In one of only a handful of films he appeared in that he did not direct, acclaimed filmmaker
Woody Allen stars in the 1976 comedy/drama
The Front. The film, which deals with blacklisting in the entertainment industry in 1950s New York City, was directed by formerly blaclisted director Martin Ritt (
The Long Hot Summer, Norma Rae, The Sound and the Fury) and co-stars former blacklisted actors
Zero Mostel (
Mel Brooks' The Producers)
and Hershel Barnard.
Allen plays
Howard Prince, a down-on-his luck cashier who poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work through, but the injustice around him pushes him to take a stand.
Around the 1:12:50 mark in the film, Howard is visited by Hecky Brown (
Zero Mostel), a blacklisted actor from a television show Harold is "writing" for; Hecky is cooperating with the HUAC to entrap Harold into admitting he is a fellow Communist. They have the following exchange:
Howard:
How's it going?
Hecky Brown:
Not bad. Club date. Out-of-town. Not bad. Scranton. Allentown. Altoona. You didn't know I was a big hit in Pennsylvania.
The Front is available to borrow on DVD from the library;
click here to place a hold. It was also recently released on Blu Ray by
Twilight Time.
