I’ve been recently taking advantage of the “Wish List” section on my TiVo. It’s a great way to discover new shows and re-discover programs and movies you haven’t seen in quite some time. Instead of searching for a specific title, you create a general category, and the TiVo will provide you with suggestions on programs that fit within your defined criteria. While setting up my wish list, I came across “31 Days of Oscar” on Turner Classic Movies. They’re screening Academy-Award winning films, starting from 1927’s Wings, the film that took home the very first best picture award. A few nights ago I watched Network, a great tongue-in-cheek satire on the television industry and the lengths to which studio exec’s will go just to get higher ratings.
Network stars Faye Dunaway as Diana Christensen, a work-aholic TV programming director whose ruthless attitude has made her indifferent to anything but the industry she’s become a slave to. Then there’s the old-fashioned, professional Howard Beale (Peter Finch), a news anchor who has just been let go from the network due to poor ratings. While out one night drinking with friend and news director Max Schumacher (William Holden), Beale half-jokingly suggests that he kill himself on the air, because it will bring in such good ratings. Well, the following night, he promises viewers just that, and he follows it all up with a brutally-honest editorial on life and how bad it sucks.
When Diana hears the kind of ratings Beale is bringing in and the kind of impact he’s having on viewers nationwide, she convinces network boss Frank Hackett (Robert Duvall) to let Beale stay on the air with a brand new outrageous news format.
Network never takes itself too seriously. Although wrapped on an overly dramatic candy shell with outrageous scenarios and a lot of overacting on the part of Dunaway, there’s a lot of prophetic truth to the film’s message. When it was released in 1976, there were only 3 major networks, and in today’s world, the market is saturated with more major networks and dozens upon dozens of cable/satellite stations worldwide. There’s an even greater desperation on the part of studios to bring in viewers. So, in that regard, Network isn’t too far from reality.
In areas of acting, I certainly could have done without Dunaway’s performance. Every choice she made was so big that it was entirely unrealistic and annoying. Finch does a nice job of portraying the old news anchor who cracks under the pressure, and William Holden rounds out the leading characters with a nice turn as the aging news director whose golden years in the business are long since behind him. A subplot involving a romantic affair between Max and Diana muddles the film a bit, but it does a nice job of defining Diana’s character more, which is important.
The quirkiness of Network is appealing and its message an important one. And just before you say, “That could never happen in real life,” take a moment to think about the TV industry and what some people will do to see that they succeed.
Bottom Line: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars
no comment until now