Review of Network (1976) by Kenneth L — 28 Aug 2010

I had forgotten what a darkly hilarious movie this is. It's a smart, absolutely merciless satire of the television industry, one of those satires that rings true today even more than it did back when it was originally made.

Peter Finch, who won a best Actor Oscar, is phenomenally good as the news anchor who loses his mind on air; his exhortation to the people of America to collectively yell "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" is justifiably one of the most famous scenes in any movie.

Faye Dunaway, also an Oscar-winner for the movie, is also excellent as the soulles workaholic programmer. William Holden is very good: his character is probably the least interesting one, but he's also the only normal character against which the insanity of the rest is measured.

Robert Duvall and Ned Beatty both have hilarious, high-energy parts as ruthless corporate men. The way the story develops, with the network wanting to get rid of their mad anchor until they find out he boosts ratings, and then exploiting him as much as they can, is both funny and pretty much exactly how this would play out in real life.

I watched this as an assignment for my class on the 1970s, and I can see why: few movies capture the collective consciousness of an era so well.