Starship Troopers popped up in another thread this week and I'm always impressed how aptly the director (Paul Verhoven) depicts a future society that then seems to come into being (like Robocop and Starship Troopers). There have been a few others like that; movies that were intended to be cautionary tales of how ugly things could get if left unchecked. Network is one. Another is a movie I didn't see until about 10 years ago, was Andy Griffith's acting debut in A Face In The Crowd, which was an over-the-top portrayal of a country bumpkin being 'discovered', turned into a pop singer, becoming a popular TV personality, then an influencial on-air talking head ruminating on culture and politics. Of course, the idea of a country bumpkin having such a meteoric rise (with seemingly little talent) and having a TV audience hanging on his every word prolly stopped being 'groundbreaking' a year or two after this movie's release (late '50s) but as over-the-top and dated as this premise is (I'm sure it seemed really improbable then) it sure is surreal to Griffith play such a vile character. Its also interesting that in the days of TV's infancy, someone could see it as a tool for mass manipulation even then. But as is often the case, these movies seem to only serve as blueprints and idea factories for an industry, rather than the cautionary tales they were intended to be.