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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1970s
    Movies - 1970s Movies - N 3 Mins Read

    Network (1976)

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    Ex-television writer Paddy Chayefsky turned on his old medium with a vengeance in this ferocious satire about a raving mad anchorman who becomes enormously popular.

    The film opens during a shift in corporate structure of the fictitious UBS television network. This fourth network is struggling for ratings and turns its news division over to the control of its entertainment division.

    Consequently, Howard Beale (Peter Finch), the aging UBS news anchor, is fired by the network. He reacts by announcing on live television his intention to commit suicide on air.

    After a media frenzy, the next day he turns what is meant to be his apology into a rant that culminates in insisting that people go to their windows and yell “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”, which they do en masse.

    Beale becomes a major TV sensation and one of the most valuable assets to his parent company, CCA, that is gradually taking control of UBS.

    As a result, he is given his own show as “the mad prophet of the airwaves” and appears on television every weekday evening to tell the real truth to the people of America. The show is a huge success, but Beale uses his power to make startling revelations about CCA, leaving its executives with a serious problem.

    William Holden is remarkable as the craggy and relatively ethical chief of the news department who sees but is unable to stop, the grotesque decline of news standards. Faye Dunaway tags the role of her career as Diana Christensen, the seemingly confident career woman who is coming apart at the seams.

    The Motion Picture Academy awarded this hilarious exercise in television-bashing with four Oscars: Chayefsky for his screenplay; Finch (posthumously) for Best Actor; Faye Dunaway for Best Actress in her role as a ruthless program executive; and Beatrice Straight for Best Supporting Actress.

    Ironically, the state of network news in the 21st Century has degenerated to such a level that what was posed as absurd dark comedy in 1976 has actually been exceeded by reality. Network will shortly need reclassifying from ‘Drama’ to ‘Documentary’.

    Howard Beale
    Peter Finch
    Diana Christensen

    Faye Dunaway
    Max Schumacher
    William Holden
    Frank Hackett
    Robert Duvall
    Arthur Jensen
    Ned Beatty
    Nelson Chaney
    Wesley Addy
    Harry Hunter
    Jordan Charney
    Barbara Schlesinger
    Conchata Ferrell
    Bill Herron
    Darryl Hickman
    Sam Haywood
    Roy Poole
    Edward George Ruddy
    William Prince
    Louise Schumacher
    Beatrice Straight
    Laureen Hobbs
    Marlene Warfield
    Great Ahmed Kahn
    Arthur Burghardt
    George Bosch
    John Carpenter
    Mary Ann Gifford
    Kathy Cronkite
    Joe Donnelly
    Ed Crowley
    Walter C. Amundsen
    Jerome Dempsey
    Milton K. Steinman
    Gene Gross
    Jack Snowden
    Stanley Grover
    Caroline Schumacher
    Cindy Grover
    Arthur Zangwill
    Mitchell Jason
    Merrill Grant
    Ken Kercheval
    Tommy Pellegrino
    Michael Lipton
    Willie Stein
    Michael Lombard
    Herb Thackeray
    Pirie Macdonald
    Lou
    Bernard Pollock
    Helen Miggs
    Sasha von Scherler
    Robert McDonough
    Lane Smith
    Giannini
    Ted Sorel

    Director
    Sidney Lumet

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