The Front

The Front
theatrical release poster
Directed by	Martin Ritt
Produced by	Charles H. Joffe Jack Rollins
Written by	Walter Bernstein
Starring	Woody Allen Zero Mostel Michael Murphy Herschel Bernardi Andrea Marcovicci Remak Ramsay Lloyd Gough
Music by	Dave Grusin
Cinematography	Michael Chapman
Edited by	Sidney Levin
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	September 17, 1976 (1976-09-17)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Front is a 1976 comedy-drama film set against the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s. It was written by Walter Bernstein, directed by Martin Ritt and stars Woody Allen and Zero Mostel.

Because of the blacklist, a number of artists, writers, directors and others were rendered unemployable, having been accused of subversive political activities in support of Communism or of being Communists themselves.

Several people involved in the making of the film – screenwriter Bernstein, director Ritt, and actors Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, and Lloyd Gough – had themselves been blacklisted. (The name of each in the closing credits is followed by "Blacklisted 19--" and the relevant year.) Bernstein was listed after being named in the Red Channels journal that identified alleged Communists and Communist sympathizers.

In New York City, 1953, at the height of McCarthyism and the political witch-hunts of the House Un-American Activities Committee, television screenwriter Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy) is blacklisted, and cannot get work. He asks his friend Howard Prince (Woody Allen), a restaurant cashier and small-time bookie, to sign his name to Miller's television scripts, in exchange for a percentage of the money Miller makes from them. Howard agrees out of friendship and because he needs the money. The scripts are submitted to network producer Phil Sussman (Herschel Bernardi), who is pleased to have a writer not contaminated by the television blacklist. Howard's script also offers a plum role for one of Sussman's top actors, Hecky Brown (Zero Mostel).