Slick hick clicks, takes licks

A Face in the Crowd

(1957)

Pre-Mayberry Andy Griffith is brilliant as a boozing, womanizing hayseed who is plucked from obscurity and makes the most of the opportunity, turning the toddling technology of television into a forum for politically conservative populism. Stunningly prescient story by Budd Schulberg includes such elements as canned laughter, the political-advertising-entertainment nexus, and, in all but the words, the sound bite as ascendant over discussion of policy. Falls down near the end with some gratuitous explanation of what we've just seen, but never for a moment seems dated.