Tonight, TCM presents a four-movie salute to the late Andy Griffith, starting with his 1957 electrifying role as a prickly drifter who rides an unexpected ticket to fame and fortune – only to risk both because of his horrid treatment of those around him. This movie, written by Budd Schulberg and directed by Elia Kazan, doesn’t present the Griffith we know from Mayberry – but a vain, snarling, libidinous, greedy bastard. It’s a great role, a great performance, and a movie that dissects and predicts the future of TV almost as well as Paddy Chayefsky’s Network. All that, and the film debut of Lee Remick as well – but it’s Patricia Neal, as the woman who discovers Griffith’s “Dusty” Rhodes in prison, who, along with Griffith, makes the biggest impact of all. If you’ve never seen this movie, you owe it to yourself, and the memory of Andy Griffith, to watch it now.