If you've never seen A FACE IN THE CROWD...

...then be aware that TCM (the Turner Classic Movies channel) will be running it at 1:45 a.m. this coming Friday, July 6th. That's Eastern Standard Time anyway (dunno how that'll translate in your own locality). Be sure to set your DVRs accordingly!

Why?

Because if you only knew Andy Griffith from the down-home Sheriff Andy Taylor he played on The Andy Griffith Show, then his performance in A Face in the Crowd will without a doubt shock the hell out of you.

This was Griffith's first film role. Directed by Elia Kazan from a screenplay by Budd Schulberg and released in 1957, A Face in the Crowd has Griffith as drunken Arkansas drifter "Lonesome" Rhodes: a no-good bum who becomes a media creation with fame, fortune and irredeemably rotten with power and corruption. Over time Rhodes comes to have influence over millions of people through the sway of television. And he is the most viciously mean bastard that you're ever likely to see in any motion picture in the history of anything. Also starring Patricia Neal, with appearances by Walter Matthau and Lee Remick, A Face in the Crowd has Andy so far removed from Mayberry that you'll be genuinely left wondering how in heck did he ever wind up with The Andy Griffith Show. Even so, in light of Griffith's passing early yesterday, it's a really nice tribute to his memory that TCM is doing by playing this movie. Highly recommended!

Read More

Mourning in Mayberry: Andy Griffith has passed away

The very sad news breaking everywhere right now is that Andy Griffith has passed away at the age of 86 at his home in Manteo, on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Awright well, what can be said that hasn't already been during the course of his long life: Griffith was an incredible performer, whether he was acting or singing or doing comedy... like what started it all for him, his 1953 monologue "What It Was, Was Football":

A few years later Griffith was in No Time for Sergeants, considered by many to be his single funniest work...

And 'course it wasn't long afterward that Griffith was keeping the sleepy little town of Mayberry safe and sound as Sheriff Andy Taylor. Griffith first put on the badge in a "backdoor pilot" episode of Danny Thomas's Make Room for Daddy (an episode which also featured future co-stars Ronnie Howard and Frances Bavier). More than fifty years later, and The Andy Griffith Show is still playing, somewhere, throughout the world in syndication.

But if you seriously want to see Griffith shine, you have to step away from his comedic repertoire and look at what he was capable of doing as a serious dramatic actor. The first time I saw Andy Griffith as anything apart from Sheriff Taylor, it was his portrayal of real-life murderer John Wallace in the 1983 television movie Murder in Coweta County...

Griffith starred opposite Johnny Cash, who played the Georgia sheriff who brought Wallace down for murder. The final scene, showing a shaven-headed Griffith strapped down in the electric chair, would be a particularly unsettling image for anyone who grew up with The Andy Griffith Show.

But that's downright mild compared to what was Andy Griffith's very first movie: from 1957, it's A Face in the Crowd.

I've no idea how else to put it: if you've never seen it before, A Face in the Crowd will scare the hell out of you...

I first saw it about a year and a half ago when TCM ran it. Directed by Elia Kazan, A Face in the Crowd has Andy a long, long way from Mayberry as drunken drifter "Lonesome" Rhodes. It's a brutal morality tale about celebrityhood and its power to corrupt. A movie that in many ways was far ahead of its time and even prophetic. And Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes is positively the meanest son of a bitch you're likely to see in any movie. If you haven't seen it already, I have to recommend it as being perhaps the finest work that Andy Griffith ever pulled off.

But today, Griffith is mostly going to be remembered as "America's Sheriff": the chief constable of a town that never really was but we all wanted to visit.

Thoughts and prayers going out to his family.

Read More

It's Super Bowl weekend!

Oops... I forgot. Am I even allowed to write "Super Bowl"? Might get hit by the NFL for copyright infringement by not calling it the "big game" instead.

Well anyway, no matter who who're rooting for tomorrow or even if you're not a sports fan at all, here's something we can all enjoy: Andy Griffith's classic comedy monologue "What It Was, Was Football", accompanied by George Woodbridge's illustrations from MAD Magazine!

Read More

Is the Joker on the loose in Mayberry?

Over the weekend somebody vandalized the statue of Sheriff Andy Taylor that sits outside the Surry Arts Council building in Mount Airy, North Carolina. The statue depicts Mount Airy's most famous son, actor Andy Griffith, alongside his son Opie from The Andy Griffith Show.

Sheriff Andy now has green hair and a red smile painted on his face. His sheriff's badge is also now colored red. Opie was unharmed.

You can read all about it here.

I don't think that whoever did this has any idea of the trouble they're in. This being North Carolina, and Mount Airy (the inspiration for Mayberry on the show) of all places, an attack on Sheriff Taylor is downright sacrilege.

Sounds like the Joker is afoot in Mayberry. Time to load up your bullet Barney!

Read More

Andy Griffith's "What It Was, Was Football!"

In 1953, a young North Carolina actor named Andy Griffith did a stand-up routine about the game of football. The recording of it became a runaway bestseller across the country, and it quickly propelled Griffith toward major motion picture roles and of course The Andy Griffith Show. And since that time "What It Was, Was Football!" has become one of the best-known comedy monologues in history.

I first heard this bit around 1984, when the local edition of P.M. Magazine did a video clip of Griffith's routine accompanied by footage from a local game. They even had a guy act out the "Buddy have a drink!" part. I thought it was pretty hilarious and years later when I spotted an Andy Griffith CD at a store in Asheville I bought it, just for "What It Was, Was Football!". It's now on my MP3 player :-)

And guess what? You can enjoy it via YouTube, complete with lots of football images! So whether you first heard it many years ago or have never enjoyed it until now, here is Andy Griffith's "What It Was, Was Football!"

But that's not all! I didn't know until tonight that in 1958, "What It Was, Was Football!" was adapted into graphic form by MAD Magazine! Click here to see MAD artist George Woodbridge bring to life Griffith's tale of a country rube discovering the game of football :-)

Read More