Review of Network (1976) by Brad S — 15 Mar 2012

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" - Howard Beale (Peter Finch) in Network.

Satires may be one of the hardest types of films that can be made into classics. Intricately directors and writers need to be able to weave in lines, plots and characters that will stay true tomorrow, yesterday and the present so it will never become dated or lose its touch. In the past decade there have been few memorable social satirical pieces, so there are probably even fewer that could be recognized as classics; the best satire I can think of in the last decade is Tropic Thunder. But despite any degree of difficulty for making a satire have a lasting cultural impact there is one classic film that has actually become more relevant with its age. This 35 plus year old masterpiece is Sidney Lumet's Network.

Bringing one of the best original screenplays ever written to vibrant life on the screen, Network unravels the tale of news anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch). Beale has come across some troubled times and has turned to drinking, sometimes at work, to soothe the pain. Beale is let down easy by his old friend Max Schumacher (William Holden) who runs the news division. Fired promptly, Beale lashes out one day on the air by announcing his eminent suicide. This provokes heartless programmer Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) into exploiting Beale's anger for higher ratings to appease her higher ups, including Frank Hackett (Robert Duvall) and Arthur Jensen (Ned Beatty). This simple quest for ratings leads to much more than one could typically imagine.

Network boasts one of the best ensembles ever assembled on film. Every relevant character in the film is written for a purpose and each one of them has great lines to utter. Lumet was always considered to be an "actor's director" and this is just as apparent here as it was in his legendary debut film 12 Angry Men. After its release Network garnered a whopping five acting nominations at the Academy Awards for the stellar work from Peter Finch, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Ned Beatty and Beatrice Straight. The winners were Finch (earning the first ever posthumous Oscar), Dunaway and Straight (her performance only occupied 5:40 of screen time the shortest to win an Oscar ever), but every actor nominated, as well as the non-nominated Duvall, deserved an award. No film since Network has won three of the four Oscars for acting.

The aesthetic of Network is in the extremely well-written screenplay, which was voted the 8th best of all-time by the screenwriter's guild and won a well-deserved Best Original Screenplay Oscar back in 1976. The story offers up everything from pressing social issues, corporate philosophy, to tumultuous romance and near farcical levels of satire. What makes Network such a lasting and impactful classic film is that the seeming insanity of The Howard Beale Show, the UBS executives and the TV viewers themselves is really not very far from the truth about journalism and its effects today over three decades later; in fact it's dangerously close.

Network is and will always be a textbook lesson on media literacy, an awareness arousing social satire that is an essential piece of American art. Network is one of, if not the best of Lumet's greatest films. After seeing Network, turning on the TV, especially the news channel can never be looked at in quite the same way. After watching a half hour of what the decaying standard of broadcasting journalism is today it's easy to see how and why people today are still mad as hell after all these years.

Grade: A.

Reviewed by Ben Pieper on March 15th 2012.