Network (1976)

A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit.

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writer:

Paddy Chayefsky

Stars:

Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch

Top Rated Movies #189 | Won 4 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 26 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Faye Dunaway	...	Diana Christensen
William Holden	...	Max Schumacher
Peter Finch	...	Howard Beale
Robert Duvall	...	Frank Hackett
Wesley Addy	...	Nelson Chaney
Ned Beatty	...	Arthur Jensen
Arthur Burghardt	...	Great Ahmed Kahn
Bill Burrows	...	TV Director
John Carpenter	...	George Bosch
Jordan Charney	...	Harry Hunter
Kathy Cronkite	...	Mary Ann Gifford
Ed Crowley	...	Joe Donnelly
Jerome Dempsey	...	Walter C. Amundsen
Conchata Ferrell	...	Barbara Schlesinger
Gene Gross	...	Milton K. Steinman

Storyline

In the 1970s, terrorist violence is the stuff of networks' nightly news programming and the corporate structure of the UBS Television Network is changing. Meanwhile, Howard Beale, the aging UBS news anchor, has lost his once strong ratings share and so the network fires him. Beale reacts in an unexpected way. We then see how this affects the fortunes of Beale, his coworkers (Max Schumacher and Diana Christensen), and the network.

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Plot Keywords:

media | television | television network | ranting | tv ratings | 

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Taglines:

"NETWORK"... the humanoids, the love story, the trials and tribulations, the savior of television, the attempted suicides, the assassination -- it's ALL coming along with a galaxy of stars you know and love!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 November 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Network

Filming Locations:

CFTO-TV Studios, Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Upon its original release, the film was a co-production of MGM, which released the film in the U.S., and United Artists, which distributed internationally. Following the 1981 merger of the two studios, the newly-formed MGM/UA Entertainment Company held worldwide rights for five years. In 1986, the U.S. rights were included in Turner Entertainment's purchase of the pre-1986 MGM library, but not the non-U.S. rights, as MGM/UA retained United Artists' own post-1951 releases. MGM continued to hold U.S. video rights for thirteen more years, after which they reverted to Warner Brothers, whose parent company, Time Warner, purchased Turner in 1996. As of 2014, Warner Brothers and Turner still control the U.S. rights to the film, and MGM still controls international rights.

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Goofs

Howard Beale is the lead segment of his eponymous show. No programmer as savvy as Diana would put the show's main draw as the opening segment, knowing that vast swaths of the audience would tune out after his segment, resulting in massive ratings drops after his appearance.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: This story is about Howard Beale, who was the news anchorman on UBS TV. In his time, Howard Beale had been a mandarin of television, the grand old man of news, with a HUT rating of 16 and a 28 audience share. In 1969, however, his fortunes began to decline. He fell to a 22 share. The following year, his wife died, and he was left a childless widower with an 8 rating and a 12 share. He became morose and isolated, began to drink heavily, and on September 22, 1975, he was fired, ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Barbara Hershey/Jeff Cesario/Dr. Henry Stenhouse (1990)

User Reviews

Top-notch satire of television

I just finished watching this movie and was blown away. Sidney Lumet's satire shows the hollowness of television and the mindless generation that is produced from an excess of it. This film is shocking and eye-opening also showing executives' mad quest for ratings.

The acting in this film is superb. Peter finch stars as the TV anchor who becomes an "angry prophet who denounces the hypocrisies of our time." We gradually see how he first preaches to the common everyman, but is then exploited by the slick executives to achieve their one goal: Ratings. Faye Dunaway also shines as the Vice President in charge of programming who finds herself becoming less aware of the difference between television and reality. William Holden also lends fine support.

As the acting and directing in this film are exquisite, the message it portrays is a very strong one. This scathing indictment of TV is necessary for everyone to see.