2/25: Network (1976)

On the second to last day, day 33, of my 34 Days of Oscar, I saw the movie "Network". This film was nominated in 1977 for 10 Academy Awards, winning 4. It won for Best Actor (Peter Finch), Best Actress (Faye Dunaway), Best Supporting Actress (Beatrice Straight) and Best Original Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Sidney Lumet), Best Actor (William Holden), Best Supporting Actor (Ned Beatty), Best Cinematography and Best Editing.

"Network" is the story of a struggling broadcasting network, UBS. Because of bad ratings, long time newsca

ster Howard Beale (Peter Finch)

is told that he will be fired in 2 weeks by his longtime friend and boss Max (William Holden). The next night, during the broadcast, Howard breaks from script and tells the audience that on his last day in 2 weeks, he will kill himself at the end of his show. Howard is immediately fired, but asks for one last chance to redeem himself during the following night's broadcast. During this last chance to speak, Howard has a breakdown and begins to rant again about how life is "Bullshit". When his rants begin to increase ratings for the news, Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) the head of UBS programming, see the ratings possibilities and decides to give him his own show. As Howard's mental stability begins to decline, Diana's boss Frank (Robert DuVall) fires Max and puts Diana in charge of the news, now classified as "entertainment". It now becomes a matter of how high the network ratings will get and what will happen to Howard once he eventually loses his appeal and his rating begin to drop.

I enjoyed "Network" and thought it was a well acted and finely written film. The Academy Award winning screenplay was witty, sharp and is still relevant over 30 years later. The late Peter Finch gave an amazing performance as a broadcaster who is losing his mind. He was the first person to win an Academy Award after his death. Faye Dunaway's Academy Award winning performance as a woman who lives and breathes TV and knows nothing

other than that was pretty good too. She is a straight shooter with no morals and no conscience at all. Beatrice Straight won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her 5 minutes of screen time as the neglected wife of William Holden's character. I was very surprised that she won especially when I realized she beat out Jodie Foster in "Taxi Driver" and Piper Laurie in "Carrie". "Network" lost the Best Picture, Director and Editing awards to "Rocky" this year. My only beef with this film is that the ending comes on way too suddenly. Out of nowhere, a major event happens and then the movie just ends. It felt too abrupt.

Overall, I give "Network" 4 out of 5 stars. It is a well written, well acted and relevant satire about the entertainment value of news broadcasting. It's amazing how you could almost take this script and without changing a word, remake it today and it would hold up nicely. That is the mark of a good movie.