laskinner-124-924636
This movie was criticized when it came out because of it's humor and supposedly too lighthearted approach to blacklisting. But the director, writer and many of the actors were black listed and I think they knew it was a better way to approach the material than some turgid drama about blacklisting. Zero Mostel gives simply one of the most extraordinary performances on film in this movie. He runs the gamut and it is a crime he didn't win the supporting Oscar for this film. Woody Allen has never been better as an actor. The writer and director expose the black listing system in a way that makes you understand the human aspect of it. The acting throughout is convincing and in Zero Mostel's case, heartbreaking. His performance is reason enough to see this film. It is tremendous in it's humor, pathos and skill. You will witness many great character performances in this movie and the patina of an era long gone but not forgotten in this country. You will find familiar faces in this film which draws on many of the talents that populated the era of blacklisting.
Rubens Pereira
Watching this movie without knowing who's the director I could bet this is an Allen's movie, although it means not that the Woody Allen's performance hasn't brought the movie his best. The point is that we couldn't see how Ritt led this movie since most of the elements (funny situations, the coadjutor features, the Gran finale) seem like the Allen's movies. I had already seen them in Bananas and What's up Tiger Lily. In an era that communists were chased by authorities and media, the latter used to blacklist writers who were communists sympathizers. However, most of them defended the left-wing side and it resulted in a lack of non-communists available writers able to write a plot for broadcasting and writers facing financial problems due to lack of opportunities to write. One of them was Alfred Miller, played by Michael Murphy, a brilliant and tactful writer who has been fired for this political ideology. He had the idea of having a front for him to keep on writing and paying his bills. The one called for this duty was Howard Prince (Woody Allen), a grocery clerk who wanted to get a better-financed life got the chance. There came Woody Allen playing with extreme awesomeness bringing his usual clumsiness and conceitedness. As all his former movies, Allen plays a character in the same frame as Bananas, Everything you need to know about sex but you were afraid to ask and the others Take the money and run and Love and death that still hadn't been released: a shorty clumsy regular man who wants to date gorgeous women usually taller than him resulting funny moments of self-controversy and no-way-out situations. Both Prince and Hecky Green (Zero Mostel) play comic role in the movie being incapable to work even as a paperback writer. The movie is a must-see for those in literature, politics and media. Besides comicality, Ritt points out the dark ages of censorship and political persecution that the writers and another revoked by the current government. Still, the film regards how authorities handle with dissidents in a truculent and unconstitutional way in along the centuries,making The Front a movie for all generations.
Merwyn Grote
The McCarthy blacklisting era was a most peculiar time in America. On the one hand you had conservatives who felt fully justified in defending the rights and freedoms of Americans by supporting an ad hoc system that stripped some Americans of their rights and freedoms without any sort of due process or legal avenues. On the other hand, you had liberals who defended the rights and freedoms of those who advocated a political system that by its nature would strip Americans of their rights and freedoms. And there were quite a few people who were trapped in between, forced to choose either their freedom to think for themselves or their right to live their lives in peace.The only people not greatly effected it seems were the source of the confrontation, the communists. Though few in number and largely ineffectual as a group (at least, in America), they no doubt sat back and amused themselves as the country was being forced into two bitter camps. Had they had any real power within the United States, all the hub-bub about the communist influence might have served a purpose. But in reality it was hysteria over a non-existent threat, or a barely existent one. In hindsight, the panic over the Red Menace seems like the premise for a comic farce.THE FRONT isn't such a farce. Though it does star Woody Allen during his "early, funny" years and it is structured like a comedy, THE FRONT is a drama. It uses the talents of many who were blacklisted –- director Martin Ritt, screenwriter Walter Bernstein, and actors Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, Joshua Shelley and Lloyd Gough -- and it tries to focus on those in the middle who lost their livelihoods and reputations because they were considered "pink," ordinary citizens whose paths crossed those of others who may or may not have been communists. Guilt, or at least proof of it, was irrelevant; the mere suspicion of being a communist sympathizer was enough to deny individuals the right to work in their chosen field, the cost being their careers, their families and even their lives. In the view of the House Un-American Activities Committee, you were either on their side or a threat to the very fiber of the American being. It was mostly played out in the political arena, but as with most politics it seeped into the pop culture. Perhaps because the government had relied so much on the media for propaganda purposes during WWII, the fear of its power was strong.In THE FRONT, Allen plays Howard Prince a part time bookie. When a friend of his, a writer for a network TV show, gets blacklisted, the friend persuades Howard to act as his proxy. The writer will create the scripts for the show, but Howard will submit them under his name, for a cut of the commission. The scam works so well that soon Howard is fronting for several other writers as well –- and Howard's reputation as a prolific and versatile author starts to grow. The complications come when Howard is expected to do on-the-spot rewrites of the material, and when he is suspected of red ties due to his friendship with the real liberal writers. As he sees first hand the dangers of the blacklisting, he also grows a conscience. Not a bad premise for a movie, even a comedy.One would think, with the involvement of those who were scarred by the blacklisting playing such a prominent role in the film, that THE FRONT would pulsate with a certain degree of rage. But it doesn't; the film isn't so much angry as it is wistful. It is not a question of the honesty of the material so much as the quiet feeling of hopelessness that pervades the story. The story unfolds in a slow, deliberate fashion, occasionally sticking in a joke or two, but mostly just reliving the past in a sad monotone. Perhaps it is supposed to be a reflection of the era the film is about, the 1950s, an era of passivity. Or maybe it is a reflection of the era in which the film was made, the 1970s -- after the chaos of the 1960s, maybe McCarthyism had just lost its power to scare. Either way, neither Ritt nor Bernstein inject much passion into the tale. Likewise, the characters lack depth; the bad guys who support the blacklisting are cold and mechanical (heaven forbid they might be acting out of genuine patriotism), while the good guys are either pure and passionate in their left-wing leanings or guileless innocents bewildered by it all. Thoughtful and low-key, THE FRONT is certainly sincere, but it isn't insightful and doesn't carry much of a punch.Even the big finale lacks power; after playing an ineffectual verbal game of cat and mouse with a HUAC subcommittee, Howard drops the "F-bomb" in a moment that is supposed to be shocking. Though it is jarring, it is because it is so pointless as a gesture. Did Ritt and Bernstein really think that uttering the F-word would jolt audiences in 1976? Even now, are we suppose to see such a foolish gesture as an act of courage on Howard's part? It is a key moment in the story and comes off as being just, well, stupid. In the end, Howard ends up going to jail, presumably on contempt of court charges; but is Howard's childish act of defiance really an heroic action? He takes a stand, but doesn't make much of a point. And neither does the movie.
thinker1691
Woody Allen has always had the power to make people laugh. However in 1976, he allowed his serious side to shine as he played Howard Prince a down-on-his-luck average guy. The movie, " The Front " tells the story of a simple unemployed man, financially strapped who is asked by Black listed writer Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy) to submit a play to the Television studios, using his own name. With little concern, Howard does and is surprisingly accepted and paid. In time, other writers give him additional plays and for a percentage of their royalties, Howard gets the credit. He is so successful he comes to the attention of HUAC (House on UnAmerican Committee) and is asked to co-operate by revealing names of friends who may be affiliated with communists organizations. One of his friends is comedian is 'Hecky Brown' (Zero Mostel) a likable and struggling comic who tries to stay out of trouble but is threatened, coerced and driven to suicide by the powerful yet nameless shadowy men working for Joseph MaCarthy. Howard Prince is no writer, but he is a man of courage and conviction who exemplifies the courage necessary to combat the malignant evil which can arise when dark powers such as Senator MaCarthy go unchecked. Allen is superb and for his effort has given this movie the status of a social Classic which stands of its own accord. ****
