It’s one of the greatest movies ever… Watch it. It has probably more relevance today with the influence of media (and you can factor in the internet simultaneously).
I’ll stop there so its not a spoiler, but maybe after you can reply with your thoughts and we can have a discussion? I don’t have the channel, but I do have it on VHS and might watch it again to re-freshen for a great discussion.
(Or would this be better suited for “Mundane Things I Must Share”?)
Nope, it’s in the right place.
Trivia: Faye Dunaway was braless in all her scenes.
“THAT! Is the ATOMIC! And Sub-ATOMIC! And GALACTIC! Structure of Things…TO-DAY!”
I literally have that speech memorized. Alas, there are few opportunities to use that in real-life settings.
But I wish there were…
The local Fox affiliate, when it first started up, showed it uncut and unbleeped, so she was bouncing all over the place while she rode Holden like a cowgirl.
In 1976, it was prophetic.
In 2020 it’s quaint and naive.
Saw the play on Broadway last year, with Brian Cranston. It was amazing and he got robbed at the Tony’s. Great movie, awesome play.
Thanks for the heads-up. It’s one of my favourite movies. I’ll be watching.
Never knew that about Faye Dunaway. Yep, I’ll be watching for sure. 
I’ll be watching. If my TV quits teasing me. We’re having lots-o-rain. My direcTV isn’t cooperating.
Darn… I tried looking for it online to paste here, no such luck.
I especially thought it was fitting of how Diana (Faye Dunaway) got off. When William Holden breaks up with her, you see the moral divide between generations, too. Mass media (and a ton of fake news) gets passed on so quickly, even by mistake sometimes. It seems most things on Retwitter are re-tweets.
Ned Beatty’s speech is one of the best scenes in movies (on YouTube, luckily). People DO need to get mad and not take it anymore, but doing something more than sitting (like I am right now) and typing it out. As they say “All politics is local”. Do what you can. … Speaking of movies, I think spreading great film is one of the best methods for good influence. People aren’t really reading books anymore, or the academic journals.
More trivia: So was Peter Finch!
Well, I don’t think the Holden character’s speech denouncing his younger lover has held up: “You ARE television” doesn’t seem very devastating anymore. ‘You ARE the Internet’ might work…but then again, it’s kind of trite. So, people born after a certain year have short attention spans, and shallow interests…is that a moral failing, or is it attributable to their upbringing? Isn’t every element of our economy encouraging them to be shallow and easily bored? Because it’s easier to part them from their money if they are shallow and easily bored?
But the rest of it—the ‘there are no nations, there is only money’ theme—seems as relevant now as it was then. And the storyline about people responding to the Finch character’s anger, but not to his more depressing message post-Arthur-Jensen-Face-of-God encounter, is very, very believable.
Bryan Cranston won the Tony for Best Actor for Network last year.
It seems EVERYONE on the news has been Jensen’d… Or other powerful positions, politics, etc.,… They might enter in trying to do good, but learn about the game. I just saw an old video of Joe Biden saying how he wanted to prostitute himself, but that the money men said “You’re too young, come back when you are older”, probably to see how HE plays the game.
Finch’s character from idealist to cynic is sad. Beatty’s speech is excellent. There is no patriotism, it’s only a facade to get people to buy their junk.
A few years ago, I did have the chance to tell someone “You have meddled with the primal forces of nature” (he brought broccoli instead of doughnuts to an office celebration)
Great points.
I hate to see anyone talk about Network as being outmoded or in any way not worth seeing. It’s still essential viewing IMO.