QUIZ SHOW
A film review by Raymond Johnston
Copyright 1994 Raymond Johnston
Dir: Robert Redford
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, John Turturro, Rob Morrow, David Paymer,
Paul Scofield.
Robert Redford has proven that he is a better middle-aged director than he is a middle-aged actor. His recent roles in HAVANA, SNEAKERS, and the truly dreadful INDECENT PROPOSAL can in no way stand beside his stunning achievement in directing A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT and now QUIZ SHOW.
The ambiance of the late Eisenhower years is perfectly recreated. The cars, clothing, hair styles, magazine covers, and idiom all come together to make a credible world, a world where naive people believed that everything they saw on television was true. It was television that made everyone equal, and into this world come people from diverse backgrounds. All of them see the new medium as their ticket to the top. Television becomes something like a mirror that reflects the character's moral make-up.
When a film is based on questions of character, what a good director needs most is character actors. Quiz show is filled them. John Turturro (DO THE RIGHT THING) is mercilessly annoying in the role of Queens, New York bookworm Herbert Stempel, a man whom one person comments has a face for radio. Few actors would have dared to create a nudge with so few redeeming qualities. Diametrically opposed to him is Ralph Fiennes (SCHINDLER'S LIST) as Charles van Doren, the handsome college professor and son of a prominent intellectual family. He is as flawless as Stempel is flawed. Between the two of them there is variety of fights: rich v. poor, Gentile v. Jew, handsome v. unhandsome, suburbs v. city.
While they are not top billed, the amoral center of the film is the two game show producers, played by Hank Azaria and David Paymer. They are two fast talkers who take basically honest people, and tell them how the game show really works. David Paymer as Dan Enright, carries the heaviest load in the film. If his depiction of the producer who sees nothing more than ratings had been off the mark, the whole film would have faltered badly. But David Paymer is every media executive. If he doesn't win the Oscar for best supporting actor, it is probably because the show is fixed.
The only near miss is Rob Morrow, whose attempt at a Kennedy-esque Boston accent manages to mostly be grating. Also appearing in the film is Martin Scorcese in a cameo. One cannot help speculating that he gave Redford a few tips on camera angles.
The script by Paul Attanasio lets up on the moralizing enough for a few good laughs. Robert Redford keeps the longish film moving at a good pace, leaving one story line for another just before it gets boring. QUIZ SHOW kicks off the serious fall Oscar race, and should be a strong contender in most categories including minor ones like costume and set design.
This film would make a good double feature with Francis Coppola's similarly themed TUCKER: THE MAN AND HIS DREAM. Both are about the gap between idealism and reality in the post World War II era.
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