QUIZ SHOW
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1994 Scott Renshaw
Starring: John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Ralph Fiennes, David Paymer, Paul Scofield, Hank Azaria. Screenplay: Paul Attanasio. Director: Robert Redford.
There is a certain irony to the involvement of Robert Redford in the making of QUIZ SHOW. Much like QUIZ SHOW's anti-hero Charles Van Doren, Redford became a star based on nothing so much as his golden boy good looks and charm. There is perhaps even more irony in the selling of QUIZ SHOW as a story about a loss of American innocence, since it may be the ultimate debunking of the myth of the Eisenhower-era American dream. Brilliantly written and directed, it is a tale of how television sold us what we wanted to believe about our country, and a frighteningly contemporary examination of the cult of image.
QUIZ SHOW opens in 1958, when prime time game shows like "Twenty-One" were ruling the airwaves. Herbert Stempel (John Turturro) is the reigning champion, but only because the show is rigged to keep the winners winning. When Stempel's ratings wane, producer Dan Enright (David Paymer) has him take a dive, and brings in Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes) to replace him. Van Doren, an attractive upper-class intellectual, becomes a national sensation; Stempel, meanwhile, becomes bitter over his ouster from the champion's throne. When Congressional investigator Richard Goodwin (Rob Morrow) begins looking into the quiz shows, Stempel tells all, leading to a series of Congressional hearings.
QUIZ SHOW opens with a visually arresting sequence which perfectly establishes the foundation for Redford and screenwriter Paul Attanasio. In a series of dream-like dissolves, Goodwin looks over a beautiful new Chrysler he knows he can't afford, while the salesman makes his pitch. Here he becomes a stand-in for everyone who was duped by "Twenty-One," wanting too much to believe the fantasy. As he conducts his investigation, Goodwin befriends Van Doren, and begins to travel in Van Doren's privileged world, revelling in his assimilation until his wife accuses him of being "the Jewish Uncle Tom." What Goodwin learns, as the head of "Twenty-One" sponsor Geritol (slyly portrayed by Martin Scorsese) explains, is that the viewers "watch to see the money." It's all about the dream, a dream of equal opportunity that doesn't exist on the quiz show's carefully controlled, demographically attractive selection of champions. Morrow's subtle performance as Goodwin shows how even a man who was "first in his class at Harvard" (as he constantly reminds everyone) could be taken in.
Morrow's is just one of a half-dozen performances in QUIZ SHOW which will draw Academy Award consideration. John Turturro turns in a savage portrayal of Herbie Stempel, a life-long social outcast who sees his removal from the spotlight as a personal betrayal, yet still finds himself caught up in Van Doren's fall from grace. Ralph Fiennes' enigmatic Van Doren could have been flat and passive, but he becomes a sheltered and overgrown child in Fiennes' capable hands, desperate for approval and a fame independent from his literary family. Veteran actor Paul Scofield is dynamic as Mark Van Doren, whose mere commanding presence does as much to explain the younger Van Doren's motivations as Fiennes' performance; their scenes together are spectacular. David Paymer is also noteworthy as the slick and savvy Enright. Only Hank Azaria, as Enright's too- dense-for-words assistant, comes off a bit overplayed.
For my money, however, the true star of QUIZ SHOW is Paul Attanasio, whose screenplay is certainly the finest of the year. Every characterization is full and rounded; every scene is a perfect development of theme. The dialogue is filled with crisp, subtle and quotable lines. In one perfect moment, Charles Van Doren's indignant insistence to Enright that "I am a professor at Columbia," is followed by a studio gopher who announces, "The professor's needed in makeup." It's a brilliant encapsulation of how Van Doren had been taken over by his own image, emphasized later in a masterful scene at his Congressional testimony. QUIZ SHOW is yet another example of what is possible when a script is this good, the direction is perfectly complementary, and the acting is first-rate. The film to beat as 1994's best picture has arrived.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 points: 10.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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