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Network (1976) 8.1
A TV network cynically exploits a deranged ex-TV anchor's ravings and revelations about the media for their own profit. Director:Sidney LumetWriter:Paddy Chayefsky (by) |
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Faye Dunaway | ... | ||
| William Holden | ... | ||
| Peter Finch | ... | ||
| Robert Duvall | ... | ||
| Wesley Addy | ... | ||
| Ned Beatty | ... | ||
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Arthur Burghardt | ... | |
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Bill Burrows | ... |
TV Director
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John Carpenter | ... |
George Bosch
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Jordan Charney | ... |
Harry Hunter
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Kathy Cronkite | ... |
Mary Ann Gifford
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Ed Crowley | ... |
Joe Donnelly
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Jerome Dempsey | ... |
Walter C. Amundsen
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| Conchata Ferrell | ... |
Barbara Schlesinger
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Gene Gross | ... |
Milton K. Steinman
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Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
Storyline
In the 1970s, terrorist violence is the stuff of networks' nightly news programming and the corporate structure of the UBS Television Network is changing. Meanwhile, Howard Beale, the aging UBS news anchor, has lost his once strong ratings share and so the network fires him. Beale reacts in an unexpected way. We then see how this affects the fortunes of Beale, his coworkers (Max Schumacher and Diana Christensen), and the network. Written by Bruce Janson <bruce@cs.su.oz.au>
Taglines:
Prepare yourself for a perfectly outrageous motion picture! See more »Genres:
DramaParents Guide:
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
27 November 1976 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Poder que mata See more »Box Office
Budget:
$3,800,000 (estimated)Company Credits
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Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
Color (Metrocolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
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Narrator: This story is about Howard Beale, who was the news anchorman on UBS TV. In his time, Howard Beale had been a mandarin of television, the grand old man of news, with a HUT rating of 16 and a 28 audience share. In 1969, however, his fortunes began to decline. He fell to a 22 share. The following year, his wife died, and he was left a childless widower with an 8 rating and a 12 share. He became morose and isolated, began to drink heavily, and on September 22, 1975, he was fired, ...
[...]
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
In Shaun Considine's biography of Paddy Chayefsky, it is revealed that Glenn Ford and William Holden were the finalists for the role of Max Schumaker. Holden's recent success in The Towering Inferno was believed to have been the deciding factor in his casting. See more »Goofs
Just after Beale announces his intention to commit suicide on the air, we see a row of TV screens showing how the story is being covered by the other channels. Playing a news anchor, John Gabriel claims that "something happened at one of our sister networks..." It should have been referred to as a "competitive" network - a "sister" implies the same corporate ownership, something prohibited by the FCC in 1976. See more »Quotes
[first lines]Narrator: This story is about Howard Beale, who was the news anchorman on UBS TV. In his time, Howard Beale had been a mandarin of television, the grand old man of news, with a HUT rating of 16 and a 28 audience share. In 1969, however, his fortunes began to decline. He fell to a 22 share. The following year, his wife died, and he was left a childless widower with an 8 rating and a 12 share. He became morose and isolated, began to drink heavily, and on September 22, 1975, he was fired, ...
[...]
See more »
It is the only word I can come up with to describe this masterfully savage satire, and IMHO, it's the only word that need be used.
Once I had seen ALTERED STATES and read the novel, I was hungry to find out more about the late novelist/playwright/screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, and sought out this movie. It blew me away years ago, but I find it even more stunning now. Not just because of the writing, Sidney Lumet's taut direction or the Oscar-caliber performances by everyone involved, all of which are almost beyond being lauded with superlatives.
But what knocks me out is how Chayefsky seemed less to be writing from the power of his imagination, than channeling Our Times Now. As if he was capable of some form of mental time travel; able to look into the Nineties and beyond to see the coming of SURVIVOR, or Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, Bill O'Reilly and Paris Hilton. Even HE probably didn't know how he knew, but he sure as hell felt it and wrote it down for us to marvel over today.
Sure, there are political and cultural analogies throughout the picture that are dated. But the core of his vision remains startlingly clear and eerily prophetic. As for Howard Beale, there is not one single "celebrity" who mirrors that character today, but maybe he is a composite of several different personalities with whom we have become all too familiar in the world of "news-fo-tainment." Or maybe he simply hasn't materialized yet. Maybe that is just how far ahead of its time NETWORK really was.
After all, being "mad as hell" nowadays has so many more layers of meaning than it did nearly thirty years ago...