Network (1976)

Life imitating art or art imitating life? This classic, which has forever been on my movie bucket list, is still as relevant as it was in 1976 and remains as prophetic a condemnation of the media of 1976 as it is about the media culture of 2011. Writer Paddy Chayefsky accurately predicted the rise of reality TV and the loss of network news power and news credibility with frightening accuracy.

There was a time in the history of journalism when people could trust that what they were being told was true but in the era of Fox News and the neutered, frightened networks, this is no longer so. News no longer just reports the facts, it is adjusted to promote on group or another - one cause or another. Facts be damned - there is a product to sell.

The story begins with depressed, beaten down Harold Beale (Oscar winner for best actor Peter Finch) who after hearing of his termination as news anchor on the forth rated network UBS, tells his audience during a live broadcast that he is going to kill himself, on the air, during his last show, in two weeks time. Of course, everyone from top management freaks out but for very different reasons.


Many executives at the network fear the loss of sponsors. Others are happy to have the increased ratings that follow when Howard is put back on TV (ostensibly) to say goodbye, but instead he goes on ANOTHER rant claiming that everything is bullshit. More controversy, more heads wanting to explode and even HIGHER ratings. I think you can see where this is going.

No one seems to care that Howard is spiralling out of control. He is just the newest bestest clown/freakshow on the air and there is no end to the people at the Network who don't want to exploit this incident in one way or another.

It's so predictable to watch the cutthroat atmosphere of the news business from what we know these days. But in 1976, loyalty and friendship and integrity actually meant something. These concepts were gasping their last dying breaths as Vietnam and Watergate had shattered all trust Americans had in institution like government or network news. Everyone for themselves and truth be damned seemed to be the new mantras of the times.


Faye Dunway (Oscar Winner for best actress) is wonderful as the 'visionary' who sees the potential in putting Beele on the air five days a week and letting him spout off about any and all the evils of society as he sees them. My god it's Glen Beck, -1.0.

Of course the promise of greater ratings and advertising profits grease the wheels of the slippery slope that everyone in upper management find themselves on. Even Beale himself laughs about the idea and thinks he would like to be the dancing monkey in the cage. After all, he was on his way out the dooor anyways. Why not go on the air letting out his anger as an "Angry prophet denouncing the hypocricies of our times".


I find it almost quaint that some still argue against an idea which would find NO detractors in this day and age. Have we truly fallen so far into the pit? Of course we have and you can draw a straight line from 'Network' to the 'Glen Beck Show' - one fiction (maybe both fiction) and one reality.

Special mention needs to be made about the speech Ned Beatty gives to Howard near the end of the film. It's a masterpiece of old school evengelical bluster (like ONLY Beatty can deliver) about how the world is no longer nations and ideologies but has become corporations and shares of stock. Again, t is so scary how prophetic this movie is in it's predictions of the way things are today in 2011.

For giving me such perspective I now LOVE this movie. Every person in journalism school and all other working in the news business today needs a refresher course in the issues/arguments that this movie raises. It's so powerful that it can almost changed minds about the long slide into the pit that the presentation of information has been on these past 35 years.

A classic.

8/10