Line #20 Film/TheFront


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_461.jpeg]]
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3	''The Front'' is a 1976 comedy-drama film directed by Creator/MartinRitt 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.
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6	!!''The Front'' provides examples of:
7	* BaitAndSwitch: When Howard offers Hecky a drink:
8	-->'''Hecky:''' ''[indignant]'' Before the sun is over the yardarm? Never! ''[beat]'' A wee touch of scotch.
9	* BecomingTheMask: Though he doesn't become a genuine writer, Howard comes to sympathize with the blacklisted artists he's met, [[spoiler: and refuses to give the HUAC members any names]].
10	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Hecky Brown has taken his own life, and Howard has been carted off to jail. But not without standing up to the HUAC board]].
11	* BookEnds: The film begins and ends with "Young at Heart" sung by Music/FrankSinatra.
12	* BorschtBelt: Hecky has his roots there, and goes back to playing it after his blacklisting.
13	* CastingGag: Allen plays someone who is absolutely terrible at writing.
14	* DespairEventHorizon: It's depressing to watch Hecky disintegrate under the pressure.
15	-->'''Hecky:''' That girl you're with. What's her name?
16	-->'''Howard:''' Florence.
17	-->'''Hecky:''' ''[manic]'' A troublemaker. I heard her talking on the set. Subversive. She's a red. You like that girl?
18	-->'''Howard:''' Yes, I like her.
19	-->'''Hecky:''' ''Her name? Her full name.''
20	* 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 the sitcom ''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 of a TearJerker. [[invoked]]
21	* TheFifties: It takes place in 1953, during the height of the RedScare and UsefulNotes/TheHollywoodBlacklist.
22	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Howard's bookie career bites him when the HUAC members threaten to charge him with illegal gambling unless he can give names of communist sympathizers.
23	* ImAManICantHelpIt: Hecky claims to have only been attending Party meetings to get laid. "It was the girl with the big ass!"
24	* InsaneTrollLogic: The HUAC counselor seems to assume ''everyone'' is a subversive, so 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.
25	* LargeHam: Hecky Brown, played by RealLife Large Ham Creator/ZeroMostel.
26	* MathematiciansAnswer: Invoked. When put before the HUAC committee, Howard is able to dodge their questions by answering them in a way that prevents him from confirming anything. Unfortunately, the committee had another ace up their sleeve.
27	* MisterSandmanSequence: The film opens with a montage of old newsreel clips depicting American life in the early 1950s, as Music/FrankSinatra's "Young at Heart" plays on the soundtrack.
28	* NiceGuy: Howard. In the end, Hecky says this of him even though he's plainly jealous of Howard's meteoric rise, chiefly because Howard [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe never abandons him]].
29	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:
30	** As noted above, Hecky Brown is based on Philip Loeb. The character's name is also most likely a ShoutOut to real-life comedian Shecky Greene.
31	** Alfred Miller, not to be confused with actual blacklisted playwright Creator/ArthurMiller.
32	* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Howard is ''extremely'' apolitical -- until the HUAC forces him to take a stand.
33	* PrecisionFStrike: [[spoiler:The film's final line, delivered by Howard to the HUAC members.]]
34	* RedScare: The Second Red Scare, as it's known.
35	* SadClown: Hecky again.
36	* SadisticChoice: Whether to besmirch the name of a dead man to protect your blacklisted friends and save yourself from prison or take a moral stand. It's harder when the blacklisted friends are all divided -- one wants him to save himself, another says to tell the truth, and a third advises him to take the Fifth Amendment.
37	* StageNames: In-universe, Hecky Brown's real name is Herschel Bronstein.
38	* ToxicFriendInfluence: Subverted and defied. Howard continues to insist on a friendship with Hecky even though he's been blacklisted and associating with him during the RedScare could get ''him'' accused.
39	* UptownGirl: Played with. Florence comes from a genteel, 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.]]
40	-->'''Florence:''' I was very well bred. The kind of family where the biggest sin was to raise your voice.
41	-->'''Howard:''' Oh, yeah? In my family the biggest sin was to buy retail.
42	* 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 nobody suspects Howard himself of being a sympathizer. [[spoiler:Rather than take the easy way out, Howard chooses to honor his friends by telling the committee off, leading to his imprisonment.]]
43	* WitchHunt: The HUAC is conducting the real-life Red Scare attack on all alleged Communists or sympathizers.

Context Film / TheFront