Scathing commentary on the media and a dominating performance from Andy Griffith make this a wonderful experience. It's funny, it's dramatic and it's sharply written, building up from a solid but unremarkable opening to an impressive finale.

Yeah, okay- So it's not exactly subtle, but when you're satirizing TV that's not where you want to go (or you'll end up with a poodle of a movie like Broadcast News instead of a pitbull like Network). Griffith is a whirlwind of negative energy and has been lauded accordingly, but there's something to be said for Neal as well. A movie like this needs a performance that is incredibly strong without being showy to anchor it, and that's just what Neal delivers. Excellent stuff.

The raw characters of this film weave themselves into the awesome power of new media. But it isn't the corrupting nature of power, so cleanly depicted here, that defines this movie. Instead it is the remarkable corruptibility of the world around Griffith's Rhodes that is so intriguing. His fall is, in effect, the traditional Hollywood ending, where the villain we've watched forming is cast down as he blindly grasps. In the reality he reflects demagogues are rarely cast aside so cleanly.

Andy Griffith is a marvelous surprise as the randy, drunken, sly, manipulative and violent "Lonesome Rhodes" (no Andy Taylor he!) and Patricia Neal has never been better. This may be Kazin's best movie--with the possible exception of "Waterfront"--and it would be a masterpiece if it were not for the fact that Schulberg's screenplay--although prophetic--is a little too heavy-handed.

Surprisingly dark and cynical. Andy Griffith really makes his character larger than life, and there's some great dialogue to be found.

I was trying to think of a way not to give this movie a(n) 100. Then I thought, maybe the ending will help me out but no such luck. There is nothing bad I can say about this movie. Great acting by all, very funny and still, painfully, true today.

'All the King's Men' meets 'Network'. Both Neal and Griffith are marvelous. Awesome, dark classic.

Griffith turns in a showstealing performance; can't think of another character as charismatic as Lonesome Rhodes. The first fourty minutes are absolutely superb, but the sellout arc, while spot on and frighteningly relevant even in 2010, is a letdown. It really is Rhodes' movie; caring for Marcia's plight is difficult considering she spends the first half of the movie gushing over Lonesome and the second half being shocked that the drunk guy she pulled outta jail has some emotional issues.

At times it's a bit too on-the-nose; however, this occasionally works to spectacular effect (particularly in the denouement and killer ending), and this quibble aside, it's a vicious and uncompromising look at the corrupting effects of power, media manipulation, and the shady relationship between publicity, politics and business. Andy Griffith is a surprisingly despicable bastard here, and Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau are in fine form in supporting roles.

Griffith and Neal's spectacular performances hold attention in otherwise overly dreary fable. Screenplay makes many interesting observations about the corrosive effects of being a lightning rod for the populace (and these observations have not dated a bit) but inexplicable actions of the Neal character, plus an ending that feels a little too righteous given what's come before, means its overall impact is dulled.

# 691

Amazingly enough, this movie is only becoming more and more relevant. Even if you ignore the political inferences of the film, it's a great and greatly engaging story. Andy Griffith is unbelievable.

A must-see film for our times, it's hard to believe it is 50 years old. Andy Griffith as a charismatic, but ultimately sociopatchic entertainer. From the beginning you know he is using people, but you also watch him be used by more and more people. He becomes corrupted by power and moves further away from the values he original sang about and ends up as a thing he both hates and loves. Andy Griffith proves in this that he is a masterful actor.

On the Waterfront was a bit didactic and lacking in subtlety also, but not so much that it didn't work, and it had Cobb and Brando and good side-plots and some unforgettable dialogues. This time around Kazan and Schulberg definitely screwed up. A Face in the Crowd is very watchable but for the most part simplistic, unconvincing and hopelessly preachy.

20 years before Network, here's another movie about the corruptive powers of television, and its inappropriate influence in the world of politics. Andy Griffith is quite good in this, to my surprise. A meaningful, thoughtful and worthwhile film.

Typical Schulberg: interesting ideas dulled by preachiness and lack of restraint. Neal, Griffith and Matthau are great, but the movie is awfully over-the-top.

A haunting movie that is just as relevant today, if not more so than when it was first released. Griffith gives a tour de force performance as a lost and corrupt soul whose rise and fall in the spotlight destroys him. The final scene will shock you and leave you breathless as Lonesome Rhodes sings his way into your mind.

The so much to praise in Kazan's merciless dark comedy. The timelessness of the film is not just in the concept, but in the construction. There's nary a false note, and if the means of the lead character's comeuppance now seems cliched, compensation exists in the splendid image of him alone in his gigantic apartment, basking in the echoing cheers of a sound effects machine. That character is played with genius malevolence by Andy Griffith in his film debut. His acting is ferocious and fearless.

Great Movie

'Power corrupts' story with razor sharp dialogue and an inspired performance by a silver-tongued Griffith. Kazan puts his stamp on it (especially the stunning last 20 minutes), Neal is great and Matthau gives a nice turn, but it's Griffith's charisma that powers this film. May polarise some with it's political views, including the academy considering it's shunning. Definitely ahead of it's time and very relevant today.