The Front (1976)
The American drama film The Front (1976) takes place during the Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s, when individuals in the entertainment industry were deemed unemployable due to allegations of Communist sympathies or affiliations. Written by Walter Bernstein and directed by Martin Ritt, the film features Woody Allen, Zero Mostel, and Michael Murphy. In 1953 New York City, television writer Alfred Miller is unable to find work due to the anti-Communist efforts of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He turns to his friend Howard Prince, a restaurant cashier and small-time bookie, asking him to take credit for Miller’s scripts in exchange for ten percent of the profits as a ‘front’. Howard agrees both out of friendship and financial need.
Phil Sussman, the network producer, is pleased to receive scripts from a writer who is not on the television blacklist. Among them is one by Howard, which catches Sussman’s attention because it offers a coveted role to Hecky Brown, a top actor in his team. Soon, Howard becomes quite successful and even gets hired by two of Miller’s screenwriter friends to serve as their front. Florence Barrett, Sussman’s idealistic script editor, is equally impressed by Howard’s writing skills and mistaken him for a principled artist. As they start dating, Howard avoids discussing his work with her. However, as the investigators begin exposing and blacklisting Communists in the entertainment industry, Hecky Brown gets fired from the show because he had marched in a May Day parade six years ago and subscribed to The Daily Worker – although he later confesses that he only did it to impress a woman he wanted to have sex with.
Date of download: 2015-11-11T17:22:34+00:00
Cast:  Woody AllenHoward Prince  Zero MostelHecky Brown  Herschel BernardiPhil Sussman  Michael MurphyAlfred Miller  Andrea MarcovicciFlorence Barrett |
The American drama film The Front (1976) takes place during the Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s, when individuals in the entertainment industry were deemed unemployable due to allegations of Communist sympathies or affiliations. Written by Walter Bernstein and directed by Martin Ritt, the film features Woody Allen, Zero Mostel, and Michael Murphy. In 1953 New York City, television writer Alfred Miller is unable to find work due to the anti-Communist efforts of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He turns to his friend Howard Prince, a restaurant cashier and small-time bookie, asking him to take credit for Miller’s scripts in exchange for ten percent of the profits as a ‘front’. Howard agrees both out of friendship and financial need.
Phil Sussman, the network producer, is pleased to receive scripts from a writer who is not on the television blacklist. Among them is one by Howard, which catches Sussman’s attention because it offers a coveted role to Hecky Brown, a top actor in his team. Soon, Howard becomes quite successful and even gets hired by two of Miller’s screenwriter friends to serve as their front. Florence Barrett, Sussman’s idealistic script editor, is equally impressed by Howard’s writing skills and mistaken him for a principled artist. As they start dating, Howard avoids discussing his work with her. However, as the investigators begin exposing and blacklisting Communists in the entertainment industry, Hecky Brown gets fired from the show because he had marched in a May Day parade six years ago and subscribed to The Daily Worker – although he later confesses that he only did it to impress a woman he wanted to have sex with.
