhodes from itinerant Ozark guitar picker to local media rabble-rouser to TV superstar and political king-maker. Marcia Jeffries is the innocent Sarah Lawrence girl who discovers the great man in a back-country jail and is the first to fall under his spell.
Andy Griffith, as a hick radio star modeled on Arthur Godfrey, delivers an astonishing, sinister performance in Elia Kazan's 1957 essay on media demagoguery.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
This sizzling and cynical exposure... also presents Andy Griffith as the key figure in his first screen role.
– Bosley Crowther,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
rotten:
What starts out as a seemingly liberal tract rapidly becomes a smug, cynical exercise in misanthropy.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
fresh:
A Face in the Crowd has never ceased to be relevant.