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Network
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With stunning prescience, Sidney Lumet's searing satire of television and the contemporary moment chronicles media corruption and the...
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With stunning prescience, Sidney Lumet's searing satire of television and the contemporary moment chronicles media corruption and the way that the public buys into the myths the media creates. The moral and spiritual turpitude delivered by the debilitating forces of television are rendered in sharp relief against a backdrop of crumbling humanity in what is regarded as one of the great satires in Hollywood history. With a visceral script from Paddy Chayefsky, NETWORK follows the doomed path of aging newsman Howard Beale (Peter Finch), who, upon learning that he is to be fired after decades as a news anchor, announces to millions of viewers that he will publicly commit suicide during his last broadcast. When the ratings consequently shoot up, hungry executive-in-training Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) seizes the moment to exploit Beale's Messianic nervous breakdown, turning his rage into the vehicle for the network's first Number One show and a nationwide craze. Who could have predicted that this 1976 fi...
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25 Reviews from Epinions.com
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Network
Author's Review
Wow.
I have spent the last twenty minutes just sitting in my recliner, contemplating the greatest film about modern culture ever produced.
And all I can say is Wow.
Network isn't the satire of modern media hunger for ratings and market share many would have us believe. If it were just that, it would be a good movie, but it wouldn't be the great film it is. No, Network transcends mere satire. It's truth. It is horribly wonderful truth.
The fictional UBS network is losing ratings fast, so they fire their aging anchorman, Howard Beale (Peter Finch). Beale becomes unstable and announces on the air that he will commit suicide during the news broadcast the following week. Not suprisingly, the ratings suddenly skyrocket, and fiery programming exec Diana Christensen (the amazing Faye Dunaway) leads her network down a dark path that explores the dark dimensions of television that people don't talk about at parties.
The cast is impeccable, but the sensational writing is what hooks you and never lets go. You want to remember every line, every nuance of syllable. Dunaway delivers speeches about market share and mass apppeal and ratings and audience in an awe-inspiring fever pitch that Aaron Sorkin would love. Oscar-winning writer Paddy Chayefsky leads us by the nose into the glass house of modern media, then just as deftly abandons us before the walls shatter and the whole thing collapses.
Wow.
William Holden's character is our only reminder that not everyone in network news is a hollow ratings receptacle. His Max Schumacher is one of the lasts of a dying breed of newsmen who cared more about the quality of the news than about the quantity of people watching the news. There is no place for him in Christensens new network order, but he desperately wants a place in her heart.
In addition to a screenplay Oscar, Network received awards for Dunaway, Finch, and supporting actress Barbara Schlesinger. Schlesinger has only one major scene, but her award is not undeserved. In fact, that is the wonderful thing about Network: everyone (and I mean everyone) is written so well. Even minor characters are likely to spout media philosophy that rings true every time. I try not to include quotes in the reviews I write, but I feel the need to do so in this case.
Realizing the true nature of their relationship, Max tells Diana the following: If I stay with you, I'll be destroyed. Like Howard Beale was destroyed. Like Loreena Hobbs was destroyed. Like everything that you and the institution of television touch is destroyed. You're television incarnate, Diana -- indifferent to suffering, insensitive to joy.
Wow.
There is oh so much more, but I want you to experience this film for yourself. Every person who sits down each evening and expects Chandler and Monicas latest dilemma to work itself out in 30 minutes, every person who knows the lyrics to the Brady Bunch theme but not the National Anthem, every person who exists in this reality constructed by the momentary truths we receive through a little black box we call television, must see this film.
I am about to go watch it again.
Wow.
True brilliance
| Author's Rating: |
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Pros: Superb writing, award-winning acting
Cons: You may love it so much you'll have to buy it.
Wow.
I have spent the last twenty minutes just sitting in my recliner, contemplating the greatest film about modern culture ever produced.
And all I can say is Wow.
Network isn't the satire of modern media hunger for ratings and market share many would have us believe. If it were just that, it would be a good movie, but it wouldn't be the great film it is. No, Network transcends mere satire. It's truth. It is horribly wonderful truth.
The fictional UBS network is losing ratings fast, so they fire their aging anchorman, Howard Beale (Peter Finch). Beale becomes unstable and announces on the air that he will commit suicide during the news broadcast the following week. Not suprisingly, the ratings suddenly skyrocket, and fiery programming exec Diana Christensen (the amazing Faye Dunaway) leads her network down a dark path that explores the dark dimensions of television that people don't talk about at parties.
The cast is impeccable, but the sensational writing is what hooks you and never lets go. You want to remember every line, every nuance of syllable. Dunaway delivers speeches about market share and mass apppeal and ratings and audience in an awe-inspiring fever pitch that Aaron Sorkin would love. Oscar-winning writer Paddy Chayefsky leads us by the nose into the glass house of modern media, then just as deftly abandons us before the walls shatter and the whole thing collapses.
Wow.
William Holden's character is our only reminder that not everyone in network news is a hollow ratings receptacle. His Max Schumacher is one of the lasts of a dying breed of newsmen who cared more about the quality of the news than about the quantity of people watching the news. There is no place for him in Christensens new network order, but he desperately wants a place in her heart.
In addition to a screenplay Oscar, Network received awards for Dunaway, Finch, and supporting actress Barbara Schlesinger. Schlesinger has only one major scene, but her award is not undeserved. In fact, that is the wonderful thing about Network: everyone (and I mean everyone) is written so well. Even minor characters are likely to spout media philosophy that rings true every time. I try not to include quotes in the reviews I write, but I feel the need to do so in this case.
Realizing the true nature of their relationship, Max tells Diana the following: If I stay with you, I'll be destroyed. Like Howard Beale was destroyed. Like Loreena Hobbs was destroyed. Like everything that you and the institution of television touch is destroyed. You're television incarnate, Diana -- indifferent to suffering, insensitive to joy.
Wow.
There is oh so much more, but I want you to experience this film for yourself. Every person who sits down each evening and expects Chandler and Monicas latest dilemma to work itself out in 30 minutes, every person who knows the lyrics to the Brady Bunch theme but not the National Anthem, every person who exists in this reality constructed by the momentary truths we receive through a little black box we call television, must see this film.
I am about to go watch it again.
Wow.
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