That’s the one scene in the movie that really doesn’t work for me. I don’t blame Beatty’s performance. It sounds like he’s making a point until I try to figure out exactly what the point is. Perhaps it was intended to be that way, with Beatty’s character as the same sort of high-functioning lunatic as Beale’s. The suggestion at the end that it’s the same voice Beale heard during his initial breakdown is never explored, either.
I took it as a blatantly disingenuous ploy to manipulate the lunatic Beale.
Perhaps, but to what end? The manipulation (if that’s what it was) had the effect of diminishing Beale’s popularity and costing the network money, so it wasn’t done out of greed.
His ratings success, which always had a limited shelf life anyway, was nothing compared to the financial impact of blocking the big corporate merger they were talking about.
Yes, that was the motive for the Beatty character Jensen’s manipulation of Beale: Beale was going to cost Jensen money (much more money than Beale’s popularity could ever bring in, in the form of revenue from commercials). Beale was impossible to muzzle and Jensen and his fellow corporate titans had no idea what Beale might go on to urge viewers to do. Beale was dangerous to them.
Beale had already broken the news about the buyout, so Beatty’s attempting to change his broadcasts sounds like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. Plus, Beale didn’t have any real ability to stop the deal on his own, so let him go on ranting. Or was there a threatened link; Beale preaches against the deal, his viewers pressure Congress, Congress blocks the deal (the buyers were Saudi)?
I’ll have to see it again to know exactly what threat Beale may have presented at the time.
I do remember a great line from the Mad magazine parody of Network. It’s just after Beale has gone on his show and revealed the pending sale of the network.
Exec 1: No one was supposed to know about this deal. Do you think it will still go through?
Exec 2: That depends.
Exec 1: On what?
Exec 2: On whether 200 million Americans can keep a secret.
I remember seeing Peter Finch on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson where he was hilarious. I don’t recall the joke he told, but it was about dying. Which he did the very next day. It was quite a shock to everyone at the time. I hadn’t seen the movie yet, but I like it very much now.
Beale enjoined his audience to flood the White House with telegrams opposing the deal, and they duly did so. No matter how corrupt politicians may be, they tend to be loath to go against that level of public outcry, particularly if there is no strong constituency within their party’s base on the other side of the question. And neither party has any great constituencies in favor of corporate mergers, so they need to go through quietly without much fuss or they will be in trouble.
Incidentally, John Oliver has actually had real life success with this same tactic fairly recently.
First time the word “shit” was used on network television.
It was a good movie and very thought provoking with one of the great lines in movie history but to address whoever was complaining above Rocky was an all time great movie and deserved its surprise Oscar quite a bit.
Rocky is a good flick, but to say it’s better than Network, even with four decades’ hindsight? Huh. Definitely different, but de gustibus.
Don’t wanna start a GD or anything, but in light of certain recent events, no, it’s not. :rolleyes:
Robert Duvall gives an incredibly restrained, measured performance. With just a slip of the tongue he could have become over-the-top (I think Beatty sort of did), but instead he remains the cold, calculating, soulless yet realistic villain. Everything he says and does, while evil, makes total sense in context.
I remember watching it for the first time on TV around 1978. We didn’t have HBO yet, so I first saw it on CBS. The film presented the network with an unusual problem. It was a highly regarded piece of cinema so obviously they paid a lot to air it. But how could they edit out the language? A key plot point is Beale swearing live on television, so to edit that out for television would have been an incredibly ironic ‘life-imitating-art-imitating-life’ gaff. As I recall they let Beale say “Bullshit” once, and let Dunaway’s character repeat it once. They also ran big disclaimers and warnings not only before it aired but also each time it resumed after every single commercial break*!* Swearing in prime time on one of the big three networks in 1978 was a big deal. Christ, they made it a big deal when Mark Harmon did it 30 years later*!*
Similar to saying Forrest Gump was a better film than Pulp Fiction…
I apparently missed this! :eek: Do tell.
That was me and I really disagree. Rocky was a good film, but IMO it’s a story that’s been told dozens of times. For me, with the exception of the look of the film (and a very good score) it wasn’t anything that stayed with me.
The other Best Film nominees that year were exceptional films. Not only with their story:
Network- so far ahead of it’s time. Great performances and a biting script.
Taxi Driver - Scorsese at his best. DeNiro is a standout. A film with such a memorable story and scenes and a soundtrack by the immortal Bernard Herrmann!
All the President’s Men - I just rewatched this a month ago, wow, what a great film! It’s a suspense film based on a true story (so you know how it ends) and there’s no chase scenes but man, you’re on the edge of your seat! An excellent supporting cast alongside Hoffman & Redford.
Bound For Glory - This (loose) bio-pic for Woody Guthrie looks beautiful. Ashby presents a movie that really presents an amazing picture of a Depression era America.
And don’t forget, this is the first film ever to use a steadicam, that helped give it it’s distinctive look.
Any one of those films were standouts and IMO way better than just a good underdog fighter film.
If you loved All the President’s Men, I highly recommend an earlier Pakula thriller, The Parallax View.
Oh yeah, I saw it. Excellent film.
Pakula made some memorable films.
Klute
Rollover
Sophie’s Choice
And the world was better for it.
When Fox took over Channel 32 in Chicago they showed it uncut, including Faye’s breasts flopping while she orgasmed talking about ratings. Can’t say they didn’t warn us about their ideas about news.
Could it be that you’re conflating the two guests that night? Finch was followed by George Carlin, who performed a stand-up routine all about death.
How would you possibly know that?
Are you responding to my post? If so, this is again from Itzkoff’s book. He reports on all the principal actors’ efforts to promote the film, devoting a couple pages to Finch’s appearance on the Tonight Show with George Carlin. There’s no mention of Finch himself joking about death, though Carlin’s routine on the subject is covered in some detail.
Did I mention that this is a really good book? 
I’m writing up a review of it at this very moment…