When this movie came out in '76 I didn't bother seeing it because I rejected the premise as implausible; the very idea that a network anchor would go nuts on the air and become a hook for ratings seemed ridiculous on its face.
Would that it were so.
Today we have Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, Howard Stern, etc. Etc. Etc. At the beginning of the movie a drunken Max Schumacher (William Holden) fantasizes about a show called "the Death Hour" comprised of films of car crashes, suicides, train wrecks, and so forth, to be put on Sunday night in prime time. "It'll blow Disney outta the f------g water!" he laughs. A few years back some network put exactly such a show - "Eye Witness Videos" - on the air. On Sunday night. In prime time. In short, as most everyone here has commented, "Network"'s horrifying vision - brilliantly written by the incredibly prescient Paddy Chayevsky - has been truly and frighteningly prophetic, and rings absolutely true today. The movie is totally over the top yet penetratingly incisive.
The movie is a veritable feast of tour-de-force acting from all involved. In particular William Holden's wrenching performance as the burned-out but still sensitive Max is drop-jaw stunning. I feel he, not Finch, should have gotten the Oscar, though Finch's work is not exactly chopped liver either. And what a brilliant device on Chayevsky's part to make the lunatic Howard Beale the only one of the bunch with clarity of vision.
That the film is intended to be a satire and a comedy is clear from the narration, especially the final comment about Beale becoming the first man to be killed because of lousy ratings. But it is without doubt the blackest black comedy ever filmed.
A lasting legend of the filmmaking art.
Would that it were so.
Today we have Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, Howard Stern, etc. Etc. Etc. At the beginning of the movie a drunken Max Schumacher (William Holden) fantasizes about a show called "the Death Hour" comprised of films of car crashes, suicides, train wrecks, and so forth, to be put on Sunday night in prime time. "It'll blow Disney outta the f------g water!" he laughs. A few years back some network put exactly such a show - "Eye Witness Videos" - on the air. On Sunday night. In prime time. In short, as most everyone here has commented, "Network"'s horrifying vision - brilliantly written by the incredibly prescient Paddy Chayevsky - has been truly and frighteningly prophetic, and rings absolutely true today. The movie is totally over the top yet penetratingly incisive.
The movie is a veritable feast of tour-de-force acting from all involved. In particular William Holden's wrenching performance as the burned-out but still sensitive Max is drop-jaw stunning. I feel he, not Finch, should have gotten the Oscar, though Finch's work is not exactly chopped liver either. And what a brilliant device on Chayevsky's part to make the lunatic Howard Beale the only one of the bunch with clarity of vision.
That the film is intended to be a satire and a comedy is clear from the narration, especially the final comment about Beale becoming the first man to be killed because of lousy ratings. But it is without doubt the blackest black comedy ever filmed.
A lasting legend of the filmmaking art.