A great movie for this great weekend...

[onager]

"This movie was a warning. After television, politics will never be the same again."--from the Special Feature "Facing The Past" on the DVD.

Watch this sucker and just try not to think of Sarah Palin.

The movie--"A Face In The Crowd" from 1957. Man, does this flick seem prophetic now. AFAIK, it was the first to explore the unholy nexus of TV, advertising, pop culture and politics. (Almost predictably, it flopped at the box office.)

Part of the plot involves a far-right retired General who peddles worthless patent medicine. He is backing a Repub senator known as "the last of the isolationists."

And what a cast! The luminous and intelligent Patricia Neal. Andy Griffith, charmingly demonic in the lead. Walter Matthau in one of his first movie roles. Tony Franciosa in his very first movie. And 18-year-old Lee Remick debuting as cheerleader Betty Lou Fleckum.

Written by Budd Schulberg and directed by Elia Kazan.

Bonus: in the Special Feature, you get to hear good old Sheriff Andy use the F-WORD. And talk about getting ferociously drunk for his big final scene. Budd Schulberg notes: "We should have listed 'Jack Daniels' as a cast member."

I don't want to do any spoilers, and realize that this B&W movie will probably, to younger viewers, look like some relic dug up by archeologists. But it really is worth the 2 hours. You'll be thinking about it for a long time after.