Elia Kazan's indictment of television as a terrifying force in politics, A Face in the Crowd (1957) stars Andy Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes, as a guitar-playing hobo transformed into the new Will Rogers by the boob-tube, using his popular "aw shucks I'm just a country boy" persona to supprt a right-wing senator for the presidency.

The film starts out brilliant as all hell, but when the didactic purpose of the film is in full sway, character takes a back-seat Kazan's bitter didactics, and hoo-wee does Andy overact. Nevertheless, it's on many critic's list of best-ever American films, though to me it takes a far distant back seat to Kazan's On the Waterfront (1954) which never lets its obvious message obliterate the terrific performances.

Seen in passing in the story are two chihuahuas, Pico and Chico, the pets of Lonesome's baton-twirling child bride Betty Lou (Lee Remick). We see them in two small scenes, first on the airplane ladder, later in a backstage moment.