'Network' A Satire Like No Other

Network – Directed by Sidney Lumet, written by Paddy Chayfesky – 1976 release

Perfection. This is one of the best if not the best satirical film of all time. Never has so much truth been conveyed on screen. America thrives off of “the tube.” We need it in our everyday lives. It tells us what to think, how to feel and even how to express ourselves.

Howard Beale (Peter Finch) is an aging news anchor for a fictional station that is going down the drain, fast. He is retiring due to low ratings, and on one of his final broadcasts proclaims in an act of insanity and/or desperation that he is going to kill himself on air.

The executives freak out. Beale returns the next night and immediately sets off another bomb by proclaiming life is bull****.

There’s just one problem… He’s right. The audience loves every second of it. The executives have no option but to keep him on the air, if they want to salvage their slowly sinking ship.

Beale gets crazier as time goes by.  He rants nightly, and more and more people keep on tuning in. In one of the best scenes in film history, he demands that the viewing audience get up and open their window and yell, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

Phones ring off the hook, as Americans listen and respond to his demands. The executives have just found themselves a scapegoat for their financial woes. They exploit Beale’s ranting for a brand new news show all together.

Meanwhile, as this is all happening, his best friend Max (the president of UBS) is forced out of his job and is subjected to watch this whole tirade unfold. He falls in love with a young woman in charge of programming and ultimately The Howard Beale Show.

She is power hungry and obsessed with her job. She does not view the world in a real sense. She views it in dollars, plot lines and ratings. Max is her only connection to the “real” world. Even after they make love for the first time, seconds after they finish, she is raving about new ideas for TV shows.

Peter Finch (Beale) was on another level the whole film in terms of acting. His monologues are some of the best I have ever seen. William Holden (Max) also is great and delivers a very true to life monologue towards the end.

To round out the cast, Faye Dunaway and Robert Duvall also excelled in their roles. Sidney Lumet at the helm of this film directed a masterpiece, may he rest in peace. If this was the fear of filmmakers in the 1970s, imagine if Network was written and shot for today’s world, with all of The Jersey Shores and Twilights?

The whole film all leads up to one dramatic ending that needs to be seen to believe. It’s ironic that a film like this was made to expose the dark side of the media. Network shows greed like no other. Watch this film and open up your eyes.

Rating: 10/10

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