A Face in the Crowd

Marcia Jeffries: You put your whole self into that laugh, don't you? Lonesome Rhodes: Marcia, I put my whole self into everything I do.

A Face in the Crowd (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Abe Steiner: I'm one of the oldest theatrical agents in the Mid-South. I book a lot of acts for the Grand Ole Opry. Now, I discovered Hank Snow and Webb Pierce. And the first morning I heard you, I said to myself, 'Abe Steiner, that man's got power. Not just catchy songs and funny stories. Power.' How would you like to come to Memphis, son?...Mr. Rhodes, you put me in mind of Will Rogers when he first came to Memphis. I can make you a star, boy, if you put yourself in my hands. Lonesome Rhodes: Shucks, mister, I'm just a country boy. I ain't even sure I wanna stay in this danged old radio business.

A Face in the Crowd (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

General Haynesworth: Rhodes, I want you to get to know people like that. I'd like to sort of take you under my wing and educate you. Lonesome Rhodes: Heh. Shucks, General, I'm just a country boy. General Haynesworth: Young man, never forget Will Rogers. He was just a gum-chewing, rope-twirling cowboy. But he got to where he was telling off presidents and kings. Joey DePalma: General, my thinking is the second section of the same train. General Haynesworth: I've always gone in for long-range planning. Right now, Lonesome is merely popular. Oh, very popular. But Lonesome Rhodes could be made into an influence, a wielder of opinion. An institution positively sacred to this country, like the Washington Monument. I suspect your idealistic young lady disagrees with me. But my study of history has convinced me that in every strong and healthy society from the Egyptians on, the mass had to be guided with a strong hand by a responsible elite. Let us not forget that in TV, we have the greatest i

A Face in the Crowd (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Lonesome Rhodes: Look at all them TV aerials sticking up like branches down there. There's a whole forest of 'em from here to San Diego. All of 'em waitin' to hear what I got to say. Marcia Jeffries: Is that what you woke me up in the middle of the night for? Lonesome Rhodes: Marcia, what I'm tryin' to say is, all of them millions of people believin' in me, doin' what I tell 'em to, scares me. Honest. General and all them big shots tryin' to educate me. Marcia Jeffries: Educate you or use you? Lonesome Rhodes: That's it, see? The General says our country needs me. I'm supposed to be an influence. That's mighty tall grass, Marcia. We're gettin' in deep, Marcia. A thousand times deeper than we ever dreamed when we were startin' out in Arkansas. I know on the set, I'm beginnin' to act like I just ate the Western Hemisphere for breakfast. But then, down here in the boiler room, I know I need advice. Not the kind I get from Joey or the Madison Avenue high-domes who say 'gesundheit' before I

A Face in the Crowd (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Marcia Jeffries: You always drink like that? Lonesome Rhodes: Not always. Back in Riddle they was pretty strict. Didn't allow us to touch hard liquor till we was 10 or 11. Marcia Jeffries: Now is there really a town called Riddle? Lonesome Rhodes: Well, tell you the flat truth, it's just a sort of a whatchacallit, a... Marcia Jeffries: ...Composite? Lonesome Rhodes: Compost heap's more like it.

A Face in the Crowd (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Lonesome Rhodes: I was afraid to marry you, and that's the truth. The dirt-root, cotton-pickin' truth. Marcia Jeffries: Last time, you said you were afraid not to. Lonesome Rhodes: Both were true. You sort of overawe me. You know more than I do. I can feel you being so gol-darned critical all the time. You and that smart-alecky Mel. And you don't really approve of me. That's so, ain't it? Marcia Jeffries: You're gettin' to be all the things you used to harpoon. Lonesome Rhodes: See what I mean? The bigger I get, the smaller you make me feel. You take Betty Lou... Marcia Jeffries: Larry, don't try to explain. Betty Lou is your public, all wrapped up with yellow ribbons into one cute little package. She's the logical culmination of the great 20th-century love affair between Lonesome Rhodes and his mass audience. Lonesome Rhodes: Well, I wish you wasn't so bitter. Marcia Jeffries: I'm not bitter. If I sound stridently female about Miss Drum Majorette, I don't mean to be. I knew you marrie

A Face in the Crowd (film), CC BY-SA 4.0