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The Front (1976)

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Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 20
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 5

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 2

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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 4,011

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Movie Info

The McCarthy-era "witch hunts" in the entertainment industry set the stage for this comedy drama set in the 1950s. Howard Prince (Woody Allen) is a cashier at a corner bar who works as a small-time bookie on the side, with little success. One day, Howard's old friend Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy), a successful television writer, makes a business proposal to him; Alfred's leftist political views have resulted in him being blacklisted from the major television networks, and he can no longer get

PG, 1 hr. 34 min.

Drama, Comedy

Directed By: Martin Ritt

Written By: Walter Bernstein

In Theaters: Sep 17, 1976 Wide

On DVD: Feb 17, 2004

Cast

Woody Allen
Howard Prince
Zero Mostel
Hecky Brown
Herschel Bernardi
Phil Sussman
Michael Murphy
Alfred Miller
Andrea Marcovicci
Florence Barrett
Remak Ramsay
Hennessey
Marvin Lichterman
Myer Prince
Lloyd Gough
Delaney
David Margulies
Phelps
Joshua Shelley
Sam
Josef Sommer
Committee Chairman
Danny Aiello
Danny La Gattuta
Georgann Johnson
TV Interviewer
Scott McKay
Hampton
John Bentley
Bartender
Jacob Bernstein
Alfred's Child
William Bogert
Parks
David Clarke
Hubert Jackson
Jack Davidson
Congressman
Macintyre Dixon
Harry Stone
Joey Faye
Waiter
Lucy Lee Flippin
Nurse
Julie Garfield
Margo
Polly Holliday
Joe Jamrog
FBI Man
Charles Kimbrough
Committee Counselor
Sam McMurray
Young Man at Party
J. Patrick McNamara
Federal Marshall
Murray Moston
Boss
Norman Rose
Howard's Attorney
John Slater
TV Director
Marilyn Sokol
Sandy
Donald Symington
Congressman
Matthew Tobin
Man at Party
Rudolph Willrich
Tallman
Albert M. Ottenheimer
Michael B. Miller
FBI Man

Critic Reviews for The Front

All Critics (21) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (5) | DVD (8)

It recreates the awful noise of ignorance that can still be heard.

May 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Vincent Canby

New York Times

Top Critic

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.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Ritt's direction is all sweaty close-ups and mismatched shots.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

As directed by Martin Ritt and played by Woody Allen, this is a well intentioned but oversimplified tale, which is mostly useful as an historical reminder of a shameful chapter in Hollywood's blacklisting era

January 10, 2011 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

A pretty sluggish movie.

January 14, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

TV Guide's Movie Guide

Although made by those who were punished by being blacklisted during that period, the film disappoints by being so politically mild.

September 23, 2006 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Any reminder of the tribulations undergone by the blacklistees serves a useful and eye-opening purpose, but good intentions and a sense of martyrdom don't by themselves fill the glass.

April 5, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com

| Comment

Mark Bourne

DVDJournal.com

Columbia TriStar Home Video's DVD delivers The Front in both full-frame and its original 1.85:1 (anamorphic). The 'film-like' print is clean and well defined, and the transfer is flawless.

April 5, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com

| Comment

Mark Bourne

DVDJournal.com

An empty monument to the senility of American liberalism.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Time Out

The Front may not be all you need to know about the 1950's blacklist tragedy, but it's certainly one of the finest films ever made on the subject.

May 10, 2004 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com

| Comment

Scott Weinberg

eFilmCritic.com

Forget Bill Murray and Jim Carrey. Zero Mostel's brutally moving performance in The Front shows you what a real "clown who cried" performance is made of.

February 12, 2004 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

Bernstein smartly suggests how capitalism actually benefited from the oppression of suspected communists.

February 12, 2004 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

Proves that no one can escape the long and intrusive arm of politics and evade involvement

January 18, 2004 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice

| Comment

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality and Practice

It could have been a fierce sideswipe, but ends up a gentle swat.

May 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Film4

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Audience Reviews for The Front

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The Front is a worthwhile but flat film that combines a Woody Allen comic persona with an earnest desire to educate modern audiences (this was 76, it really feels like distant history now) with the Mcarthy Era witchhunts as they affected the enterainment world.Martin Ritt, himself having been blacklisted, assembled a

December 5, 2011

Josh Morris

Super Reviewer

Not that great but the last line makes the movie well worth seeing.

November 9, 2006

Michael Gildea

Super Reviewer

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