Tomorrow (Monday) night, Turner Classic Movies is running A Face in the Crowd, the 1957 movie starring Andy Griffith that is so often cited these days for its prescience. Keith Olbermann constantly likens Glenn Beck to the central character, Lonesome Rhoades, whose folksy fascism engulfs the nation. Others compare Sarah Palin or other populists to the role Mr. Griffith played I think all these references are a bit overwrought…but only a bit. It airs at Midnight in most time zones and you might want to tune in and decide for yourself. Even if you don't see any analogy to any present-day public figures, you'll at least enjoy a darn good movie.
And if you're setting your TiVo for TCM, you might want to grab the following film and make it a double feature. It's The Sweet Smell of Success (also from 1957) starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis in a devastating look at the press and at a powerful columnist not unlike Walter Winchell. Screenwriter Ernie Lehman had once worked in that world and knew it all too well. It fits in nicely with the other film which, by the way, includes a cameo appearance by Mr. Winchell.