You Ain't Seen Me, Right? - The Front (1976)

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The Front (1976)

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It may be due to acute embarrassment that films dealing with McCarthyism have been largely downplayed and overlooked. The campaign to rid the entertainment business of 'communist influence' in the 1950s is an emotive subject that still causes enormous discomfort - given the large number of its own the industry threw under the wheels of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Careers were forged and friendships were broken in this age of rampant paranoia. I will be dealing with a film by one of the blacklisted writers, directors, actors and musicians known as the 'Hollywood Ten' next week. But this week I will be looking at an overview of this troubling period that features no fewer than six formerly blacklisted talents.

The Front tells the story of Howard (Woody Allen), an aimless cashier and part-time bookmaker who is constantly in hock. Howard meets up with his childhood friend, Alfred (Michael Murphy), a TV writer who has been blacklisted for his Communist sympathies. Alfred proposes that Howard act as a 'front' for him, putting his name on Alfred's scripts in order to get them accepted. Howard's sudden rise and prodigious output in the world of TV gains the admiration of idealistic script editor Florence (Andrea Marcovicci) and the scrutiny of the Freedom of Information Department. When the FOI's background check brings up nothing untoward, Hecky (Zero Mostel), a veteran actor and penitent ex-Communist, is employed to spy on Howard.

Martin Ritt's discreet direction is the mark of an assured helmsman. Never succumbing to showiness, Ritt allows a story with deep personal resonance to take precedence. Michael Chapman captures the mood of the period with his warm, softly-lit photography, encapsulating the glossy banality of the Eisenhower years. The production design is equally skilful in this regard, packing the screen with the accoutrements of live TV, bringing to life the heady atmosphere of this nascent medium.

Allen makes the move from comedy to drama with surprising ease, delivering a creditable performance as the nonentity who inadvertently brings out the most laudable qualities of those around him. Howard's desire to protect his friends transcends ideology; his professed self-interest belies an altruism that ultimately prevents him from saving himself at their expense. Mostel brings back memories of the days when he worked alongside the likes of Bogart in the early '50s, deftly charting Hecky's struggle to keep his head above water.

The Front is a fitting tribute to those who lost their livelihoods in this shameful episode; a celebration of the defiance and heroism of ordinary people. The film details a time when America, in seeking to root out an enemy striving to destroy freedom, dismantled the very freedoms they purported to be protecting. On the surface, The Front is a classic fish-out-of-water farce, but Walter Bernstein's Oscar-nominated screenplay burns with indignation at the many acts of injustice that were condoned out of fear, hinting at some of the darker motives behind the rhetoric. This is an important history lesson, as well as an affecting film.
Great stuff - every time I learn something new from these features, I feel like its replacing something I never needed to know about Shia LaBeouf. More from You Ain't Seen Me, Right? next Friday.