I hesitate to bring this up because he didn't write or direct The Front and because it's mildly sacrilegious for a film lover to say, but I'm not a huge fan of Woody Allen. I've enjoyed the clips of his stand-up act and his films before he got serious (Bananas and Sleeper), but am generally underwhelmed by his oeuvre. Perhaps his lack of presence (a weird thing to say about the star of a movie) is why I like The Front so much. Allen's character, Howard Prince, doesn't come off as superior to everyone, which is how Allen usually seems to me. Howard Prince is a genuinely nice guy (with barely a hint of neurosis) who is just looking to help out some friends.
For me, The Front is inherently interesting from the start because it's about such a strange time in America's history: the Communist witch hunt in the 1950's. I have such a hard time fathoming how people could get so worked up over ideology and how it could bring about nation-wide hysteria. Really? Communism is going to destroy our way of life? It's all so irrational. It's insanity that they blacklisted people based on hearsay (I wish I'd thought about the subject more before I started writing this because I'm having trouble expressing my exasperation over it all. I can't imagine how I would've felt at the time it was happening).
The Front deals with Howard Prince, a largely non-political small-time bookie, who is convinced by a blacklisted screenwriter friend to act as a front in order to continue working. Prince quickly becomes a success and eventually takes on more blacklisters to front for. That's the short of it all and obviously Prince will learn something about himself and the nature of blacklisting, but the film handles everything so elegantly. Along the way, Prince meets Hecky Brown (played by the always amazing Zero Mostel) who is the example of how much the blacklisting has effected people. Brown's story is particularly harrowing.
Many of the people involved with the film were blacklisted (that word is appearing a lot in this space) including director Martin Ritt and screenwriter Walter Bernstein. In many respects, The Front reminds me of To Be or Not to Be (for now, just the Mel Brooks version as I haven't seen the original) in that it takes a comical look at a serious subject using a slightly detached main character. Though the film received mixed reviews, but I found it funny and engaging without beating us over the head shouting, "look how bad blacklisting is!"
I couldn't find the trailer, but here's an early scene setting things up:
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