History Film / TheFront

-->'''Hecky:''' ''(manic)'' A troublemaker. I heard her talking on the set. Subversive. She's a red. You like that girl?

-->'''Hecky:''' '''''Her name? Her full name.'''''

* TheFifties: It takes place in 1953 during the height of the RedScare.

* ShiksaGoddess: Florence is a [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant WASP]] from Connecticut, while Howard is, well, [[AmbiguouslyJewish not]].
-->'''Florence:''' I was very well bred. The kind of family where the biggest sin was to raise your voice.
-->'''Howard:''' Oh, yeah? In my family the biggest sin was to buy retail.

''The Front'' is a 1976 comedy-drama film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Creator/WoodyAllen as a bookie who acts as a front for television writers [[UsefulNotes/TheHollywoodBlacklist blacklisted]] during the RedScare of the early 1950s.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Under pressure to "name names", Howard is told he can get off easily by naming [[spoiler:Hecky, who is dead]]. No one would care, and no one thinks Howard is a sympathizer. Rather than take the easy way out, Howard tells the committee off to honor his friends, leading to his imprisonment.

-->'''[[https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-front/ Slant Magazine]]:''' ...they request Prince to give them “just one name,” even if it happens to be the name of a dead man (you can see the gears turning in Prince’s head: “Why in the world would they even need the name of a dead man if not to make a public example?”)

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Hecky Brown]], based on the real-life suicide of actor [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Loeb Philip Loeb]], who was blacklisted and removed from his lead role in ''Radio/TheGoldbergs''. The fact that [[spoiler:Creator/ZeroMostel]] was friends with Loeb, AND died a year after the film's release, makes this even more a TearJerker. [[invoked]]

* LargeHam: Hecky Brown, played by RealLife Large Ham Zero Mostel.

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Hecky Brown]], based on the real-life suicide of actor [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Loeb Philip Loeb]], who was blacklisted and removed from his lead role in ''Radio/TheGoldbergs''. The fact that [[spoiler:Zero Mostel]] was friends with Loeb, AND died a year after the film's release, makes this even more a TearJerker. [[invoked]]

** As noted above, Hecky Brown is based on Philip Loeb. The character's name is also most likely a ShoutOut to Vegas nightclub comedian Shecky Greene.

* UptownGirl: Played with. Florence comes from a genteel upper-class background and is clearly mismatched with the working-class Howard, but the main conflict between them turns out to be between her political idealism and his pragmatic desire for success and comfort. [[spoiler:He wins her over in the end by refusing to cave to the HUAC.]]

* UptownGirl: Played with. Florence comes from an educated, upper-class background and is clearly mismatched with the working-class Howard, but the main conflict between them turns out to be between her political idealism and his pragmatic desire for success and comfort. [[spoiler:He wins her over in the end by refusing to cave to the HUAC.]]

* WitchHunt: The HUAC.

* WitchHunt: The HUAC.

* UptownGirl: Played with. Florence comes from an educated, upper-class background and is clearly mismatched with the working-class Howard, but the main conflict between them turns out to be between her BourgeoisBohemian political idealism and his pragmatic desire for success and comfort. [[spoiler:He wins her over in the end by refusing to cave to the HUAC.]]

* TheFifties: Given since it takes place during the height of the RedScare.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Howard's bookie career bites him when the HUAC members threaten to charge him with illegal gambling unless he can give names for communist sympathizers.

* InsaneTrollLogic: The HUAC counselor seems to assume ''everyone'' is a subversive, that when told someone is loyal, his response is along the lines of "For now, but he probably ''isn't''." His reaction to someone complaining he's accused because he shares the same name as someone who is a suspect is "well, everything will be okay because if you're innocent, you won't be accused and blacklisted", even though he's already accused and blacklisted.

* UptownGirl: Played with. Florence comes from an educated, upper-class background and is clearly mismatched with the working-class Howard, but the main conflict between them once the truth comes out turns out to be between her BourgeoisBohemian political idealism and his pragmatic desire for success and comfort. [[spoiler:He wins her over in the end by refusing to cave to the HUAC.]]

* StageNames: Hecky Brown's real name is Herschel Bronstein.