It's NOT Movie Time: A Face In the Crowd (Revisited)

Today's movie post is about a film I've written about before.

I did a post about A Face In the Crowd over 6 years ago on February 23, 2020.   

I'm revisiting this movie today in response to a video recently posted on Tik Tok by Nathan (The Favoring Wind), aka Nathan Cook, writer and film fan.   

Nathan spoke to the film's suprising relevancy, the movie's commentary on the rise of celebrity and it's influence on society and politics. 

And the perils of that kind of power being in the hands of an unstable ego maniac.  

In the comments, people began drawing the obvious parallels between the rise of Lonesome Roads and the rise of Donald Trump.  

I joined the comments with this:

"I've waited for Trump's Lonesome Rhodes moment where he says something so blatantly stupid and/or corrupt that will break the spell he has on his followers. But no matter how stupid and/or corrupt he sounds, nothing seems to work."

Now I should elaborate on what I mean by a "Lonesome Rhodes moment" but SPOILER, I will need to talk about the ending.

Andy Grifith is Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, an itinerate musician and storyteller who is brought up from obscurity to becoming a national TV star.   

Marcia Jeffries, played by Patricia Neal, is responsible for discovering Rhodes and putting him on his path as a nationwide celebrity. And she regrets it.

Rhodes is a raging, eratic narcissist who can barely handle the heady rush of TV stardom and he now wants to parlay his entertainment celebrity into political power.

Patricia Neal and Andy Griffith
from A Face In the Crowd

Nothing seems to be able to stop him until one night, after the end of his live TV show as the credits roll, Rhodes boasts of his ability to tell his public whatever he wants and the stupid people out in the world will believe it.

Marcia has left the microphones in the studio turned on and all of America heard what Lonesome Rhodes thinks of them. 

Within a half hour, Rhodes' fan base has evaporated and the political cronies who wanted to use him to bolster their campaigns have vanished.

While expressing guilt over her role in elevating Rhodes to power, Marcia is assured by writer Mel Miller (Walter Matthau) that while deceptive fakes like Rhodes may fool people for a while, but "we get wise to him―that's our strength".

This noble assurance expressed in the movie ("we get wise to him―that's our strength"), I wonder if this can be realized in the dystopian real life we find ourselves.  

I have waited for Donald Trump to have his Lonesome Rhodes moment, the one where the scales fall away and the spell of the cult is broken.

Sometimes it seems like we have that moment. 

When hearing that inflation is up and the costs for food, gas and every damn thing is UP, Trump said on camera with an open mike, "I love the inflation."    

In response to my comment, I got this reply from Miller McKee.

"I kept waiting for that, too, in his first term. I guess the Hollywood ending for this film is the idea that enough people are decent enough to leave the cult. At least with Lonesome, he is perceived as folksy and nice until his hot mic moment. With Donny, the fact that he’s a cruel jerk is what they love. Not surprising, after years of smooth politicians using words smoothly, offering thoughts and prayers and giving broken promises."

I do see Miller's point. 

A Face In the Crowd does assume a positive Hollywood ending to the spell of Lonesome Rhodes being broken.  As Mel tells Marcia, "we get wise to him―that's our strength".

One of the recurring assessments of the Trump cult is a strong unwillingness to admit they've been played for a sucker and will double down on following a man who has comtempt for them rather than admit they were wrong. 

Getting wise to him is a choice. A choice that the MAGA faithful choose not to make out of misplaced loyalty and an inflated sense of pride. 

In A Face In the Crowd, Rhodes is set to have a meeting with military and political leaders after his broadcast, to plan his future role in the government as a sort of morale officer or propoganda minister.  After Marcia outs him with the hot mike, Rhodes arrives at the meeting about 30 minutes later only to find no one is there.  

One half hour was all it took for these military and political leaders to decide Rhodes is damaged goods. 

Over here in our so-called real life, Trump will say something stupid or offensive or even illegal and the Repubican Party leaders are in front of cameras twisting themselves into proverbial pretzels to defend him.  Unlike the politicos in the movie who vanish when Rhodes is exposed for who he really is, in our darkest timeline, they stick around no matter what Trump says.     

Another difference is that until his hot mike moment, Rhodes is seen as a friendly person who for all his fame and power was still regarded by his public as one of the regular people.  His exposure as having nothing but contempt for his audience is a 180 degree repudiation of his persona.

Trump outing himself as a "cruel jerk" with a similar contempt for his followers is just not that big of a revelation. His being mean, nasty and contemptuous is part of the whole damn appeal. 

So while A Face In the Crowd holds a mirror to our current predicament, a charlatan promoted to prolitical leadership through media manipulation and a cult of celebrity, it is not an exact reflection.  Lonesome Rhodes gets his when he is exposed for the fraud and liar he is because in a Hollywood ending, the people have the strength to accept they have been lied to and effectively marginalize the charlatan.

Writing about the film for the New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther seems to have trouble understanding how Rhodes gets as far as he does:   "Everyone condescends to him... instead of taking positive positions that would better represent reality. ... All play their roles capably, but they're forced to behave as awed observers, not as flexible factors in the scheme of things..... We finally get bored with Lonesome Rhodes.... This type would either have become a harmless habit or the public would have been finished with him."

From the perspective of 1957, Crowther's incredulity about Rhodes' rise and the role others played in that ascent might make sense.

I imagine Bosley Crowther would be completely flummoxed to what is going on now.  Sitting here in 2026 with ten years gone, it seems our own Lonesome Rhodes is far from a harmless habit and the public is not finished with him.

Overall, Trump's approval ratings continue to drop precipitously and more people than not are finished with him. Point of evidence are the deafening boos the man receives whenever he deigns to expose himself outside his cultivated bubble of obsequious devotion.  

But there is still a solid core of the devoted faithful and a cadre of political hacks who see their 21st century Lonesome Rhodes as a useful idiot in their quest for power.  

In the movie, Rhodes is left abandoned and alone, with only an applause machine to cheer him on as he rants and preens in his empty penthouse.  Meanwhile, Trump gets to keep his his cultivated bubble of obsequious devotion.  

A Face In the Crowd presents us with a nightmare and a Hollywood created exit from that torment.

Which is why we have movies, to give us what we can't seem to have. 

A Lonesome Rhodes moment to free us from a charlatan's grasp on his fan base and on those that would use him to their own selfish ends.