A Face in the Crowd is a 1957 American dramatization film starring Andy Griffith (in his film debut), Patricia Neal and also Walter Matthau, routed by Elia Kazan. The screenplay is by Budd Schulberg and also is based upon his narrative Your Arkansas Tourist , from the collection Some Faces in the Group (1953 ). The tale fixate Larry Lonesome Rhodes, a drifter that is discovered by the manufacturer (Neal) of a small-market radio program in country northeast Arkansas. Rhodes eventually rises to excellent popularity and impact on nationwide tv. The personality was influenced by Schulberg s associate with Will Rogers Jr. The successes of Arthur Godfrey and also Tennessee Ernie Ford were also recognized in the screenplay. The movie released Griffith into fame yet got blended evaluations upon its initial launch. Later years have seen positive reappraisals of the movie, as well as in 2008 it was picked for preservation in the USA National Film Windows Registry by the Library of Congress as cu...