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A trenchant satire of trash TV, Network seems to grow only more relevant with each passing year. Howard Beale (Peter Finch), the dean of newscasters at the United Broadcasting System, is put out to pasture because he skews old. Network executive Max Schumacher (William Holden), Howard's best friend, is forced to deliver the bad .. Read more
| Starring | Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall |
|---|---|
| Director | Sidney Lumet |
| Genres | Drama |
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A trenchant satire of trash TV, Network seems to grow only more relevant with each passing year. Howard Beale (Peter Finch), the dean of newscasters at the United Broadcasting System, is put out to pasture because he skews old. Network executive Max Schumacher (William Holden), Howard's best friend, is forced to deliver the bad news. Beale can't stomach the idea of losing his 25-year post as anchorman simply because of age, so in his next broadcast he announces to the viewers that he's going to commit suicide on his final program. Network head Frank Hackett (Robert Duvall) is all for kicking Beale out then and there, but when it looks as though the UBS is going to have its greatest ratings ever on the night of Beale's self-destruction, ambitious programming exec Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) talks Hackett into treating that fateful final telecast as a special event. Naturally, Beale doesn't go through with it -- but he does begin rambling about the horrible state of the world in general and television in particular. He concludes his tirade by admonishing his viewers to Go to the window and shout as loud as you can: 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!' With that, Howard Beale becomes the hottest TV personality in America, and Diana becomes the network's fair-haired girl. She draws up plans to treat the nightly news broadcast as garish entertainment (complete with a psychic), all built around the rants of Beale, billed as The Mad Prophet of the Airwaves. Network won Oscars for Paddy Chayefsky's screenplay as well as for three of four acting categories -- Dunaway for Best Actress, Peter Finch for Best Actor (in the only posthumous Oscar yet awarded), and Beatrice Straight for Best Supporting Actress, in one of the shortest-screen-time performances ever to win an Oscar.~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
| Starring | Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, Beatrice Straight |
|---|---|
| Director | Sidney Lumet |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 57 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Collections | American Film Institute's top 100 |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | Production year: 1976 To Rent: DVD: 17 Mar 2003 |
A deliberately melodramatic satire on media corruption, it is passionate and compulsively watchable in its attack on demagoguery and in its depiction of the dangerous madness exploited by the mass media. What once seemed overheated satire has come, with t
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One of the best American films put to the screen.
If you haven't seen this film and your reading the review, your probably wondering what this film is like. Image Fight Club, American Beauty and to a ... read more »
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A Satisfying, Perfectly Toned Satire
If Charlie Brooker ever pens a screenplay, you can bet your odds on Hollyoaks winning a BAFTA it'll be a remake of this. Fans of newswipe and his most ... read more »
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The genius of Lumet & Chayefsky
Is this the best script ever written? Maybe, maybe not, but it certainly has to be the most prescient.
Paddy Chayefsky wrote a screenplay that many ... read more »
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We'll tell you anything you want to hear, we lie like hell.
Excellent film with an extraordinary script that is delivered to perfection. Well directed and intensly filmed without being too clever. Despite the fact it is ... read more »
Heath Ledger could win a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal of The Joker in Batman sequel The Dark Knight. The Australian actor was found dead after overdosing on prescription drugs on January 22nd at just 28 years of age. However, his role at Batman's nemesis has won praise from many critics, several of whom think it is deserving of an Academy Award. Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers said: "I can only speak superlatives of Heath, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. "It's Read more