A Face in the Crowd

A radio journalist in a small Arkansas town discovers a guitar-playing drifter in a rural jail and puts him on the air. Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes turns out to be a natural, and his folksy charm carries him from local radio to national television, where he becomes a beloved host and a political force. Marcia Jeffries, the woman who found him, watches his influence grow along with his cynicism, and the same instincts that made him a star begin to work against the people around him.

Elia Kazan directed the film, which followed Baby Doll in his filmography and came four years after On the Waterfront. Budd Schulberg wrote the screenplay, and Kazan produced it for Warner Bros. Pictures and Newtown Productions. Andy Griffith, in his first major screen role, plays Rhodes, with Patricia Neal as Marcia, Anthony Franciosa as his manager Joey DePalma, Walter Matthau as the columnist Mel Miller, Lee Remick as Betty Lou Fleckum and Percy Waram as General Haynesworth, among twenty-two credited cast members.

The film runs 125 minutes. On IMDb it holds a critics' rating of 8.1 out of 10 from 34 reviews, while on TMDB it stands at 7.6 out of 10 from 280 votes.