A Face in the Crowd

I'd seen pieces of it a long time ago, but I'd never seen the whole thing until now, in honor of Andy Griffith's death, and it was amazing.  Elia Kazan really was one of the great all-time directors.  Patricia Neal, Walter Matthau and Lee Remick are all good, but this is one star-making debut for Griffith, best known as a stand-up comedian before this.

It's timeless as well.  The media personality skyrocketing, the empty commercialism, the "wonder drug" Vitajex, power going to the head of the formerly humble man.

The movie was a box-office bomb in its day, but it was ahead of its time.