Network (1976)

Network
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Paddy Chayefsky
1976/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Howard Beale: Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

In 2021, this scathing critique of the TV ratings game seems less outrageous than prescient.

Howard Beale (Peter Finch) has been the evening news anchor at UBS (the “fourth network”) for eleven years.  The network is under new ownership by Communications Corporation of America (CCA).  CCA executive Frank Hackett (Robert Duvall) will no longer tolerate low ratings for any program, including the news.  News Bureau Chief Max Schumacher (William Holden) has the task of giving Howard, an old friend, two weeks notice.  The next night Howard gets on the air and announces his retirement and his intention of committing suicide on the air a week later.  He is summarily fired but soft-hearted Max allows him to make a formal farewell to his audience.  Howard, who has been hearing voices, takes advantage of this opportunity to launch into his famous populist rant and urge his audience to express their pent-up rage audibly.  When shouts are heard coming from windows all over America, the executives know they have a hit on their hands.  Max is disgusted.

In the meantime, a new ratings-obsessed entertainment programmer, Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway), is in town.  She successfully pitches the idea of having a part reality TV, part drama called the “Mao Tse Tung Hour”.  A domestic terrorist organization will stage a real “happening” and the network will create a drama based on the event.  Diana also manages to move Howard from the news division to the entertainment division to capitalize on his rabid following.   He is now billed as the mad prophet of the airways.

Despite his contempt for Diana’s ideas about television, Max cannot escape his attraction to the much younger woman.  For Diana, the affair is strictly sexual.  She is all business all the time.  Meanwhile, Howard’s madness intensifies.  When he protests CCA’s acquisition by the Saudis, the management tries a couple of different tactics to stop him. With Beatrice Straight as Max’s wife and Ned Beatty as the CEO of CCA.

Network looked into the future, a future that looked far-fetched at the time but seems increasingly realistic as the years have gone on.  Paddy Chayefsky’s brilliant script anticipated both reality TV and sensationalist, politicized news programming.  Are we but one step away from the Q-Anon Show?  All the components of filmmaking come together to create something that perfectly achieves its intentions.  Highly recommended.

Network won Academy Awards in the Categories of Best Actor (Finch); Best Actress (Dunaway); Best Supporting Actress (Straight); and Best Original Screenplay.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actor (Holden); Best Supporting Actor (Beatty); Best Director; Best Cinematography; and Best Film Editing.