FRIDAY MOVIE SUGGESTION NIGHT: "NETWORK"!

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For the third time in the past couple of months, comes a dose of serendipity I couldn't have imagined among topics I've Blogged about with the film NETWORK. This gem was Directed By Sidney Lumet and Written by the brilliant Paddy Chaefsky . It was Chaefsky whose initial rant in the film was memorably quoted--and with great Respect--during the 1981 Academy Awards Ceremony by an unknown Actor memorializing the great writer, who had died of cancer that year at age 58.

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This movie is set in real-time--1976. Things are changing rapidly for the news industry and what passes for public entertainment--or an "idiot box" climaxes when a network exchanges it's entertainment division for its one-time news division in a bid to drive ratings. Terrorist violence is quickly seized upon by UBS (Union Broadcasting System), a failing fourth-place news organization that hands the "pink slip" to its aging News Anchor, Howard Beale (bearing more than a passing resemblance in stature to America's beloved Walter Cronkite). Beale is played by Peter Finch, who sadly died after the film's production and as such, he never lived to see the accolades that his over-the-top performance created at the Oscars. In the film, Max Schumacher is the News Editor from the Murrow school of journalism (played so well by William Holden). Having just lost his wife and now fired, Beale sees nothing to lose and shocks the living daylights out of his unassuming viewers by announcing that on Wednesday's broadcast, he has decided to commit suicide "On the Air". An ego-driven and sexy heir to Schumacher materializes in the form of Faye Dunaway as Diana Christensen, married to her work and the "orgasmic" prospects of achieving a 20-share!

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Almost instantly, Beale's announcement of his retirement and intention to kill himself on live television--fundamentally overnight--turns the tables and makes him a major television commodity as "The Mad Prophet of the Airwaves" and a valuable asset to the Communications Corporation of America (CCA), a company that has been gradually buying up UBS stock. (Not to worry. This was filmed long before the real life 2001 takeover of Paine Webber by Union Bank of Switzerland/Swiss Bank Corporation). Given his destabilizing mental health, Christensen sees an opportunity to give Beale free reign over his own show with 100 percent creative control. The program is a huge ratings success until it's own formula begins to do itself in and lives are forever changed. Beale discovers UBS itself will soon be taken over by a Saudi Arabian conglomerate and exposes this scheme on the air.

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The film's worldwide notoriety is credited largely with the scene in which Beale has an "epiphany" during a live newscast and tells his audience to stop everything they are doing, go to the window of their dwelling in the middle of a dangerous thunderstorm, open it, stick their head out and shout: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" You judge for yourselves (given my BLOGS of this week) if this was relevant on my part as a "good call" for "Friday Movie Suggestion Night". The satire here is thick; don't get me wrong. Much of it is in many ways more indicative of today's television industry than the one in 1976. It simply makes you want to sit and think after the credits begin rolling. The Cast: Faye Dunaway is Diana Christensen; William Holden is Max Schumacher, Peter Finch is Howard Beale; Robert Duvall is Frank Hackett; Wesley Addy is Nelson Chaney;Ned Beatty is Arthur Jensen; William Prince is Edward George Ruddy and Beatrice Straight is Louise Schumacher.

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ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS: Best Actor in a Leading Role: Peter Finch (Nomination and award were posthumous. Finch died of a heart attack on January 14,1977 while promoting the film and became the first posthumous winner in an acting category. His widow Eletha Finch and screenwriter Paddy Chaefsky accepted the award on his behalf); Best Actress in a Leading Role: Faye Funaway; Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Beatrice Straight; Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Paddy Chaefsky;

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NOMINATIONS: Best Actor in a Leading Role: William Holden; Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Ned Beatty; Best Cinematography: Owen Roizman; Best Director: Sidney Lumet; Best Film Editing: Alan Heim; Best Picture: Howard Gottfried. Note: "Network" became the second film to win three awards for acting, following 1951's "A Streetcar Named Desire".

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ENJOY!