Network

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Overview

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 ...
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Overview

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.
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola
Part of a cycle of 1970s conspiracy films and a sharp satire of the TV business, Network bitterly critiques corporate culture's impact on the spread of information and the resulting cult of the TV guru. As directed by Sidney Lumet and scripted by Paddy Chayefsky, Network takes a relatively straightforward approach to its outrageous acts, even those of Faye Dunaway's ambitious programmer, lending a disturbingly matter-of-fact tone to the corporation's most venal and dehumanizing machinations. The mad ravings of Peter Finch's messianic Howard Beale become an almost sane response to the systemic rot, but the corruption is too deep and the TV audience too fickle. A popular and critical hit, Network was praised for wittily yet somberly tapping into the mid-'70s mood of cultural disaffection, providing the perfect catch phrase for any and all frustrations, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" Nominated for ten Oscars including Best Picture, Network won four awards, including Best Screenplay, and three out of the four acting awards: Best Actress for Dunaway; Best Supporting Actress for Beatrice Straight as William Holden's bitterly wronged wife (at that time, the briefest Oscar-winning performance in history, since bested by Judi Dench's role in Shakespeare in Love); and a posthumous Best Actor for Finch. While journalists in 1976 howled about the film's inaccurate absurdity, the continuing conglomeration of the media and resulting excesses of infotainment ensure Network's continuing sting.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 5/7/1996
  • UPC: 027616001238
  • Original Release: 1976

    • Rating:

  • Source: Mgm (Video & Dvd)
  • Format: VHS

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Faye Dunaway Diana Christensen
William Holden Max Schumacher
Peter Finch Howard Beale
Robert Duvall Frank Hackett
Wesley Addy Nelson Chaney
Ned Beatty Arthur Jensen
Beatrice Straight Louise Schumacher
Arthur Burghardt Great Ahmed Kahn
Bill Burrows TV Director
Kathy Cronkite Mary Ann Gifford
Darryl Hickman Bill Herron
Roy Poole Sam Haywood
William Prince Edward George Ruddy
Marlene Warfield Laureen Hobbs
Lee Richardson Voice Only
John Carpenter George Bosch
Jordan Charney Harry Hunter
Ed Crowley Joe Donnelly
Jerome Dempsey Walter C. Amundsen
Todd Everett Reporter (uncredited)
Conchata Ferrell Barbara Schlesinger
Gene Gross Milton K. Steinman
Stanley Grover Jack Snowden
Lance Henriksen Lawyer (uncredited)
Mitchell Jason Arthur Zangwill
Paul Jenkins TV Stage Manager
Ken Kercheval Merrill Grant
Ken Kimmins Associate Producer
Lynn Klugman TV Production Assistant
Michael Lipton Tommy Pellegrino
Michael Lombard Willie Stein
Pirie MacDonald Herb Thackeray
Russ Petranto TV Associate Director
Bernie Pollack Lou
Sasha von Scherler Helen Miggs
Lane Smith Robert McDonough
Theodore Sorel Giannini
Fred Stuthman Mosaic Figure
Technical Credits
Sidney Lumet Director
Theoni V. Aldredge Costumes/Costume Designer
John Alese Makeup
Fred Caruso Associate Producer
Paddy Chayefsky Screenwriter
Howard Gottfried Producer
Lee C. Harman Makeup
Alan Heim Editor
Elliot Lawrence Score Composer
Owen Roizman Cinematographer
Philip Rosenberg Production Designer
James J. Sabat Sound/Sound Designer
Fred Schuler Camera Operator
Edward Stewart Set Decoration/Design
Juliet Taylor Casting
Richard Vorisek Sound/Sound Designer
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