Saturday, January 1, 2022

 If anyone reading this is still a Trump fan, I encourage you to rent, buy, or somehow view the film A Face in the Crowd.  Based on a short story published in 1953, Your Arkanasas Traveler, the 1957 film eerily mirrors Donald Trump's rise to prominence in depicting the meteoric success of an equally unqualified narcissist name Lonesome Rhodes (Andy Griffith).  Rhodes, who was discovered by a radio promoter Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal) strikes a chord with millions of American citizens, and keeps rising in popularity until he has image, power, his own TV show and national influence. It all comes tumbling down when Neal exposes him in a way that lets his fans see the real Rhodes, a bitter man contemptuous of the people he claims to love. Sadly that revelation hasn't happened with Trump yet, but it will. Other than seeing a great movie, you'll be stunned by the brilliant performance of Andy Griffith in this, his very first film. You may also wonder, as I do,  how Budd Schulberg could possibly conceive a character in 1953 who was so much like a charlatan who didn't assault our democracy till decades later.

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