Review of Quiz Show (1994) by Joseph B — 11 Apr 2016

"Twenty-One" was a popular game show on NBC from 1956 to 1958 and at times would beat the popular CBS comedy "I Love Lucy." The show's popularity skyrocketed when Columbia professor and intellectual Charles Van Doren started his winning streak that won him $129,000. His fame gained him a job on NBC's "The Today Show" and the cover of Time magazine. He had to beat reigning champion Herb Stempel, a Jew from Queens who worked for the city of New York. Stempel was asked to take a dive because viewers just didn't like him. NBC and Pharmaceuticals, Inc. weren't making as much money with Stempel as the champion, so Van Doren, the clean-cut "All-American Boy" was the answer. Stempel was going to be asked "What won Best Picture in 1955?" and he was supposed to answer "On the Waterfront," but the thing is, he knows the answer is "Marty." Stempel loves the movie "Marty" and had seen it three times. Stempel is promised another gig in television by producer Dan Enright, but when this doesn't materialize, Stempel tells everyone who would listen that the quiz show is rigged. Eventually, a House Committee for Legislative Oversight into rigged quiz shows is prompted by Richard Goodwin. Goodwin finds out from Stempel that he was fed the answers prior to the show and coached into how to make it more dramatic.

This film by Robert Redford released in 1994 was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Despite there being no real action, Redford is able to create suspense in the game show scenes. Ralph Fiennes plays Charles Van Doren and throughout the picture you feel sympathy for this character. John Turturro plays Herb Stempel and really creates a feeling that this guy is just a know-it-all schmuck from Queens and although Tom Hanks in "Forrest Gump" won the Best Actor award that year, Turturro should have been nominated. Paul Scofield plays Mark Van Doren, Charles's dad, in an Oscar nominated performance.