A Face In The Crowd – Budd Schulberg, 1957 ★★★

Big Dreams on the Little Screen

When director Elia Kazan and writer Budd Schulberg collaborated on their next film project after the legendary On The Waterfront, it was an anticipated event. Would the new film be as good?

The answer, surprisingly, was yes, only not right away. It took audiences and critics many years to warm to A Face In The Crowd, perhaps because in 1957 its satirical take on television and marketing was too ahead of its time. Today, it seems much more relevant, if a bit quaint.

If nothing else, we are better positioned to appreciate the spectacle of Andy Griffith, not yet known as TV’s kindliest sheriff, driving his image into a ditch before he even got it. His Lonesome Rhodes is a foul-minded, manipulative, corrupt spinner of hokey cornpone wisdom who hoodwinks millions into falling in love with him:

The Ninth Configuration – William Peter Blatty, 1999 ★★★½

Nuttier Than a Wagon Load of Pralines

In the last 30 years of rewatching The Ninth Configuration, something about the shock of my first viewing has never worn off.

Like Jake and Elwood Blues, screenwriter-director William Peter Blatty was on a mission from God. If he left a few overturned cars or crushed motorcyclists in his wake, it was a feature, not a bug. Wonder what was going on in his head? Too late to ask now; he died last year. But we do have this book featuring the original shooting script.

The Shawshank Redemption: A Shooting Script – Frank Darabont, 1996 ★★★½

Plotting for Hope

As revealed in the pages of this Newmarket Screenplay publication, the story of writer/director Frank Darabont resembled that of the protagonist of this, his breakout film, one Andy Dufresne. When you find yourself stuck in a hole, with everyone telling you there’s no way out, don’t give up hope.