Network (1976) R, 121 mins
Reviewed by Mike Brown
**** (out of four)
Directed by Sidney Lumet Produced by Howard Gottfried Written by Paddy Chayefsky
Faye Dunaway............Diana Christenson William Holden..........Max Schumacher Peter Finch..................Howard Beale Robert Duvall..............Frank Hackett Wesley Addy...............Nelson Chaney Ned Beatty...................Arthur Jensen
"TV is showbiz" says Diana Christenson, a self-absorbed network executive, played by Faye Dunaway, this is the underlying message seen throughout "Network" one of the most intelligent satires I have ever seen. The story focuses on a news anchor man named Howard Beale (Peter Finch) who we learn that for the past several years life has not been going very well for him as his news program declines in ratings for the fourth consecutive year, he is a struggling alcoholic and that his wife has just left him. These factors all add up to his dismissal from UBC, the number four network behind NBC, CBS and ABC. Losing all faith in life, Howard decides to announce to the world that he is going to blow his brains out on his live telecast on his last day. This immediately causes and uproar from the public who are offended yet at the same time interested as seen through the high ratings which the show achieves after his announcement. As a result, Howard Beale gets a brand new television show named after him where he gets to speak his mind on any topic he chooses. This is where "Network" really gets clever with its witty and intelligent script, its energetic acting and hard-nosed directing all combining together to set it in the same league as Dr. Strangelove and Wag the Dog.
However, most of the credit should go to the script which was written by Paddy Chayefsky who actually worked for a large network before turning to screen writing. He has captured the behaviour of the network executives perfectly. He knows that ratings are everything to networks and if they don 't have them then they'll do anything to get them even if it means exploiting a human being. Throughout the course of the film, I found myself was always interested in what Howard Beale was about to say next because the dialogue was so fresh and inventive. Chayefsky writes the dialogue in a way, that to a point, actually becomes scary that people actually think and talk like this. In fact, if there was only one weakness in the entire movie it would be that in some scenes the dialogue is so unbelievably cruel that we can't believe that people actually talk like this.
Another strong point in "Network" would have to be the incredible acting which can only be described in one word, perfect. Each performance, no matter how minor, is excellent with particular standouts being Peter Finch and Faye Dunaway. You can tell that the actors really got involved in their characters to the point where Peter Finch is no longer himself but actually Howard Beale and the same goes with Faye Dunaway. An excellent script is always an actor's best friend and it really shows here.
If we can learn one thing from "Network" it is that television is extremely powerful and is capable of shaping people's opinions and views. Howard Beale knew this and in his own words he was "Mad as hell and wasn't going to take it anymore." As a result, the power of television destroyed him as a human being. At the same time he was propheting his ideas and opinions to the public he was using the very tool he was against, television. Whether or not he was crazy or actually spiritual, Howard Beale did in his own words become a "humanoid" because after years as a news anchor reporting about the death and destruction we see every day in the world he was finally fed up with it all and stopped caring. I came away from "Network" with the sense that if you have an opinion you should say it, if you don't like something you should say so, don't let life go by without being involved in the things that you care about. Care is the key word I came away with from this movie, Howard Beale stopped caring about people and about himself and he became unhappy and deeply depressed as a result of it. You could say that this movie is depressing and cynical in a sense that some people actually view the world as the one portrayed in this movie where money is everything. Whether you accept this view or not, I'm sure most people will agree that is an important film that has something to say about the world and where it is heading.
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