The Front (1976)
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75% of critics liked it
(20 reviews) -
73% of users liked it
(4,164 ratings)
The McCarthy-era "witch hunts" in the entertainment industry set the stage for this comedy drama set in the 1950s. Howard Prince (Woody Allen) is a cashier at a corner bar who works as a small-time bookie on the side, with little success. One day, Howard's old friend Alfred Miller… More The McCarthy-era "witch hunts" in the entertainment industry set the stage for this comedy drama set in the 1950s. Howard Prince (Woody Allen) is a cashier at a corner bar who works as a small-time bookie on the side, with little success. One day, Howard's old friend Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy), a successful television writer, makes a business proposal to him; Alfred's leftist political views have resulted in him being blacklisted from the major television networks, and he can no longer get work. Alfred asks Howard to act as a "front" -- Howard puts his name on Alfred's scripts, sells them, and takes a cut of the payment for his trouble. Howard's new career as a "writer" is an instant success, and soon Howard is fronting for a handful of blacklisted scribes while earning a healthy income and becoming the toast of the television industry; another fringe benefit is a romance with beautiful network employee Florence Barrett (Andrea Marcovicci). However, comic Hecky Brown (Zero Mostel), who had a brief fling with socialism years before, now finds his past catching up with him, and he's told in order to save his job as host of a weekly television show, he has to get the goods on some suspicious figures, among them Howard Prince, whose background looks a little too clean for comfort. The Front was written by Walter Bernstein, who was himself blacklisted during the 1950s, as were co-stars Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, and Lloyd Gough. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Martin Ritt
- Written By
- Walter Bernstein
- Genres
- Drama, Comedy
PG,
- In Theaters
- Sep 17, 1976 Wide
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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, Time Out
An empty monument to the senility of American liberalism.
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Vincent Canby, New York Times
It recreates the awful noise of ignorance that can still be heard.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The tragedy implied by this character tells us what we need to know about the blacklist's effect on people's lives; the rest of the movie adds almost nothing else.
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Ritt's direction is all sweaty close-ups and mismatched shots.
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
As directed by Martin Ritt and played by Woody Allen, this is a well intentioned but oversimplified tale, which is mostly useful as an historical reminder of a shameful chapter in Hollywood's blacklisting era
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Cast
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Woody Allen
as Howard Prince
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Zero Mostel
as Hecky Brown
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Herschel Bernardi
as Phil Sussman
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Michael Murphy
as Alfred Miller
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Andrea Marcovicci
as Florence Barrett
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Remak Ramsay
as Hennessey
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Marvin Lichterman
as Myer Prince
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Lloyd Gough
as Delaney
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David Margulies
as Phelps
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Joshua Shelley
as Sam
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Josef Sommer
as Committee Chairman
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Danny Aiello
as Danny La Gattuta
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Georgann Johnson
as TV Interviewer
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Scott McKay
as Hampton
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John Bentley
as Bartender
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Jacob Bernstein
as Alfred's Child
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William Bogert
as Parks
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David Clarke
as Hubert Jackson
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Jack Davidson
as Congressman
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Macintyre Dixon
as Harry Stone
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Joey Faye
as Waiter
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Lucy Lee Flippin
as Nurse
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Julie Garfield
as Margo
- Polly Holliday
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Joe Jamrog
as FBI Man
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Charles Kimbrough
as Committee Counselor
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Sam McMurray
as Young Man at Party
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J. Patrick McNamara
as Federal Marshall
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Murray Moston
as Boss
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Norman Rose
as Howard's Attorney
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John Slater
as TV Director
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Marilyn Sokol
as Sandy
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Donald Symington
as Congressman
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Matthew Tobin
as Man at Party
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Rudolph Willrich
as Tallman
- Albert M. Ottenheimer
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Michael B. Miller
as FBI Man
