The Front
Encyclopedia
The Front is a 1976 film drama about the Hollywood blacklist
during the age of live television. It is written by Walter Bernstein
, directed by Martin Ritt
and stars Woody Allen
and Zero Mostel
.
Because of the blacklist, a number of artists, writers, directors and others were rendered unemployable, having been accused of subversive political activities in support of Communism or of actually being Communists themselves.
Several people involved in the making of the film — screenwriter Bernstein, director Ritt, and actors Mostel, Herschel Bernardi
, and Lloyd Gough
— had themselves been blacklisted. (The name of each in the closing credits is followed by "Blacklisted 19--" and the relevant year.) Bernstein was listed after being named in the FBI-published Red Channels
journal that identified alleged Communists
and Communist sympathizers.
) has a friend who writes for television. Because the friend, Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy
) has been blacklisted, he asks Howard to sign his name to the TV scripts.
Howard agrees out of friendship and because he needs the percentage of the writer's fee that Miller will pay him. The scripts are submitted to network producer Phil Sussman (Herschel Bernardi
), who is pleased to have a writer not contaminated by the blacklist. Howard's script also offers a plum role for one of Sussman's top actors, Hecky Brown (Zero Mostel
).
Howard becomes such a “success” that Miller’s other friends hire him to be their front. The quality of the scripts and Howard's ability to write so many impresses Sussman's idealistic script editor, Florence Barrett (Andrea Marcovicci
), who mistakes him for a principled, artistic talent. Howard begins dating her but changes the subject whenever she wants to discuss his work.
McCarthyism
is rampant and investigators are trying to expose and blacklist Communists in the entertainment industry. They are making life hell for Hecky Brown. They affect his ability to find work and pressure Sussman to drop him from the show.
Hecky takes a liking to Howard and invites him to the Catskills, where he is booked to perform on stage. The club owner short-changes the entertainer on his promised salary, furthering Hecky's distress.
The professional humiliation and loss of income take their toll, resulting in Hecky's suicide.
Howard witnesses the harsh reality of what the terrible actions of the right-wing “Freedom Information Services” can do. Suspicion is cast his way and Howard is called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He ends up revealing privately to Florence that he is not a brilliant writer at all, just a humble cashier.
Howard decides to outwit the committee. He hatches a scheme in which he will respond to all questions, not refusing to answer but in such a general way that he will admit or deny nothing. After briefly enduring the HUAC questioning — including being asked to speak ill of the dead Hecky Brown -- Howard takes a stand. He ends the interview with a blatant act of defiance, which gets him arrested and convicted for contempt of Congress
, a punishment he accepts with pride.
acknowledged the film's lack of direct political commentary: "The Front is not the whole story of an especially unpleasant piece of American history. It may be faulted for oversimplification. Mr. Ritt and Mr. Bernstein, veterans of the blacklist
are not interested in subtleties. Yet, even in its comic moments, The Front works on the conscience. "It recreates the awful noise of ignorance that can still be heard." (Canby, 1976) He said that, while the film does not directly attack or address the political era, it does communicate its message: Do not rat on people. Furthermore, he emphasized that The Front encourages the viewer to understand the emotional consequences of blacklisting and finger-pointing by telling the experience of one man.
Roger Ebert
dismissed the political value of The Front: "What we get are the adventures of a schlemiel in wonderland". He felt that the Woody Allen character was too comic and unconvincing a writer to represent the true nature of "front" writers. He added that Hecky Brown was a worthwhile character: "The tragedy implied by this character tells us what we need to know about the blacklist's effect on people's lives; the rest of the movie adds almost nothing else". (Ebert, 1976)
The subsequent suicide of Hecky, shown in the film as his leaping from a hotel window, has a historical parallel in the suicide of blacklisted actor Philip Loeb
, who took an overdose of sleeping pills in a hotel room. Loeb was a friend of Mostel's, according to Bernstein's memoirs.
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
during the age of live television. It is written by Walter Bernstein
Walter Bernstein
Walter Bernstein is an American screenwriter and film producer who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios in the 1950s.-Early life:...
, directed by Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early career and influences:...
and stars Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
and Zero Mostel
Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
.
Because of the blacklist, a number of artists, writers, directors and others were rendered unemployable, having been accused of subversive political activities in support of Communism or of actually being Communists themselves.
Several people involved in the making of the film — screenwriter Bernstein, director Ritt, and actors Mostel, Herschel Bernardi
Herschel Bernardi
Herschel Bernardi was an American film, Broadway, and television actor....
, and Lloyd Gough
Lloyd Gough
Lloyd Gough was an American theater, film, and television actor.Born Michael Gough in New York City, he was a noted character actor...
— had themselves been blacklisted. (The name of each in the closing credits is followed by "Blacklisted 19--" and the relevant year.) Bernstein was listed after being named in the FBI-published Red Channels
Red Channels
Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television is an anti-Communist tract published in the United States at the height of the Red Scare...
journal that identified alleged Communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and Communist sympathizers.
Plot summary
In the early 1950s, in New York City, restaurant cashier and small-time bookie Howard Prince (Woody AllenWoody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
) has a friend who writes for television. Because the friend, Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy
Michael Murphy (actor)
Michael George Murphy is an American film and television actor.-Career:Murphy played Woody Allen's duplicitous friend Yale in the film Manhattan...
) has been blacklisted, he asks Howard to sign his name to the TV scripts.
Howard agrees out of friendship and because he needs the percentage of the writer's fee that Miller will pay him. The scripts are submitted to network producer Phil Sussman (Herschel Bernardi
Herschel Bernardi
Herschel Bernardi was an American film, Broadway, and television actor....
), who is pleased to have a writer not contaminated by the blacklist. Howard's script also offers a plum role for one of Sussman's top actors, Hecky Brown (Zero Mostel
Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
).
Howard becomes such a “success” that Miller’s other friends hire him to be their front. The quality of the scripts and Howard's ability to write so many impresses Sussman's idealistic script editor, Florence Barrett (Andrea Marcovicci
Andrea Marcovicci
Andrea Louisa Marcovicci is an American actress and singer.- Biography :Marcovicci was born in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Helen , a singer, and Eugen Marcovicci, a physician and internist of Romanian descent. In her teens, she decided that she wanted to be a singer, but instead...
), who mistakes him for a principled, artistic talent. Howard begins dating her but changes the subject whenever she wants to discuss his work.
McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
is rampant and investigators are trying to expose and blacklist Communists in the entertainment industry. They are making life hell for Hecky Brown. They affect his ability to find work and pressure Sussman to drop him from the show.
Hecky takes a liking to Howard and invites him to the Catskills, where he is booked to perform on stage. The club owner short-changes the entertainer on his promised salary, furthering Hecky's distress.
The professional humiliation and loss of income take their toll, resulting in Hecky's suicide.
Howard witnesses the harsh reality of what the terrible actions of the right-wing “Freedom Information Services” can do. Suspicion is cast his way and Howard is called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He ends up revealing privately to Florence that he is not a brilliant writer at all, just a humble cashier.
Howard decides to outwit the committee. He hatches a scheme in which he will respond to all questions, not refusing to answer but in such a general way that he will admit or deny nothing. After briefly enduring the HUAC questioning — including being asked to speak ill of the dead Hecky Brown -- Howard takes a stand. He ends the interview with a blatant act of defiance, which gets him arrested and convicted for contempt of Congress
Contempt of Congress
Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically the bribery of a senator or representative was considered contempt of Congress...
, a punishment he accepts with pride.
Critical response
Critical reception of The Front was divided between those who thought it effectively and amusingly dealt with the topic of McCarthyism and those who thought it a superficial gloss instead of a pithy statement about the McCarthy era. In 1976, reviewing it for the New York Times, Vincent CanbyVincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
acknowledged the film's lack of direct political commentary: "The Front is not the whole story of an especially unpleasant piece of American history. It may be faulted for oversimplification. Mr. Ritt and Mr. Bernstein, veterans of the blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
are not interested in subtleties. Yet, even in its comic moments, The Front works on the conscience. "It recreates the awful noise of ignorance that can still be heard." (Canby, 1976) He said that, while the film does not directly attack or address the political era, it does communicate its message: Do not rat on people. Furthermore, he emphasized that The Front encourages the viewer to understand the emotional consequences of blacklisting and finger-pointing by telling the experience of one man.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
dismissed the political value of The Front: "What we get are the adventures of a schlemiel in wonderland". He felt that the Woody Allen character was too comic and unconvincing a writer to represent the true nature of "front" writers. He added that Hecky Brown was a worthwhile character: "The tragedy implied by this character tells us what we need to know about the blacklist's effect on people's lives; the rest of the movie adds almost nothing else". (Ebert, 1976)
Historical antecedents
The movie draws from real life incidents in its depiction of the characters. A scene in which Hecky (played by Mostel) goes to entertain at a mountain resort, and then is cheated out of part of his fee, is based on a real life incident described by Bernstein in his memoirs Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist. In the book, Bernstein describes how Mostel came to entertain at the Concord hotel in the Catskills, where he used to entertain as a rising comic, because he desperately needed the money. The manager of the Concord promised him $500 but, when he arrived, reduced that to $300, according to Bernstein. In the movie, Hecky has a violent scene when, after the performance, told that he is cheated. In real life, Mostel was told before the performance and acted out his hostility during the performance, by cursing at the customers, who thought it was part of the act.The subsequent suicide of Hecky, shown in the film as his leaping from a hotel window, has a historical parallel in the suicide of blacklisted actor Philip Loeb
Philip Loeb
Philip Loeb , was an American stage, film, and television actor who was blacklisted under McCarthyism and committed suicide.- Background :...
, who took an overdose of sleeping pills in a hotel room. Loeb was a friend of Mostel's, according to Bernstein's memoirs.