A Face in the Crowd's Ultimate Failing

Andy Griffith, in his first movie role, playing the charismatic demagogue, Lonesome Rhodes.

Now that football season has come and gone (fantastic to see our favorites in the playoffs - Lions, Falcons - heartbreaking to see them lose that way), Alison and I have taken up a new tradition of seeing a classic movie on Sunday afternoon.  In previous weeks we have seen the Hitchcock thriller Northwest by Northwest starring Cary Grant, and then the screwball comedy Monkey Business with Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers, and then the incredible dance duo of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in Swing Time.  And last Sunday, we watched the prescient drama, A Face in the Crowd, a classic starring Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal, and directed by the gifted Elia Kazan.

A Face in the Crowd is a brilliant movie, eerily predicting the reality TV culture of our present.  Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes is a criminal con-man who, while in jail, is plucked out at random to participate in a radio interview.  He is so fascinating that he soon as n opportunity to be a morning radio personality in rural Arkansas.  His commanding charisma is noted, and he gets a larger audience in Memphis, and that is parlayed into a national audience.

Rhodes begins to dabble in politics, using his folksy charm to benefit a right wing politician, helping him connect to the same people that his policies would take advantage of.  Over time, Rhodes becomes louder and more dangerous.

Yes, the movie is very predictive of the type of phenomenon we now suffer from, from Rush Limbaugh, to our reality star President, Donald Trump.

As realistic as the movie is in facing what was to come, it does fail in an important aspect.

It's not because Lonesome Rhodes starts a poor criminal as opposed to Trump's silver spoon.  Once on TV, they follow similar paths.

It's not in their incredible influence over people they consider rubes or marks.  They share that similarity completely. 

It's true that Rhodes seems more charming and talented than Trump.  But some must find Trump appealing - he received 62 million some votes.

Their megalomania and lack of personal morals both come screaming through. Both treat women like objects and adornments.

No, the movie fails in another important aspect.

CAUTION: SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!

It fails because of the way Lonesome Rhodes meets his career demise.

At the end of his show, he is caught on tape, broadcast live, admitting that the people he is conning are sheep he can fool into anything.

This is what he is caught saying:

Devastating!

So why is this a failure?

BECAUSE TRUMP HAS BEEN CAUGHT SAYING THIS AND WORSE AND MANY OF YOU

JUST DON'T CARE!

He calls Mexicans rapists and murderers!

He mocks the disabled!

He attacks war heroes and Gold Star families!

AND YOU JUST DON'T CARE

He says he could shoot someone on Times Square and his fans would still support him.

AND HE'S RIGHT!

He was caught on tape saying that because he was a rich celebrity he could get away with what ever he wanted, including grabbing women by the pussy

AND YOU STILL JUST DON'T CARE!

He even tell his Mar-A-Lago friends, his rich buddies and visitors, that they are his real people, that they are who he is representing, and that they that can enjoy the ultimate access.

AND NOTHING MOVES YOU FROM THIS DESPICABLE DEMAGOGUE!

The movie failed because it overestimated what it took to wake up the American people, how deeply we were willing to fall for the con, no matter what.

I am sick at heart and discouraged.

I won't stop trying to wake up the Trumpeteers, but I am so sorely disappointed.

So very disappointed.