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Network (1976)

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Reviews Counted:41

Fresh:37

Rotten:4

Average Rating:8.1/10

Runtime: 4 hrs 35 mins

Genre: Television

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: With stunning prescience, Sidney Lumet's searing satire of television and the contemporary moment chronicles media corruption and the way that the public buys into the myths the media creates. The... With stunning prescience, Sidney Lumet's searing satire of television and the contemporary moment chronicles media corruption and the way that the public buys into the myths the media creates. The moral and spiritual turpitude delivered by the debilitating forces of television are rendered in sharp relief against a backdrop of crumbling humanity in what is regarded as one of the great satires in Hollywood history. With a visceral script from Paddy Chayefsky, NETWORK follows the doomed path of aging newsman Howard Beale (Peter Finch), who, upon learning that he is to be fired after decades as a news anchor, announces to millions of viewers that he will publicly commit suicide during his last broadcast. When the ratings consequently shoot up, hungry executive-in-training Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) seizes the moment to exploit Beale's Messianic nervous breakdown, turning his rage into the vehicle for the network's first Number One show and a nationwide craze. Who could have predicted that this 1976 film might someday influence an even more contagious trend in television broadcasting: the reality show? [More]

Starring: Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall

Starring: Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, Beatrice Straight, Arthur Burghardt, Bill Burrows, Jordan Charney, Kathy Cronkite, Ed Crowley, Jerome Dempsey, Conchata Ferrell, Gene Gross, Stanley Grover, Cindy Grover, Darryl Hickman, Mitchell Jason, Paul Jenkins, Ken Kercheval, Kenneth Kimmins, Lynn Klugman, Carolyn Krigbaum, Zane Lasky, Michael Lombard, Pirie MacDonald, Russ Petranto, Bernie Pollack, Roy Poole, William Prince, Sasha Von Sherler, Lane Smith, Ted Sorel, Fred Stuthman, Cameron Thomas, Marlene Warfield, Lydia Wilson, Lee Richardson, Michael Lipton

Director: Sidney Lumet

Director: Sidney Lumet
Screenwriter: Paddy Chayefsky
Producer: Howard Gottfried
Composer: Elliot Lawrence

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Network

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Finch's spouting is impressive, but we prefer Holden's sardonic edge, even if his big speeches seem the most predictably written.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
06/26/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Chayefsky was apparently serious about much of this shrill, self-important 1976 satire about television, interlaced with bile about radicals and pushy career women, and so were some critics at the time.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 3 Comments
06/26/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

A timeless satire on television as a wasteland.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
02/17/07
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

No review available.

comment 1 Comment
01/05/07
Lori Hoffman
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly

For some reason, Paddy Chayefsky's Oscar-winning satire was perceived as a drama when the movie came out in 1976. Much ahead of its time, the film was a cautionary tale of the news media as infotainment (emphasis on the secon part of the concept).

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
09/11/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

So truthful, so prescient, it's painful. Paddy Chayevsky delivers one of the best screenplays ever written.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
08/02/06
Dan Jardine
Dan Jardine
Apollo Guide

No review available.

comment Comment
04/11/06
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Much of Chayefsky's script seems to have been written with megaphone in hand, which is close to how director Sidney Lumet airs it out. Yet in retrospect, maybe the ravings of Finch as a deranged anchorman aren't so far from surreal madness of Jerry Spring

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment 1 Comment
03/17/06
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

One would assume that a 1976 film about network television would feel dated today, but director Sidney Lumet and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky had such a fine concept that Network seems downright contemporary.

Full Review Source: Reno Gazette-Journal | comment Comment
03/08/06
Forrest Hartman
Forrest Hartman
Reno Gazette-Journal

Rare is the social satire that rings as true as Network does, and the film is even more topical today than it was thirty years ago.

Full Review Source: DVD Clinic | comment Comment
02/28/06
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
DVD Clinic

If Network had the ring of truth to it in 1976, you can be sure it's even truer today.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
02/15/06
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

Slick, 'adult', self-congratulatory, and almost entirely hollow.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment 1 Comment
01/26/06
Time Out

A well-crafted piece of celluloid that holds up quite nicely in the feeding-frenzy mentality that defines modern media.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Stuart Swineford
Stuart Swineford
Film Threat

It's creepy how prescient this one-time satire turned out to be.

comment Comment
08/26/05
Rob Vaux
Rob Vaux
Flipside Movie Emporium

No review available.

comment Comment
05/10/05
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

One of the greatest in a great year for movies. My favorite William Holden performance.

comment Comment
01/08/05
Michael A. Smith
Michael A. Smith
Nolan's Pop Culture Review

No review available.

comment Comment
07/29/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

No review available.

comment Comment
04/16/04
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

One of the great black comedies of the '70s

comment Comment
11/07/03
Jon Niccum
Jon Niccum
Lawrence Journal-World

No review available.

comment Comment
10/30/03
Ryan Cracknell
Ryan Cracknell
Movie Views
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
all

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