QUIZ SHOW
A film review by Eric Grossman
Copyright 1994 LOS ANGELES INDEPENDENT
In our cynical times, a rigged game show would probably have a tough time making the front page of a newspaper, let alone throwing a nation into shock. However, it is substantial enough to make a compelling film. QUIZ SHOW, Robert Redford's latest directorial effort is a thoughtful, extremely well crafted movie about the fixing of the 1950's game show, "Twenty One."
John Turturro plays Herb Stempel, a smart but uncharismatic man who, as someone in the film said, "has a face fit for radio." Stempel is the top- rated show's reigning champion, battling new-comers each week as he heads towards the big win. But when the ratings begin to slip, the chairman of NBC and the show's sponsor, Geritol, tell the producer, Dan Enright (David Paymer),to find a more charismatic champion. Enright quickly takes action and offers Stempel seventy thousand dollars if he will take a dive to challenger Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes).
A member of the aristocracy, Van Doren is a handsome college professor who is at first wary of Enright's proposal but is soon overwhelmed by the chance for fame and fortune. To take over the role of reigning champion, Van Doren is fed the supposedly secret questions and answers before the show. Richard Goodwin (Rob Morrow) is a bright, young lawyer fresh out of Harvard LawSchool who begins investigating for the Congressional Oversight Committee, Stempel's claim that the show was rigged. During the investigation, Goodwin becomes friends with the charming Van Doren and he must then wrestle with the dilemma of putting television on trial without destroying the lives of the contestants in a McCarthy-like ordeal.
A major theme in QUIZ SHOW is temptation. The temptation to violate the public trust for the sake of higher ratings, the temptation to trade one's values for fame and fortune, and the temptation to look the other way to be accepted by the Establishment. As Jews, Stempel and Goodwin are both outsider to society's elite. However, Goodwin is more polished, more acceptable with his educational background and last name ("its Goodwin, not Goodman," he says) to the Charlie Van Dorens of the world. Goodwin wants to be Van Doren's friend so badly that at one point his wife tells him that he is "the Uncle Tom of the Jews." By the end of the film, Goodwin learns that Van Doren does not have the character he thought he had, but he still cannot help but admire him.
John Turturro once again turns in an excellent performance as Stempel, the man who blows the whistle on the show because he was denied fame and fortune. The tragedy of Stempel's character is that he failed to realize that the public did not want someone like him, they wanted a handsome, wholesome face.
It will be very surprising if Ralph Fiennes does not receive a second Oscar nomination for his performance as Charles Van Doren. Unlike his character in SCHINDLER'S LIST, we feel sympathy for this man who has done a great wrong but who is also a victim. The primary basis for the sympathy is that Van Dorenis a man living under the shadow of his over-achieving uncle and father. Desperately wanting to carve out his own name and success, he succumbs to temptation. It is difficult to condemn him for taking the road to easy money and fame which had eluded him, despite his high intellect and strong pedigree. In addition, the network (NBC) and the sponsor (Geritol) are the ones who were the were the most guilty and who got off with the least punishment. Goodwin does place television on trial but ends up hurting only the contestants in the end. The producers who were implicated went on to do the "Joker's Wild" and Goodwin ended up being a speech-writer for Kennedy before settling down as a writer. Stempel and particularly, Van Doren, went on to live a secluded life.
The film's beautiful look created by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, production designer John Hutman and costume designer Kathy O'Rear is as much of a treat to watch as the acting. Redford's direction is nearly flawless. His choices of shots, grasp of the conflict and use of subtlety is what makes the difference in this film. The screenplay by Paul Attanasio does drag in parts but overall it is well written, particularly the scenes between Charles and his father, played with powerful presence by Paul Scofield.
QUIZ SHOW gives us an entertaining account of the genesis of television's moral decay. The film shows us a time when people were not cynical and trusted that whatever they saw on the "tube," was true. Redford uses the rigging of "Twenty One" as a focal point for the beginning of the end of that trust. But far more sobering than the rigging of the quiz shows is that even today, with all the talk-shows, tabloid news, "Date Line" scandals and political commercials, is that television influences our opinions more than ever.
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews