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22 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Not funny but a great movie, 2 August 2004

Author: Wayne Malin (wwaayynnee51@hotmail.com) from United States

Fictionalized look about the 1950s blacklist. Woody Allen (in a rare dramatic role) plays a man who sells the scripts of blacklisted writers under his name. He splits the proceeds with the writers. He's apolitical--he's just doing it to help friends. Then he starts to see how horrible the blacklist is and how it's destroying people and careers. He wants to take a stand--but how can he?

This is often mentioned as being a comedy. In that respect, it fails. There was nothing funny about the blacklist. But, as a drama with light moments, it works. It moves quickly, is well written (by a former blacklisted writer), well-directed (by another blacklisted man) and stars two blacklisted actors! Basically these people know what happened so that actually helps. Allen is surprisingly good in a dramatic role--who knew he had it in him? He tones down all his mannerisms and delivers a very controlled, nicely done job. Andrea Marcovicci (whatever happened to her?) is also good playing his girlfriend. And Michael Murphy is excellent as one of the blacklisted writers. And Zero Mostel is just superb as a blacklisted actor. The pain and confusion shows plainly on his face. This was also one of his last films---he died 2 years later of a heart attack. Also look for Danny Aiello in a small role. The 1950s era is captured beautifully, the film looks great and they have Frank Sinatra singing (ironically) "Young at Heart" at the beginning and end of the film. Great final line too.

But I'm only giving this a 9. The script is good but a little too simplistic and painted in very broad strokes. The bad guys are evil to the core and all the blacklisted people are shown as being victims. That's NOT how it was. They were probably writing down to appeal to a mainstream audience but went too far.

This bombed badly back in 1976--it's easy to see why. The subject matter is too strong for most audiences and the movie company (I heard) was completely at a loss on how to deal with this. Just a year before an entire blacklisting sequence was cut from "The Way We Were". Sadly Hollywood was STILL touchy about this subject in the 1970s.

This should be seen by more people--it really deserves to be discovered. A lot of people don't even KNOW about the blacklist. Well worth seeing.

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19 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Powerful and affecting film about the Blacklist., 6 March 1999
Author: otter from Mountain View, Ca.

It's the 1950's, and Senator Joseph McCarthy has whipped America and especially Hollywood into an anti-communitst frenzy. Anyone who ever had ties to the left wing is persecuted and denied employment. Which means a big opportunity for Woody Allen (acting only, he didn't write or direct) to make a few bucks selling scripts written by blacklisted writers, being the "Front" of the title. Little does he know what he's getting into. Woody's masquerade starts as a favor to a pal in trouble and a chance for easy money, but it quickly snowballs into serious involvement with some very ugly things.

Great script and excellent performances by Allen and Andrea Marcovicci, but the film is lifted to terrifying heights by the magnificent Zero Mostel as a blacklisted comic. Every indignity and loss he faces is reflected in his wonderful face with a terrible sweet-natured dignity, you can see the weariness and hopelessness growing in his eyes scene by scene. His tragedy changes the lives of all the other characters, and makes the film the fine thing that it is.

There's a lot of wit and black humor in this film, but overall it's a very affecting tragedy, one with a fine, strong, yet hopeful ending.

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15 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent, 18 September 2005

Author: pljewkes from Boston, MA

Martin Ritt's and Walter Bernstein's excellent and very entertaining revenge film! Woody Allen is a bookie/restaurant cashier who, in order to help out a blacklisted writer-friend, agrees to front for him. Previously oblivious to the horrors of the blacklist, Allen soon realizes that people are not only unable to work, but are literally being destroyed. Director Ritt and screenwriter Bernstein, both victims of the '50s communist witch-hunt, exact their revenge by creating a character who, for all intent and purposes, is an everyman --- one capable of telling the government to go "F" itself!

The large cast --- some of whom were also blacklisted --- is splendid. Herschel Bernardi, Lloyd Gough, Michael Murphy, and, best of a ll, Zero Mostel offer great support and Allen, in a rare acting only role, manages to give what is arguably his best screen performance. He brings his humor --- it's hard to believe some his dialogue, particularly in his scenes with leading lady Andrea Marcovicci --- isn't ad libbed, but also creates his deepest characterization. He's especially powerful when he attends the funeral of a blacklisted friend.

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15 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Historically significant, 7 October 2002
Author: Sam-285 from Los Angeles, California

It's amazing to me that it has been more than a quarter of a century since this movie was made. I think at the time the movie was made it was said that it could not have been made before then because of the controversy; "Hollywood" would not have allowed it to be made.

This movie is of historical significance because it is based on reality; a reality that seems impossible now. I saw this movie in a theater in which another movie was shown first. The first movie was a documentary of the search for communists and the real-life story preceding the fictional portrayal of the same thing was a powerful combination.

I think this movie must be seen by all to see how unreasonable people can be if we are too intolerant.

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
My brief review of the film, 22 April 2005
Author: sol- from Perth, Australia

A fascinating film about blacklisting in the entertainment industry, the material does feel rather dry but the ideas are good and the quality of the acting pushes it through when nothing else does. Michael Murphy plays his character in a very human and realistic manner, and the performers are all round well suited, although Allen goes for comedy whereas everything else is in dramatic mode. The film is weighed down in fact by unevenness between comedy and drama throughout, however it is not entirely Allen's fault. Ritt's direction seems somewhat patchy with varying tones throughout. I definitely wouldn't call this a great film - or at least I can't say that I liked it a lot - but it still did have enough in it to keep me interested until the end.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Classic drama, rife with paranoia, 29 June 2006

Author: The_Void from Beverley Hills, England

I don't profess to know anything more about 'the McCarthy era' than any other non-American that wasn't around in the fifties, but this film serves as both a great slice of entertainment; and something of a history lesson. The film is said to be a comedy, although it would seem to be played out more for the drama side as aside from Woody Allen's usual neurotic quips; there aren't actually any jokes in the film. That certainly doesn't harm it, however, as Martin Ritt's film has more than enough in reserve, as the story is interesting enough on it's own; and themes of 'the witch-hunt', as well as the idea of being guilty until proved innocent shine through. The story follows Howard Prince (Woody Allen) a cashier who, when asked by his friend who is on the 'blacklist', poses as a TV writer so the blacklisted writer can still work. The film takes place in the time when paranoia over communism was rife in America, and anyone that is suspected of associating with communists was no longer allowed to work. The scam goes on, but the more Prince is dragged into it, the harder it is for him to get out.

Like I say, I didn't know much about the era before going into the film; but I'm sure it's an important part of American history; if only for the fact that it's inspired a lot of great films, including the great original version of 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. I've been a big fan of Woody Allen ever since I first saw one of his films, and his performance here takes in all the best elements of his persona. The character; a talentless man garnering praise for someone else's work, suits Allen's personality like a glove, as the paranoid actor gets to show us how neurotic he can be. Support comes by way of the likes of Zero Mostel, Michael Murphy and Andrea Marcovicci; and all give nice supporting performances. Director Michael Ritt ensures that the themes of the story are always rife, as the film presents a great sense of foreboding, and scenes such as the one that see an innocent writer told that he can't be got off the hook because he hasn't done anything help to ensure this. On the whole, The Front is a great classic film, and sees Allen in one of his best roles.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Fronting For A Great Film ****, 21 February 2006

Author: edwagreen from United States

Woody Allen acts but does not direct this excellent depiction of the McCarthy Era blacklisting in "The Front."

He plays his typical neurotic way until he is asked to front for blacklisted writers. The money comes in and all is well for Allen.

We meet the people that he is fronting for. We also meet Zero Mostel, in an excellent supporting role, as a blacklisted comedian, Hecky Green, who begs for work and throws himself out a window as a result.The scene where Allen is afraid to attend his funeral, since the FBI is taping who is entering the funeral parlor, is memorable.

Allen is asked to appear before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee to name names. What he said in that scene will forever be etched in the minds of movie-goers.

A marvelously, well-acted movie on one of the greatest tragedies in our nation's history. This movie dealt with how blacklisting ruined the lives of so many people in the entertainment industry.

Walter Bernstein, who was blacklisted in real life, wrote the screenplay for this film. No wonder why it was so good. He wrote from personal experience and therefore from the heart.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
A funny and savage indictment of a crazy era, 30 August 2001
Author: Gyran from Birmingham, England

This film is directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay by Walter Bernstein. Both director and writer, along with several members of the cast, were blacklisted during the 1950s. Woody Allen stars as Howard Prince a good-for-nothing restaurant cashier and part-time bookmaker. At the start of this film, Allen has the total schmuck persona that he used in many of his earlier films but as the film progresses he gradually develops a conscience until the ‘happy' ending when he performs an honorable act and is led away to prison. Ritt and Bernstein are highlighting the idiocy of the blacklist by having as their hero the money-grabbing, self-serving Prince. Eventually, even he cannot stomach what is going on in the name of decency and freedom. The film is darkly humorous and chilling in its depiction of an era when the owner of a small grocery store could dictate to a national network who it could and could not employ. At one point Prince has to rewrite a script about the holocaust because the programme sponsor is a gas company.

The film is a real achievement being both funny and a savage indictment of a crazy era, told with feeling by people who lived through it and suffered under it. The only misjudged performance is Zero Mostel's maudlin comedian. Michael Murphy turns up again as he does in many of Allen's early films. Andrea Marcovicci is effective as the beautiful and cerebral script editor who falls for Prince. Prince agonises over whether she loves the man or the artist, surely the inspiration for Allen's own exploration of the same theme in Bullets over Broadway nearly 20 years later.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
What if there was a list, that said: our finest writers weren't allowed to write, our finest comedians weren't allowed to make us laugh. It would be like America in 1953!, 17 October 2006

Author: Milan (mim-8) from Belgrade, Serbia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The Front is beautiful and passionate portrayal of one of the dark ages in American history, with distinct flavor that only Woody Allen could have added. Allen is a small time bookie and a restaurant cashier who fronts for his childhood friend, a blacklisted writer, purely because he needs the 10% out of his fee, since he's always broke, earning a petty salary and making bets which he can't pay off. When he gets started posing as a significant TV writer, and starts living high, out of his earnings as a front, and meets a girl that works on TV station he writes for (Andrea Marccovici), he gets sucked into new lifestyle and takes on two more writers to front for, enjoying himself, in the process. Along the way, Allen sees people that are getting ravaged by communist witch hunt, personally (Zero Mostel) or emotionally (Michael Murphy, Andrea Marccovici and Herschel Bernhardi), and decides to take a stand! The Front is a great film, made by several people who themselves were blacklisted in the 50's, director Martin Ritt, screenwriter Walter Bernstein and actors Zero Mostel and Herschel Bernhardi. Woody Allen is perfectly cast as movie's centerpiece, and he paints the whole picture with his unique humor and charm, even in serious situations. This is truly a movie of rare quality and they just don't make them like this anymore. The high point of the movie is at the end, and it just explodes, in beautiful colors, like fireworks in the night. 10 out of 10 and a must see for Woody Allen fans.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Affront to Freedom, 2 May 2005

Author: sol1218 from brooklyn NY

(There are some Spoilers) Woody Allen as part-time bookie and all around schlemiel Howard Prince not only gets the girl of his dreams Florence Barrett, Andrea Marcovicci,in the end but also becomes a, though reluctant, hero as well.

Depicting the Red Scare in America circa 1953 and how it effected those in the entertainment world we first see Howard working as a cashier. Howard also takes bets on the side as a small time bookie, at a midtown Manhattan diner. Howard is then approached by his former school and now writer friend Alfred Miller, Michael Murphy. Alfred wants Howard to put his name on a number of scripts that he wrote and now can't get anyone on the TV networks to accept.

Alfred tells Howard that he'll give him 10% of what he gets paid for the scripts and that he has a number of other writer friends that are willing to do the same thing. Howard in hock with his bookie business takes the deal that Alfred, and his friends, gave him not knowing what he's really getting into. Howard is acting as a front for Alfred & friends, a group of black-listed TV script writers, and that can put him behind bars or even worse. Force him to rat on his friends in order to save his own neck. Before you know it Howard is the toast of the TV world with his writing getting rave reviews from the critics and having Florence, a script editor at the network where Howard works, thinking that he's the reincarnation of both Walt Withman and Victor Hugo.

What the movie "The Front" shows us is just how really ineffective the dreaded HAUC was in it's attempt to cleanse communists from off the TV tube and the movie's silver screen. Most of, if not all, of the people that it destroyed were nothing more that harmless dupes who for the most part didn't know the difference between communism from creationism. In fact the real communist subversives and spies came across as patriotic, if not more so, then the members of the HUAC themselves. The very fact that having any connections with a communist or pro-communist group would blow their cover had these real communist trouble-makers know enough not to be associated with them in order to throw off suspicion on themselves.

The saddest example in the film of the HUAC morbid actions was the case of Hecky Brown, Zero Mostel. Hecky used to be one of the top comedians in show business. Five years ago he marched in a May Day parade and that sealed his fate. Being told by HUAC honcho Hennessey, Remak Remsay, to rat on his friends who were with him at the parade then and who work with him now which Hecky refused or could't do. Hecky innocently told Hennessey that the only reason he marched in the May Day parade was to get close and romantic with one of the sexy marchers and thats all it, his marching in the parade, was about.

Forced to name names or lose his ability to make a living Hecky in the end couldn't bring himself to rat on his friends, including Howard. In no time Heckys career in show business was history. Broke alone with no means of supporting himself and his family poor Hecky checks into a midtown hotel room get himself good and dunk and then jumps out the window to his death.

Howard now realizing what he got himself into. Soon he'll have to face the HUAC and either talk or take long vacation behind bars for booking bets. Thats the only criminal charge that the committee could pin on him. Coming clean with Florence Howard tells her that he's nothing but a front and phony when it come to him being TV's best writer, as well him being a socially conscious intellectual. In fact he can barley write his own name much less an award winning TV or film script.

Howard tells Florence that when he's called to testifies before Hennessey and his goons on the HUAC he'll make her more proud of himself by what he tells them then all the phony-baloney BS that she believed about him in the past. Sure enough the next day Howard got the admiration and respect from Florence and everybody who ever knew him: by standing up to the HUAC and telling them just what they could do to themselves.

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