Network
All actors and roles (10)
Short description
Network is a 1976 American drama directed by Sidney Lumet from a screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky. Veteran news anchor Howard Beale learns he is being pushed out after twenty-five years on the air, and responds by telling viewers he intends to kill himself on his final broadcast. The outburst draws a surge of attention, and the executives who wanted him gone see a chance to turn his breakdown into programming. As his on-air behavior grows more extreme, the news division is caught between the standards of journalism and the business of holding an audience.
The film belongs to the middle of Lumet's career, the eleventh of the twenty-six features he directed, following Dog Day Afternoon and preceding Equus. It stars Peter Finch as Beale, William Holden as his friend and news chief Max Schumacher, Faye Dunaway as programming executive Diana Christensen and Robert Duvall as Frank Hackett, with a credited cast of fifty-five and forty-eight credited crew.
Made for about four million dollars, Network took roughly twenty-four million worldwide, a strong return on its budget. It holds an 8.1 rating on IMDb from around 185,000 votes, and 7.8 on TMDB from a much smaller base of about 2,100. The critics' score of 8.9 from eighty-seven reviews places it above both audience measures.
What's left behind the scenes
- While working on the film, Chayefsky was on set daily.
- On July 15, 1974, Christine Chubbuck, a Florida WTXL-TV news anchor suffering from depression, shot herself on live television. It is believed that Paddy Chayefsky based his script on this story.
- In the scene discussing the new show in Diana's office, the door is closed, but after half a minute, Diana approaches the already open door and closes it again.
- Henry Fonda refused the role of Howard Beale, calling it “too hysterical”.
- In 2000, the Library of Congress recognized the film as "culturally significant" and included it in the National Film Registry.
- MGM Studio agreed to produce the film to settle a conflict with Paddy Chayefsky regarding the money owed to him for the screenplay of the comedy "The Hospital."
- After watching the rough cut of the film, the producers sent Paddy Chayefsky a letter listing every instance of coarse and profane language in the movie. Chayefsky ignored the letter, stating that this is how people communicate on television. Much later, the screenwriter regretted not removing some of the unprintable expressions, as there turned out to be too many of them.
- Henry Fonda turned down the lead role, considering it "too hysterical."
- Sidney Lumet initially suggested casting Vanessa Redgrave, believing her to be the best English-speaking actress, but Paddy Chayefsky opposed this because she supported the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was unacceptable to him.
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