"I'm mad as hell & I'm not gunna take it any more!" -- the thread for Network

http://www.threemoviebuffs.com/miscreview/network2.jpg

Ned Beatty is great as the network executive.

Prescient about corporatism and TV, but Chayefsky's speechifying about the culture tended toward reactionary. (As for Beatrice Straight -- single-scene bloviating about bourgeois morality also won Martin Balsam an Oscar for A Thousand Clowns, but there it was about the work ethic instead of monogamating.)

'Reimagining' it for today seems pointless... whoever Clooney's doing that for (premium cable?), they'd have to let him go down the NC-17 road to have the same flavor.

unlike Morbius'?

Iremember around 1980 Network was shown on network TV with several of Finch's 'bullshits' intact, and it was probably the most effective presentation it ever had.

I love this film but have probably watched it one too many times now. I have a soft spot for the character who becomes a religious maniac, he's brilliant, and Faye Dunaway is breathtakingly beautiful AND on scintillating form. I wonder who would play her role in a remake - Rachel Weisz would be nice.

Chayefsky is nothing if not curmudgeonly! What of that scene where William Holden tells Faye Dunaway about all the funerals he's been attending?

I like this movie for everything illicit and incorrect about it. Not because of its "prescience."

i saw this for the first time in about 20 years or something

it's actually pretty bad, sort of fun for the overacting but those scenes with the revolutionaries are so horrible on multiple levels and the whole thing is glib and sledgehammer-y. i love movies from the mid70s though for the period details that i'm just old enough to remember

I wish everything still looked that bold and fun and unafraid.

"it's actually pretty bad, sort of fun for the overacting but those scenes with the revolutionaries are so horrible on multiple levels and the whole thing is glib and sledgehammer-y."

i know what you mean, totally melodramtic, still sort of works tho.

i like it anyway.

love it, love it, love it

yes,it's overblown, yes, it's unsubtle, but it has verve and bravado, and the script's a corker, Beatrice Straight on loyalty in particular, Ned Beatty laying it on with a trowel also

i do love faye's outfits, so chicly 70s. girl was seriously cocaine skinny.

The famous line is usually misquoted. It's actually "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more!"

gershy otm, amateurist otm, me two years ago otm.

people still see this as a 'prescient' satire on tv. it *sort of* is, but not for long: the logic of the thing says it's also a satire on "no-bullshit bullshit", on "straight talk". but the early, memorable stuff is standard movies-poking-fun-at-tv inanity.

worst scene is that dude talking about 'cocksmanship'.

I just saw this last week, and mostly agree with stuff upthread about it being overblown etc. Still, it's interesting how the things its railing against are very contemporary again -- foreign takeovers, oil, banking crashes, looming depression, etc.

Especially interesting in hindsight is the results of the profitisation of TV news. They said it'd be shit, and lo, it was.

The main thing I thought it was against was exploiting insane people.

or not shooting them, at least.

wait, there aren't actually people who think that because Finch is played Straight, the rest somehow isn't intentionally over-the-top, right?

I mean Holden, not Finch, duh. And not Alvin Straight, either. I don't think.

Holden is really great, even if his role rounds aground on Chavesky-isms (he actually says "shrill nothingness" to Faye Dunaway).

The best scenes are the quiet ones in the beginning between Dunaway and her staff: her assistant reciting proposals for different shows in which a "crusty-but-benign" old coot stars, etc.

Watched a bunch of this again. I'm long past the point of thinking this is some sort of great cinema, but it's certainly among the most compelling movies to ever capture the zeitgeist.

As far as the Chayefsky outlook goes, anyone who thinks this isn't carefully modulated crustiness needs to take a fresh look at his abominable The Hospital.

Every time I see this, I like Holden more.

Still get annoyed whenever some conspiracy guy quotes the Ned Beatty speech.

Network, much like Citizen Kane, is great because it is so theatrical and over the top. As satire it is otm enough to quiet the critical voice within and allow you to just sit back and enjoy the circus.

The Holden and Finch characters being crumbling old men gives the screenplay more resonance and depth, mainly because Chavefsky empathized with these characters and endowed them with some pathos and humanity, but also because the actors empathized, too, and delivered excellent performances. The satire didn't really require either man to be aged. In fact, the satire would have been sharper if they'd both been much younger.

Some of the bits are now over-referenced of course, and say what you will about the writing, but the performances in this film are top-knotch.

IMPUGN HIS COCKSMANSHIP vs anything The Great Ahmed Khan says

actually this is one of the best movies I have ever seen and it is endlessly, deliriously quotable

also it is flawed but watch me not giving a fuck

best bit is arguably the slow and hilarious descent into the sex-scene where dunaway just can't stop blabbering about ratings XD

ending is devastating and perfect...this film just keeps on hitting in new and delightfully macabre ways...it contains multitudes, and genuinely shocking tonal shifts

anyway. yeah.

That's possibly my favourite sex scene ever - so funny that nothing stops her endless monologue. Obviously she's an absurdly exaggerated power-bitch but the exaggerations make the movie.

there are SO many monologues in this movie, all of them ultimately meaningless XD XD XD

GREAT monologues too!

Great to hear Erykah Badu redo the "mad as hell" monologue on her last album. I'm writing about music during the Ford administration at the moment and Network is so redolent of that grouchy, pissed-off national mood - no solutions, just inchoate, had-it-up-to-here rage.

There were so many great movies made in the mid-70s - this one is probably one of my top five all-time favorites. It was probably the first time in American history, where there was a general feeling that everything was going to shit, and the narrative of never-ending growth and progress had ended, and now the country was in decline.

That scene with the left wing extremists arguing over their program's profit shares was just incredible.

The whole thing in fact, just left me mad as hell that it's taken me three months to get round to watching it.

this has in retrospect become possibly my 3rd-favourite movie in all time ever, and I am glad you have seen the light!

it's fun but way too self-satisfied. Chayefsky was kind of a schmuck.

the exaggerations make the movie.

yes. it is larger than life. it is thunderingly a piece of drama rather than an attempt at realism. all the best satire is.

Morbs the script is an indulgence but I felt as indulged as Chayefsky doubtless did

I saw this relatively recently and good as it was, I found it a bit dated.

The people watching TV thing?

I'd seen this at least once before on TV many years ago, possibly twice, but last night I saw it at a rep for the first time, and definitely paid closer attention than before (I'm very distractable when watching films on TV). I can see where people praise the performances, liked how it's as totally in its moment as Taxi Driver or Nashville, and, yes, there are moments of prescience. But some of the speechifying seemed just awful to me, and there's so, so much of it. Especially Holden's long lecture to Dunaway as they break up. She sits there seemingly floored by the piercing honesty of his words...I would have hoped and expected that--especially in view of how her character was presented--she would have either bust out laughing or asked him who he hired to write all that drivel.

Duvall does worst of all with his arias -- he yells a lot.

I thought we established that this movie is not reality.

Duvall had the one terrible yelling scene, for sure; up to that point, I thought he gave a pretty good Duvall-like performance (somewhat similar to his unbilled role in The Conversation).

Some good commentary:

Best Actor in "Network"

I'll give you that the satire is amped up wildly, and that you either go with that or you don't. But the Holden/Dunaway break-up scene is supposed to be veristic, which is why I singled it out (as opposed to, say, the don't-fuck-with-my-distribution scene; didn't care for that, either, in terms of execution, but I'll cut it slack there). And it's awful.

xpost Not really. A lot of reasons why I hate movie chatter on ILX, tho.

Nah, Eric -- most of us (even Morbs) agreed the movie is entertaining if shallow. Was surprised by the Beatty love though.

I was searching for that thread--it doesn't come up in the first few screens. I didn't vote at the time; I'd go with either Dunaway (break-up scene notwithstanding) or Finch.

Most of the quiet Dunaway-Holden scenes (after hours in his office; at the bar having dinner) are pretty good ("My husband ran off with his boyfriend").

I don't think we've discussed this: after Holden and Finch crack up drunkenly over that terrible joke involving the George Washington Bridge, Holden tells the joke to his staff on his last day. It's so indifferently staged that I'm not sure how we're supposed to respond. My thought is, "Jesus, what a gasbag." It can't be what Lumet-Chayevsky meant. They don't understand irony.

Lumet really is a terrible director.

She has a few strong scenes. I'm normally a William Holden fan, but I just didn't think Chayefsky did him any favors. His George Washington Bridge scenes aside, he has to put on such a grim face throughout...I know, I sound stupid; that's the character. But it's like James Stewart in Vertigo; just because he's playing an unlikeable character well, that doesn't mean I have to like it. (I kind of liked the repetition of the joke. Mind you, I use the same jokes year-in and year-out with my students, so I would.)

One really good scene Holden had: the wry look on his face when she flirts with him for the first time in his office.

Nah, Eric -- most of us (even Morbs) agreed the movie is entertaining if shallow. Was surprised by the Beatty love though.

thought this was great when i was in college. now... not so much.

self-important. histrionic. so much cheeseball speechifying. the whole thing feels very assured of its ability to BLOW MINDS.

Holden tells the joke to his staff on his last day. It's so indifferently staged that I'm not sure how we're supposed to respond. My thought is, "Jesus, what a gasbag."

see, I think it fits with the idea that these guys pull out their war stories from comfort, and always will.

Lumet really is a terrible director.

^like everyone now in TV, works for Diana Christensen.

I actually can't imagine what someone in their 30s seeing this for the first time would make of it. It's all happened.

heh, nice intro morbs, thanks.

it kind of lost the run of itself . the scene where max breaks up with diana is painful and longwinded and kind of typical of how overly impressed it had gotten with itself at that point(the whole relationship is a strange -and unbelievable- diversion that doesn't complement or accentuate the main thrust as well as the movie seems to think).

much like tootsie, i think lumet lost control of what had been making it great once the initial twist wears off- the characters stopped being recognisable as individuals and instead became mouthpieces for chayefsky grandstanding towards his BIG POINT, it's hard to feel human interest for a placeholder caricature- even when the satire is as good and as bold as it was here.

several amazing scenes and performances were great throughout though (holy shit at ned beatty in the boardroom), glad i finally got around to it.

ned beatty scene in the boardroom blew my 15 year old mind. i get the criticisms ('mouthpieces for chayefsky' for sure. i dont agree on your take on the max/diana relationship though) of this movie but i still love the shit out of it.

Beatty on that scene: "I worked a day on 'Network' and got an Oscar nomination for it". a *day*!

anyone who thinks this isn't carefully modulated crustiness needs to take a fresh look at his abominable The Hospital.

I am, next week! At Lincoln Center! Last saw it 30 years ago.

So Dave Itzkoff has written a Network making-of book, and it was reviewed in the NYTBR by... Rob Lowe. Who at least added a good story.

Recently, the great producer Irwin Winkler told me of his encounter with Paddy Chayefsky. It was in 1976 at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. Irwin had “Rocky” up for best picture. Paddy had “Network.” They were standing next to each other when the winner was announced: “Network” and “Rocky” in a tie. Winkler turned to Chayefsky. “Congratulations,” he said, offering his hand. Chayefsky looked at him and said, “I hope you die.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/books/review/mad-as-hell-by-dave-itzkoff.html?_r=0

You read it then? I'm wondering about the context in which Chayefsky wrote it. Was it an old '50s guy pining for the supposed glory days of TV (even though news wasn't his department), or was it brought on by specific things happening at the time? I always thought TV news started to become more entertainment-driven a few years later than the film (and that great prescience is one of the things the film's admirers credit it with).

all time classic Hollywood photo

http://markdsikes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/21-Faye-Dunaway-Morning-after-she-won-an-Oscar-1977.jpg

Awesome pic, love 70s Dunaway (Chinatown/ Condor/ Network/ Laura Mars).

I recently posted on the "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" thread, which made me think of Network-- and a pattern I noticed in Lumet's "breakup" scenes.

The breakup scenes in these two movies (among the most memorable in them) are all curiously unilateral/ monologic, which is part of their charge, their (mixed... good/ bad) power. (Side note: the scene between Finch and Beatty is also unilateral/ monologic in similar way, so maybe this pattern extends beyond "breakup" to broader confrontation scene.)

IN BTDYD, the great scene b/w Tomei & PSH-- she basically does all of the talking; he stands there silent, passive/ unresponsive, and that accounts for much of the awkwardness/ tragic yet mostly comedic effect of the scene.

The analogous scenes are two in Network: the Max/ Diana breakup scene which others have discussed above, but also the powerful scene between Max and his wife. In the latter, he (as it were) "breaks up" with her (tells her of his infidelity), but the heart of the scene is her impassioned rant to him, and the *strangeness* of that scene (which is also what makes it funny/ frustrating/ infuriating) is his silent, passive, reception of her poignant monologue ("I've got nothing to say"). The Max/ Diana breakup is also notable for the fact that Diana is so silent/ passive; Max has his monologue and Diana just receives it, only speaking up (faintly) afterward.

It's an interesting choice-- an un- or anti- catharctic choice in staging a breakup. The fact that one partner gets all of the say (as it were), and the other remains mostly silent, in a way makes the scene seem artificial but in another strangely powerful/ realistic. (On the one hand there's a "frustration" aspect, of there not being an adequate response; but there's also something satisfying about the fantasy of such a breakup, all depending on which position you imaginatively occupy.

Maybe this pattern could be extended further. E.g. in The Verdict (Newman slugs Rampling). In Dog Day Afternoon, poor Pacino character's girlfriend/ boyfriend isn't even willing to talk to to him on the cop-mediated phone.

In all cases, there's a kind of dramatic refusal/ failure/ frustration/ futility of communication, which maybe is true to (many of the) multifarious experiences of the "breakup."

finally watched this

i was fine with the absurd dialogue/monologues except for the one where duvall keeps going on about how he's fucked

holden looks about 15 years older than he actually was -- alas, booze -- making the affair even more ridiculous

anyway it were p. good

i def want to rewatch this soon. the Network anchor goes crazy on air and turns into Glen Beck and they give him his own show. at one point they are hiring a terrorist group to stage something for TV for the ratings. this came out 42 years ago? still way ahead of its time.

Basically the same reaction as eight years ago. The first half--up to and including Finch's big mad-as-hell tirade--is fine. The yelling and the speechifying after that is sometimes numbing.

But some of the speechifying seemed just awful to me, and there's so, so much of it. Especially Holden's long lecture to Dunaway as they break up

Yeah that’s the nadir of the movie for me.

Beatty’s speech is immortal though.

I had a hard time with that one too. I liked the idea of it--basically Eisenhower's military-industrial speech, or maybe Noam Chomsky--but not Beatty's cartoonish delivery.

"impugn his cockmanship" speech is when it really crosses the threshold

but i agree, it is mostly amazing, and the ending is great (the final shot of faye dunaway's character more than beale killing himself really)

"The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance!" pic.twitter.com/iqmKxHVVSr

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) October 11, 2018

Despite having Bryan Cranston immediately in front of me, which was exciting, Broadway's NETWORK is an anemic take on the classic film.

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) May 16, 2019

Looks pretty dazzling, though, as Ivo Van Hove's shows do.

Rewatched. Yeah this film has major problems. It wants to be manic like an old Preston Sturges movie but it also wants to be serious and at least to feel "real." I see several of the actors - Dunaway and Duvall particularly - struggling with this indefinite tone. Dunaway is expected to be a cartoon in some moments and real in others. All the while the dialogue is far too grand for these characters.

Holden says to Dunaway when he's breaking up with her, "Everything you touch turns to shit" - and he's supposed to be the compassionate one, the guy with heart.

I think he said everything she touches dies.

You're probably right. Still, a massively condescending thing to say. Her character is obviously a piece of work, but in that scene he's a much worse person than her.