Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Other Advice Columnists Wonder Why… | More Evidence of Mitt Romney's Evil… »

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Death / Celeb / Film Before He Was Matlock and the Sheriff of Mayberry...

Posted by David Schmader on Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 9:51 AM

Andy Griffith was the hot new find of director Elia Kazan, "the man who brought you Marlon Brando and James Dean!" (If you haven't seen the great and creepy A Face in the Crowd, you must. Trailer below.)

RIP Andy Griffith.

FacebookShare

Comments (20) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

No Time For Sergeants, too. Very funny movie.

Posted by bareboards on July 3, 2012 at 9:55 AM

wow, hey, so Elia Kazan made a bio pic of Glenn Beck. Who knew?

Posted by CrankyBacon on July 3, 2012 at 9:59 AM

Such a good movie.

Posted by Paul Constant

on July 3, 2012 at 10:03 AM

Awwww man. What a bummer.

Posted by Callie

on July 3, 2012 at 10:05 AM

To bad, he was a lifelong Democrat of the New Deal stripe. And t hose are a dying breed these days

Posted by Last of the Time Lords on July 3, 2012 at 10:25 AM

Saw this for the first time in 2008 when Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber were big time media names. If you've seen the movie, you'll understand how extra-chilling that might be.

Posted by LogopolisMike

on July 3, 2012 at 10:27 AM

Was lucky enough to be introduced to this by my now husband. See if you have not......

Posted by Gidget on July 3, 2012 at 10:37 AM

Just found out about this today from reading his obituary... added it to my Netflix queue. Andy Griffith & Elia Kazan ... I never knew.

Posted by Merlin D. Bear on July 3, 2012 at 11:02 AM

Patricia Neal is great in it too.

Posted by M. Wells on July 3, 2012 at 11:20 AM

Also, Face in the Crowd makes a great double bill with All the King's Men, the original, of course. Throw in Born Yesterday and you have a cinematic civics class with some great talent... Judy Holliday, William Holden, Broderick Crawford, Mercedes McCambridge, Andy and Pat.

I think I just realized what I'm doing for 4rth of July...

Posted by M. Wells on July 3, 2012 at 11:23 AM

I double billed my last watching with 'Sweet Smell of Success". Influence peddling with jazz.

Posted by Large Hardon Colluder on July 3, 2012 at 12:01 PM

Walter Matthau is pretty great in it too. Andy Griffith was a fine actor, but on television he made it look so easy, we tend to forget. Rest in Peace, dear man.

Posted by Bugnroolet on July 3, 2012 at 12:03 PM

A great film about American Hucksterism.

Posted by gberry on July 3, 2012 at 12:15 PM

Kick ass movie.

Posted by Bean on July 3, 2012 at 12:19 PM

@0:41 Is that majorette the kisses him holding and armful of piglets?!

Posted by Dougsf on July 3, 2012 at 12:21 PM

I watched it when W. became President and was chilled by it then.

Posted by skimming on July 3, 2012 at 12:29 PM

A fine movie. Not so fond of the teevee stuff after, the Mayberry vision of a rural South with no African Americans. Just homespun sweetness and goofiness, the city (where millions of blacks struggled to find freedom during the Great Migration) represented only by interlopers coming into town causing nothing but trouble... a lovely little vacuum. Not Griffith's creation, but he sure did ride that train. By the time it went out, the year MLK and RFK were assassinated, it was still #1 so CBS kept the hermetically sealed vibe going with a spinoff.

Posted by gloomy gus on July 3, 2012 at 12:29 PM

It's difficult to find since it was a '70s TV movie, but everyone should seek out "Pray for the Wildcats." (Put it on your DVR wish list - it should show up eventually.) Griffith plays a homicidal corporate exec, and he's perfect in that role.

Not so great acting-wise (but great bad-acting-wise) are William Shatner and Angie Dickenson, and the guy who played the creepy, blond-froed cop in Earthquake.

Posted by Free Lunch on July 3, 2012 at 1:04 PM