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Network | Year: 1976 Classification: Comedy Country: USA Language: English Directed: - Sidney Lumet Actors/Actresses: - Faye Dunaway - Robert Duvall - Tim Robbins - William Holden - Peter Finch One of my top 10 favorite movies of the 20th century!!!!!! Network was way ahead of its time! This film shows how a television network can take something that can actually enlighten and empower people and turn it into entertainment. It's also interesting to see the network's ratings skyrocket by feeding reality TV programs into the minds of its viewers. If you look at the saturation of reality shows today you can see that screenwriter Paddy Chayesfky was an oracle of his era. What I also got from this film is the discarding of old ideas and replacing them with new ones. The William Holden and Peter Finch characters (these guys were already established movie stars) represented the old ideas; and the Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway characters (by this time they were becoming big movie stars) represented the new ideas-a brilliant move on the part of the casting department. Lastly, Paddy Chayesfky's screenwriting work is superb!!!!!! The words have so much substance and color to them! These days you hardly come across a movie with rich, propelling dialogue. This movie is worth 20 stars. But to be fair to the rating system, giving it five is still good. This is what a top-notch script and cast can do. For reasons I struggle daily to understand, this movie has been all but forgotten. I never hear it mentioned by my peers -- even huge film buffs I frequently speak with have told me they haven't seen it. Why? Every great movie begins with a great script, and that's what screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky had when he penned this dialogue-heavy satire of network television in the late 70's. But the script alone would not have sealed the deal, for it would take a truly talented cast to bring to life a script of this caliber. And, boy, did they land a superb one. William Holden ("The Wild Bunch", Best Actor: "Stalag 17") plays a network head ready to hit retirement when he is told he must fire network news anchor and long-time friend Howard Beale (Oscar winner for this role, Peter Finch). Beale's nationally-televised response is hilarious and gives rise to a series of televised rants, including one of the most famous moments in movie history, the "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!". It isn't long after that Beale has become a national TV sensation. As great as this moment is, the rest of the film is hardly ever mentioned (though it did secure a spot in AFI's Top 100 Films of all time) despite sizzling performances by Faye Dunaway (in an Oscar-winning role) as the television-obsessed Diana Christensen, Robert Duvall as the "take no prisoners" Frank Hackett, Ned Beatty as Arthur Jensen (in THE smallest part to ever garner a Best Supporting Actor nomination), Beatrice Straight (who also won an Oscar) as Holden's wife, and Marlene Warfield as the "[.....] Commie ______" Laureen Hobbs! I urge you to rent first, then buy one of the greatest American satires ever made and winner of 4 Oscars (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay) and nominee for 6 more (including Best Picture, Director and Cinematography)... "Network". The reason why I'm in the Broadcasting business! You want to see some great acting! I'm mean do you really want to see some great acting? This all star cast is a testament to the movie's greatness. William Holden, Faye Dunnaway, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty are all outstanding. But it's Peter Finch who died just before the Academy Awards and recieved a postumous Oscar for the mad prophet himself, Howard Beale. A man who single handedly brings a Broadcasting Network from worst to first. The actions of the executives in this movie are no different then what they do today. On my top 5 list of the greatest movies ever! Buy Network at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Network Search with the Priority Search Engine on Network This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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