Review of Quiz Show (1994) by Rocknblues 8 — 27 Mar 2012

Quiz Show is probably one of the lesser known Best Picture nominees of the last 20 years. And that's somewhat understandable given that 1994 was a pretty good year in film. That said, it's disappointing that it's been overlooked because it's a fine film with a great performance from pretty much everyone. It might be Robert Redford's best directed film also. It's rarely condescending and it's not insultingly manipulative. But that doesn't mean than it's lacking in impact and the characters aren't good. Even the best characters have some flaws. Including John Turturro as Herbie Stempel, the leading contestant on the game show "21". A game that is not what it appears to be. On the the surface 21 is an intense and intelligent quiz show, but's it's totally corrupted by execs that have decided that Herbie has become stale and TV ratings are starting to suffer. So they bring on charming Professor Charles Van Doren, who the crowd loves instantly. TV ratings start to sky rocket and the execs have their new star.

The game show attracts the attention of congressional investigator Dick Goodwin who suspects everything isn't on the up and up. Goodwin goes through the list of prior contestants only to come up empty... That is until he meets who Herbie who was instructed to take a "dive" with the promise that he would be taken care of. Naturally, the execs ignore Herbie so he opens up to Goodwin in hopes that Goodwin can expose the manipulation and deep-seated racism behind the show. Matters become complicated when Goodwin becomes somewhat friendly with the charming but flawed Charles Van Doren. The question is: Just how far will Goodwin go to bring down the popular game show?