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Network

theatrical poster
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Produced by Howard Gottfried
Written by Paddy Chayefsky
Starring Faye Dunaway
William Holden
Peter Finch
Robert Duvall
Ned Beatty
Beatrice Straight
Music by Elliot Lawrence
Cinematography Owen Roizman
Editing by Alan Heim
Distributed by USA: MGM (theatrical), Warner Bros. (through Turner Entertainment) (DVD)
non-USA: United Artists (theatrical), MGM (DVD)
Release date(s) November 27, 1976 (premiere)
Running time 121 min. Sidney Lumet (born June 25 1924) is an Academy Award -receiving American Film director, with over 50 Films to his name Sidney Aaron Chayefski ( January 29, 1923 &ndash August 1, 1981) known as Paddy Chayefsky was an acclaimed dramatist who transitioned Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) known as Faye Dunaway, is an American actress. William Holden ( April 17, 1918 &ndash November 12, 1981) was an Academy Award -winning American film Actor This article is about the actor For the poet see Peter Finch (poet. Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an American Film Actor and director who has won an Academy Award Ned Thomas Beatty (born July 6, 1937) is an Academy Award -nominated American Actor. Elliot Lawrence (b Elliott Lawrence Broza Feb 14 1925 is an American Jazz pianist and bandleader Owen Roizman, ASC (born 22 September 1936) is a cinematographer and a Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and Turner Entertainment Company Inc is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. This article is about the film studio Previously it was affiliated with a cinema chain bearing its name now owned by Regal Entertainment Group. Events 1095 - Pope Urban II declares the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont The year 1976 in film involved some significant events Events March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas '
Language English
Budget USD$ 3,800,000 (est)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Network is a 1976 New Hollywood film about a fictional television network, Union Broadcasting System (UBS), and its struggle with poor ratings. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been The year 1976 in film involved some significant events Events March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas ' New Hollywood or post- classical Hollywood, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave" refers to the brief time between roughly the mid- 1960s ( A television network is a distribution network for Television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many Television stations The Union Broadcasting System was a fictional Television network in the 1976 film Network, written by Paddy Chayevsky. Nielsen Ratings are audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research to determine the Audience size and composition of television It was written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet, and stars Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty and Beatrice Straight. Sidney Aaron Chayefski ( January 29, 1923 &ndash August 1, 1981) known as Paddy Chayefsky was an acclaimed dramatist who transitioned Sidney Lumet (born June 25 1924) is an Academy Award -receiving American Film director, with over 50 Films to his name Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) known as Faye Dunaway, is an American actress. William Holden ( April 17, 1918 &ndash November 12, 1981) was an Academy Award -winning American film Actor This article is about the actor For the poet see Peter Finch (poet. Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an American Film Actor and director who has won an Academy Award Robert Wesley Addy ( 4 August 1913 – 31 December 1996) was an American Actor. Ned Thomas Beatty (born July 6, 1937) is an Academy Award -nominated American Actor. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. "The Oscar" redirects here for the film see The Oscar (film. Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to recognize Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS

Network has continued to receive recognition, decades after its initial release. In 2000, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The National Film Registry is the registry of Films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of The Library of Congress is the De facto National library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress In 2002, it was inducted into the Producers Guild of America Hall of Fame as a film that has "set an enduring standard for American entertainment. 13th Producers Producers Guild of America ( PGA) is a Trade organization representing television producers film producers and New Media producers in the United States "[1] In 2006, Chayefsky's script was voted one of the top ten movie scripts of all-time by the Writers Guild of America. The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions The Writers Guild of America East (WGAE representing In 2007, the film was 64th among the Top 100 Greatest American Films as chosen by the American Film Institute, a ranking slightly higher than the one AFI gave it ten years earlier. AFI’s 100 Years100 Movies — 10th Anniversary Edition was the 2007 updated version of 100 Years… 100 Movies. The American Film Institute ( AFI) is an independent Non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 The first of the AFI 100 Years series of cinematic milestones AFI's 100 Years


Contents

Plot

The story opens with long-time "UBS Evening News" anchor Howard Beale (played by Peter Finch) being fired because of the show's low ratings. Howard Beale is a fictional character from the movie Network. This article is about the actor For the poet see Peter Finch (poet. He has two more weeks on the air, but the following night, Beale announces on live television that he will commit suicide during an upcoming live broadcast. [2]

UBS immediately fires him after this incident, but they let him back on the air, ostensibly for a dignified farewell, with persuasion from Beale's producer and best friend, Max Schumacher (played by William Holden), the network's old guard news editor. William Holden ( April 17, 1918 &ndash November 12, 1981) was an Academy Award -winning American film Actor The Old Guard was the name of the veterans of the French Army's Imperial Guard under Napoleon Bonaparte. Beale promises that he will apologize for his outburst, but instead rants about how life is "bullshit. " While there are serious repercussions, the program's ratings skyrocket and, much to Schumacher's dismay, the upper echelons of UBS decide to exploit Beale's antics rather than pulling him off the air.

Howard Beale (Peter Finch) delivering his "mad as hell" speech
Howard Beale (Peter Finch) delivering his "mad as hell" speech

In one impassioned diatribe, Beale galvanizes the nation with his rant, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" and persuades Americans to shout out their windows during a spectacular lightning storm. Soon Beale is hosting a new program called The Howard Beale Show, top-billed as a "mad prophet of the airways. " Ultimately, the show becomes the highest rated (Duvall's character calls it "a big fat, . . . big-titted hit!") program on television, and Beale finds new celebrity preaching his angry message in front of a live audience that, on cue, repeats the Beale's marketed catchphrase en masse. His new set is lit by blue spotlights and an enormous stained-glass window, supplemented with segments featuring astrology, gossip, opinion polls, and yellow journalism. For the Blackford Oakes novel see Stained Glass (novel The term stained glass refers either to the material of coloured Glass or to the art Astrology (from Greek grc ἄστρον astron, "constellation star" and grc -λογία -logia) is a group of Systems Gossip is idle talk or Rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others Yellow journalism is Journalism that downplays legitimate news in favor of eye-catching headlines that sell more newspapers

Parallel to the story of Beale is the tale of the rise within UBS of Diana Christensen (played by Faye Dunaway). Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) known as Faye Dunaway, is an American actress. Beginning as a producer of entertainment programming, Diana acquires footage of terrorists robbing banks for a new television series, charms other executives, and ends up controlling a merged news and entertainment division. To advance this, Christensen has an affair with the long-married Schumacher, but remains obsessed with the success of the network, even in bed.

Upon discovering that the conglomerate that owns UBS will be bought out by an even larger Saudi Arabian conglomerate, Beale launches an on-screen tirade against the two corporations, encouraging the audience to telegram the White House with the message, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more" in the hopes of stopping the merger. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA ( المملكة العربية السعودية, al-Mamlaka al-ʻArabiyya as-Suʻūdiyya) or Suudi A conglomerate is a large Company that consists of seemingly unrelated Business sections See also Executive Office of the President of the United States The White House, formerly known as the Executive Mansion, is the Official residence Beale is then taken to meet with Arthur Jensen (played by Ned Beatty), chairman of the company which owns UBS, who explicates his own "corporate cosmology" to the now nearly delusional Beale. Ned Thomas Beatty (born July 6, 1937) is an Academy Award -nominated American Actor. Jensen delivers a lecture - almost a sermon - beginning by declaring to Beale, "You have meddled in the primal forces of nature" before describing the interrelatedness of the participants in the international economy, and the illusory nature of nationality distinctions. A sermon is an oration by a Prophet or member of the Clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, or religious topic Jensen ultimately persuades Beale to abandon his populist messages. Populism is a discourse which supports "the people" versus "the Elites " Populism may involve either a political philosophy urging social and political However, audiences find his new views on the dehumanization of society to be depressing, and ratings begin to slide.

Although Beale's ratings plummet, the chairman will not allow executives to fire Beale as he spreads the new gospel. Obsessed as ever with UBS' ratings, Christensen arranges for Beale's on-air murder by a group of urban terrorists who now have their own UBS show, "The Mao-Tse Tung Hour," a dynamite addition to the new fall line-up. Urban guerrilla redirects here For the Hawkwind song see Urban Guerrilla. Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led This mirrors a drunken and sardonic conversation between Beale and Schumacher at the start of the film, that they should have a show featuring suicides and assassinations.

Cast


Cast notes

Production and transfer of rights

The script was written by Paddy Chayefsky, and the producer was Howard Gottfried. Sidney Aaron Chayefski ( January 29, 1923 &ndash August 1, 1981) known as Paddy Chayefsky was an acclaimed dramatist who transitioned The two had just come off a lawsuit against United Artists, challenging the studio's right to lease their previous film, The Hospital, to ABC in a package with a less successful film. This article is about the film studio Previously it was affiliated with a cinema chain bearing its name now owned by Regal Entertainment Group. The Hospital is a 1971 Black comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring George C The American Broadcasting Company ( ABC) is an American Television network. Despite recently settling this lawsuit, Chayefsky and Gottfried agreed to allow UA to finance the film. But after reading the script, UA found the subject matter too controversial and backed out.

Undeterred, Chayefsky and Gottfried shopped the script around to other studios, and eventually found an interested party in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Soon afterwards UA reversed itself and looked to co-finance the film with MGM, who for the past several years had distributed through UA in the US. MGM agreed to let UA back on board, and gave them the international distribution rights, with MGM controlling North American rights.

The film premiered in New York City on November 27, 1976, with a wide release following shortly afterward. The City of New York Events 1095 - Pope Urban II declares the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

In 1980, UA's then-parent, Transamerica Corporation, put the studio up for sale following the disastrous release of Heaven's Gate, which was a major financial flop and public relations nightmare. Transamerica Corporation is a holding company for various Life insurance companies and Investment firms doing business primarily in the United States. Heaven's Gate is a 1980 Western movie depicting the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming Transamerica had become very nervous about the film industry as a result. The next year MGM purchased UA, and consequently gained UA's international rights to Network.

Then, in 1986, media mogul Ted Turner purchased MGM/UA. Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American Media proprietor and philanthropist. Without any financial backers, Turner soon fell into debt and sold back most of MGM, but kept the library for his own company, Turner Entertainment - this included the US rights to Network, but international rights remained with MGM, who retained the UA library (or, at least UA's own releases from 1952 onward, plus a few pre-1952 features, as other libraries which had been acquired by UA - such as the pre-1948 Warner Bros. library - were retained by Turner). Turner Entertainment Company Inc is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and Turner soon made a deal with MGM's video division for home distribution of most of Turner's library, allowing MGM to retain US video rights to Network for 13 more years.

In 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner. Time Warner Inc ( is the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered in New York City. Consequently, WB assumed TV and theatrical distribution rights to the Turner library, with video rights being added in 1999.

Today, WB/Turner owns US rights to Network, while international rights are with MGM - which was recently bought by a consortium led by Sony & Comcast . is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest Media conglomerates with Comcast Corporation ( is the largest Cable television company the second largest Internet service provider and (according to the company the fourth largest telephone MGM has also assigned international video distribution rights to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is the Home video distribution arm of the 20th Century Fox film studio

Critical reception

Vincent Canby, in his November 1976 review of the film for The New York Times, called the film "outrageous. Vincent Canby ( July 27 1924 &ndash September 15 2000) was an American film critic. . . brilliantly, cruelly funny, a topical American comedy that confirms Paddy Chayefsky's position as a major new American satirist" and a film whose "wickedly distorted views of the way television looks, sounds, and, indeed, is, are the satirist's cardiogram of the hidden heart, not just of television but also of the society that supports it and is, in turn, supported. "[3]

In a review of the film written after it received its Academy Awards, Roger Ebert called it a "supremely well-acted, intelligent film that tries for too much, that attacks not only television but also most of the other ills of the 1970s," though "what it does accomplish is done so well, is seen so sharply, is presented so unforgivingly, that Network will outlive a lot of tidier movies. Roger Joseph Ebert (iːbɝt born June 18, 1942) is an American film critic and Screenwriter. [4] Seen a quarter-century later, Ebert said the film was "like prophecy. When Chayefsky created Howard Beale, could he have imagined Jerry Springer, Howard Stern and the World Wrestling Federation?"; he credits Lumet and Chayefsky for knowing "just when to pull out all the stops. Gerald Norman "Jerry" Springer (born February 13, 1944) is an English -born American Television personality, a former Howard Allan Stern (born January 12 1954 is an American radio host and Television personality. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc ( WWE) is a publicly traded privately controlled integrated media (focusing in Television, Internet, "[5]

Awards

Academy Awards

Network won three of the four acting awards, tying the record of 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire. The year 1951 in film involved some significant events Events Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian A Streetcar Named Desire is a film adaptation of the play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. Along with Reds, Network is the last film as of 2007 to have received acting nominations in all four categories. Reds is a 1981 film starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton. It centers on the life of John Reed, the Communist, journalist

Won:

Finch died before the Academy Awards ceremony was held, and as of 2008 is the only performer ever to receive his award posthumously. Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to recognize This article is about the actor For the poet see Peter Finch (poet. Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) known as Faye Dunaway, is an American actress. Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material Sidney Aaron Chayefski ( January 29, 1923 &ndash August 1, 1981) known as Paddy Chayefsky was an acclaimed dramatist who transitioned 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Straight's performance as the wife of Holden's character featured only five minutes and 40 seconds of screen time, making it the shortest performance to win an Oscar as of 2007.

Nominated:

Golden Globes

Won:

Nominated:

BAFTA Awards

Won:

Nominated:

Miscellany

References in popular culture

Notes

  1. ^ Producers Guild Hall of Fame - Past Inductees from the PGA website
  2. ^ Because Chayefsky started writing the screenplay during the same month that newscaster Christine Chubbuck committed on-air suicide, some, including Matthew C. Christine Chubbuck ( August 24 1944 &ndash July 15 1974) was an American Television News reporter who committed Ehrlich in Journalism in the Movies (ISBN 0252029348), have speculated (p. 122) that the scene was inspired by Chubbuck's manner of death.
  3. ^ Review of Network from the November 15, 1976 edition of The New York Times
  4. ^ Review of Network by Roger Ebert from the 1970s
  5. ^ Review of Network by Roger Ebert from October 2000
  6. ^ Clooney Breaks His Own Big Story, A Live Network, an October 6, 2005 article from The Washington Post

External links


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