The Front is a 1976 American drama film set against the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s, when artists, writers, directors, and others were rendered unemployable, having been accused of subversive political activities in support of Communism or of being Communists themselves. It was written by Walter Bernstein, directed by Martin Ritt, and stars Woody Allen, Zero Mostel and Michael Murphy.

Several people involved in the making of the film—including screenwriter Bernstein, director Ritt, and actors Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, and Lloyd Gough—had been blacklisted. The end credits list the year they were blacklisted alongside their respective credits. Bernstein was listed after being named in the Red Channels journal that identified alleged Communists and Communist sympathizers.

Pauline Kael wrote in praise of the film and the performance of Woody Allen in particular: "At its most appealing, this movie says that people shouldn't be pressured to inform on their friends, that people shouldn't be humiliated in order to earn a living. Humbly, this film asks for fairness... When you see Woody Allen in one of his own films, in a peculiar way you take him for granted; here you appreciate his skill, because you miss him so much when he's offscreen."

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".

As of May 2026, The Front holds a rating of 65% on Rotten Tomatoes from 26 reviews.

Accolades

For The Front, Walter Bernstein was nominated for the 1977 Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay and Zero Mostel was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. Andrea Marcovicci was nominated for the 1977 "Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress".

Historical basis

The movie draws from real 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 an 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 $250, according to Bernstein. In the movie, Hecky has a violent scene when, after the performance, he learns he has been 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.

Hecky Brown, and his suicide, was based on blacklisted actor Philip Loeb, a friend of Mostel who was investigated by HUAC and fired from his leading role in the television series The Goldbergs in 1951. He died by suicide in 1955. Mostel was motivated to participate in the project because he wanted to educate future generations of Americans. As he pointed out in his biography by Jared Brown, "It's part of this country, and a lot of kids don't even realize that blacklisting ever existed."

Musical adaptation

In 2008, a musical adaptation of The Front had a workshop in New York City. The musical, also titled The Front (or, alternatively, Lucky Break) had music and lyrics by Paul Gordon and Jay Gruska, with a book and additional lyrics by Seth Friedman, and its workshop was co-directed by John Caird and Nell Balaban, starring Brian d'Arcy James as Howard Prince, Richard Kind as Hecky Brown, and Jayne Paterson as Florence Barrett.

See also

  • List of American films of 1976

References

  • The Front at Turner Classic Movies
  • “McCarthyism and the Movies” The Front (1976)