Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
"I'M MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
Howard Beale. A television news reader for 'UBS'. Low ratings. Wife recently deceased. Drinking heavily. Fired. Goes Bananas. Threatens to kill himself. Live on-air.
Lumet's powerful 1976 satire about the media and all the cynical, manipulative obsessive swine that work within it, is a glorious film that's still as relevant now as it was back then. The fire-crackling, red-hot script is backed up by a superior, red-hot cast. Oscars all round!
William Holden plays an old school news producer Max Schumacher, and his long-term friend, the news anchor Howard Beale (a superb Peter Finch) has just threatened to kill himself live on-air. The TV network, UBS is also in the midst of a corporate take-over, which is being over-seen by the soulless corporate executive type bastard Frank Hackett (wonderful name, and played with brutal pen-pushing intensity by Robert Duvall), and Beale's on-air breakdown is proving an embarrassment for the network. Frank wants Beale out, but there is a twist. Beale's breakdown was a ratings smash! And more ratings means more money and a greater profile for the network. Upon hearing about this ratings sensation, eager, emotionless cunt Diana Christensen decides there's an even bigger ratings smash, but only if she is given the permission to make a show around Beale's physical & emotional breakdown.
Cue Beale, now dubbed "the mad prophet of the airwaves" having his own messianic show -complete with kooky showbiz guest acts to pad the show out a bit- babbling and ranting about any old thing that pops inside his mad head. "Television is not the truth!" he foams... and so soon enough he turns against the company involved in the corporate take-over bid. The Howard Beale show has back-fired, the "angry prophet denouncing the hypocrisies of our times" is becoming a liability, and something must be done about it.
Network garnered 4 Oscars; Peter Finch & Faye Dunaway for leading roles, Paddy Chayefsky for his incredible screenplay, and Beatrice Straight, for best supporting actress as William Holden's suffering wife. All awards were much deserved, but Finch actually died in early 1977, so his Oscar was posthumous. Dunaway is awesome in her role as Diana, which could well be her finest role. Lumet's direction is also excellent, but the script -and the cold cynical nature of its satire- is what really makes Network a modern classic. Very highly recommended indeed.
