Quiz Show (1994)

A young lawyer, Richard Goodwin, investigates a potentially fixed game show. Charles Van Doren, a big time show winner, is under Goodwin's investigation.

Director:

Robert Redford

Writers:

Paul Attanasio (screenplay), Richard N. Goodwin (book)

Stars:

Ralph Fiennes, John Turturro, Rob Morrow

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 31 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Turturro	...	Herbie Stempel
Rob Morrow	...	Dick Goodwin
Ralph Fiennes	...	Charles Van Doren
Paul Scofield	...	Mark Van Doren
David Paymer	...	Dan Enright
Hank Azaria	...	Albert Freedman
Christopher McDonald	...	Jack Barry
Johann Carlo	...	Toby Stempel
Elizabeth Wilson	...	Dorothy Van Doren
Allan Rich	...	Robert Kintner
Mira Sorvino	...	Sandra Goodwin
George Martin	...	Chairman
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Lishman
Griffin Dunne	...	Account Guy
Michael Mantell	...	Pennebaker

Storyline

An idealistic young lawyer working for a Congressional subcommittee in the late 1950s discovers that TV quiz shows are being fixed. His investigation focuses on two contestants on the show "Twenty-One": Herbert Stempel, a brash working-class Jew from Queens, and Charles Van Doren, the patrician scion of one of America's leading literary families. Based on a true story.

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Plot Keywords:

based on true story | investigation | fraud | television | 1950s | 

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Taglines:

Fifty million people watched, but no one saw a thing.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some strong language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film debut of Ben Shenkman.

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Goofs

Early in the movie, we see the inside of the Barry-Enright offices, and a shot of the company logo, an interlocking B&E. That logo wasn't introduced until Jack Barry and Dan Enright reunited in the 1970s.

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Quotes

Mark Van Doren: Why don't you just put it in the bank Charlie? That's what I've always done with my prize money.
Charles Van Doren: It's just, you don't understand dad, it's, there are all sorts of tax implications
Mark Van Doren: You Think I can't understand the concept of taxes.
Charles Van Doren: At this level it's a bit more complicated.
Mark Van Doren: And at my level? I never thought of myself as having a level. What level might that be?

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Crazy Credits

Herbert Stempel went to work for the New York City Transit Department. He still lives in Queens.

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Alternate Versions

The network version of "Quiz Show" uses replacement footage in two places. They are:

• In the scene where Dan is telling Herb that he has to take a dive, the line "Look, don't start believing your own bullshit, all right? You wouldn't know the name of Paul Revere's horse if he took a shit on your lawn!" is changed to "Look, don't start believing your own bull, all right? You wouldn't know the name of Paul Revere's horse if he took a nap on your lawn!"
• When Herb is talking to Dan about getting a panel show, Herb's line "You get me that panel show, or I'm gonna bring you down with me, you lousy lyin' prick! You and Charles Van Fucking Doren!" is changed to "You get me that panel show, or I'm gonna bring you down with me, you lousy lyin' pig! You and Charles Van Friggin Doren!"

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Connections

Referenced in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Million Dollar Movie Week 2 (2009)

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Soundtracks

DANCING IN THE DARK
Written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz

User Reviews

The End of Innocence

As a twelve year old growing up in Brooklyn, I did not even know the name of the show I was watching every week; to me it was just a vehicle to see if hero Charles Van Doren could hang in. He was handsome, articulate, witty, and all the girls thought him incredibly attractive (although their pre-teen minds did not yet understand sexuality). Growing up in a Jewish neighborhood as I did, Herb Stempel did not come off so nerdy as he looks now in retrospect. When it came out that everyone had cheated, us kids felt not only betrayed, but sleazily cheated personally. The girls felt somehow violated!

Here Redford turns in an understated masterpiece. He sets the stage and the standard, and gets fantastic performances from his actors:

John Turturro as Stempel is excellent, but a fine job by Johann Carlo as his principled wife, which may be overlooked in such company, is the rock upon which his family can really rely.

Ralph Fiennes, as the hapless Charles Van Doren, manages to get across his character's dilemma: a mere achiever in a family of ultra-achievers. In any other family he'd have been prime, as a Van Doren he would always be an also-ran.

Many have pointed out the great job of Paul Scofield as Mark Van Doren, Charles' father. He is the epitome of the WASP-intellectual padrone. And he has our sympathy when his son so sorely disappoints him and disgraces the family.

David Paymer is excellent and believable as Enright, the unsavory producer. He makes it almost seem disloyal not to cheat!

Bit parts are all little plums: Martin Scorsese as Martin Rittenhouse, the Geritol exec, smugly contemptuous of the public and the government. George Martin as the network president, clearly Jewish, and just as clearly a "Teflon Don" in his own world.

The scenes at the Van Doren estate are designed to convey investigator Goodwin's (Rob Morrow) culture shock and outsider status, and they represent the academic WASP world of the time accurately and wonderfully.

All in all, a great movie.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 February 1995 (France)

Also Known As:

Quiz Show

Filming Locations:

Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$31,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$757,714, 18 September 1994

Gross USA:

$24,822,619

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$24,822,619

Company Credits

Production Co:

Baltimore Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Wildwood Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

133 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1