Network is a 1976 American satirical black comedy drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Paddy Chayefsky. It depicts a television network struggling with poor ratings until the nightly live broadcast of its longtime news anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch) inadvertently showcases his breakdown into increasingly psychotic behavior, which makes his show a surprise hit. Alongside Finch (in his final role), the film stars Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty, and Beatrice Straight.
Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and released by United Artists on November 27, 1976, Network was a commercial success, earning $23.7 million on a $3.8 million production budget. Network received widespread critical acclaim, with particular praise for its screenplay and performances. At the 49th Academy Awards, it received ten nominations, including Best Picture, and won four: Best Actor for Finch (posthumously), Best Actress for Dunaway, Best Supporting Actress for Straight, and Best Original Screenplay for Chayefsky.
In 2000, Network was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2002, it was inducted into the Producers Guild of America Hall of Fame as a film that has "set an enduring standard for American entertainment".Archive of Producers Guild Hall of Fame – Past Inductees, Producers Guild of America official site. Accessed October 31, 2010. Original site. In 2005 the Writers Guild of America voted Chayefsky's screenplay one of the 10 greatest in history. In 2007, the film was 64th among the 100 greatest American films as chosen by the American Film Institute.
Plot In September 1975, Howard Beale, the longtime anchor for the evening news program on the Union Broadcasting System (UBS), learns from friend and news division president Max Schumacher that he has just two more weeks on the air due to declining ratings. The following night, Beale announces to his audience that he will kill himself on next Tuesday's newscast. UBS tries to immediately fire Beale, but Schumacher intervenes so that he can have a dignified farewell. Beale promises to apologize for his outburst, but once on the air, he launches into a rant about life being "bullshit". Beale's outburst causes ratings to spike, and much to Schumacher's dismay, UBS executives decide to exploit the situation. When Beale's ratings soon top out, programming chief Diana Christensen reaches out to Schumacher with an offer to help "develop" Beale's show. He declines the professional proposal but accepts her more personal pitch; the two begin an affair.
When Schumacher decides to end Beale's "angry man" format, Christensen persuades her boss, Frank Hackett, to slot the evening newscast under the entertainment division so she can develop it. Hackett bullies UBS executives to consent and fire Schumacher. In one impassioned diatribe, Beale galvanizes the nation, persuading viewers to shout, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" from their windows. He is soon hosting a new program called The Howard Beale Show, top-billed as "the mad prophet of the airwaves". The show becomes the highest rated program on television, and Beale finds new celebrity preaching his angry populist message in front of a live studio audience that, on cue, chants his signature catchphrase. Schumacher and Christensen's romance withers as the show flourishes, but in the flush of high ratings, the two ultimately find their way back together; Schumacher separates from his wife of over 25 years for Christensen.
Seeking another hit, Christensen cuts a deal with a terrorist group called the Ecumenical Liberation Army (ELA) for a new reality television series, The Mao Tse-Tung Hour, for which the ELA will provide exclusive footage of their activities. Meanwhile, Beale discovers that Communications Corporation of America (CCA), the parent company of UBS, will be bought out by a larger Saudi conglomerate. He urges his audience to pressure the White House to quash the deal. This panics UBS executives because the network's debt load has made the merger essential for its survival. CCA chairman Arthur Jensen arranges a meeting with Beale, describing the interrelatedness of the participants in the international economy and the illusory nature of nationality distinctions. Jensen scolds Beale and persuades him to abandon his message and preach a new gospel that serves Jensen's interests.
Christensen's fanatical devotion to her job and emotional emptiness ultimately drive Schumacher away, warning her that she will self-destruct if she continues on her current path. Audiences find Beale's new sermons on the dehumanization of society depressing and ratings start to slip, yet Jensen refuses to fire him. To boost the network's ratings, Christensen, Hackett and the other executives decide to hire the ELA to assassinate Beale on the air. The assassination succeeds, putting an end to The Howard Beale Show and kicking off the second season of The Mao Tse-Tung Hour. A voice-over proclaims, "This was the story of Howard Beale: the first known instance of a man who was killed because he had lousy ratings."
Cast
In addition, Lee Richardson provides various moments of narration advancing additional plot details.
Production Development and writing
Network came only two years after the first on-screen suicide in television history, of television news reporter Christine Chubbuck in Sarasota, Florida. The anchorwoman was suffering from depression and loneliness, was often emotionally distant from her co-workers, and shot herself on camera as stunned viewers watched on July 15, 1974. Chayefsky used the idea of a live death as his film's terminating focal point, to say later in an interview, "Television will do anything for a rating... anything!" However, Dave Itzkoff's book (Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies) allows that whether Chayefsky was inspired by the Chubbuck case remains unclear, that Chayefsky's screenplay notes on the week of the live death have nothing about the incident in them, and grants it is an eerie parallel. It was to be months later that actual direct reference was made, Chayefsky writing for Beale to bray that he "will blow my brains out right on the air ... like that girl in Florida", which was later removed.Itzkoff, Dave. Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies. Henry Holt and Company, 2014, p. 47. Sidney Lumet made the categorical statement that the character of Howard Beale was never based on any real-life person.
Before beginning his screenplay, Chayefsky visited network TV offices. He was surprised to learn that television executives did not watch much television. "The programs they put on 'had to' be bad, had to be something they wouldn't watch," he remarked. "Imagine having to work like that all your life." According to Dave Itzkoff, what Chayefsky saw while writing the screenplay during the midst of Watergate and the Vietnam War was the entirety of America's anger being broadcast in everything from sitcoms to news reports. He concluded that Americans "don't want jolly, happy family type shows like Eye Witness News" ... "the American people are angry and want angry shows." When he began writing his script he had intended on a comedy, but instead directed his frustration at the content being broadcast on television—which he described as "an indestructible and terrifying giant that is stronger than the government"—into the screenplay. It became a "dark satire about an unstable news anchor and a broadcasting company and a viewing public all too happy to follow him over the brink of sanity." The character of network executive Diana Christiansen was based on NBC daytime television programming executive Lin Bolen, which Bolen disputed.
Chayefsky and producer Howard Gottfried had just come off a lawsuit against United Artists, challenging the studio's right to lease their previous film, The Hospital, to ABC in a package with a less successful film. Despite this recent legal action, Chayefsky and Gottfried signed a deal with UA to finance Network, until UA found the subject matter too controversial and backed out. Undeterred, Chayefsky and Gottfried shopped the script around to other studios, and eventually found an interested party in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Soon afterward, United Artists reversed itself and looked to co-finance the film with MGM, since the latter had an ongoing distribution arrangement with UA in North America. Since MGM agreed to let UA back on board, the former (through United Artists as per the arrangement) controlled North American/Caribbean rights, with UA opting for overseas distribution.
Casting In his notes, Chayefsky jotted down his ideas about casting. For Howard Beale, who would eventually be played by Peter Finch, he envisioned Henry Fonda, Cary Grant, James Stewart and Paul Newman. He went so far as to write Newman, telling him that "You and a very small handful of other actors are the only ones I can think of with the range for this part." Lumet wanted Fonda, with whom he had worked several times, but Fonda declined the role, finding it too "hysterical" for his taste. Stewart also found the script unsuitable, objecting to the strong language. Early consideration was given to real-life newscasters Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor, but neither was open to the idea (both appear during the opening scene through stock footage). Although not mentioned in Chayefsky's notes, George C. Scott, Glenn Ford and William Holden reportedly also turned down the opportunity to play Beale, with Holden instead playing Max Schumacher; for that role, Chayefsky had initially listed Walter Matthau and Gene Hackman. Ford was under consideration for this part as well, and he was said to be one of two final contenders. Holden finally got the edge because of his recent box-office success with The Towering Inferno.Network TCM. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
Producers were wary that Finch, an Australian, would not be able to sound authentically American; they demanded an audition before his casting could be considered. A well-known actor, Finch reportedly responded, "Bugger pride. Put the script in the mail." Immediately excited by the role, he agreed to pay his own fare to New York for a screen test. He prepared for the audition by listening to broadcasts by American newscasters and reading the international editions of The New York Times and the Herald Tribune into a tape recorder, then listening to playbacks with a critical ear. Gottfried recalled that Finch "was nervous as hell at that first meeting over lunch and just like a kid auditioning. Once we'd heard him, Sidney Lumet, Paddy, and I were ecstatic because we knew it was a hell of a part to cast." Finch further convinced Lumet by playing him the tapes of his newspaper readings.
Faye Dunaway wanted Robert Mitchum to play Max Schumacher, but Lumet refused, believing that Mitchum was not sufficiently urbane. For the role of Diana Christensen, Chayefsky thought of Candice Bergen, Ellen Burstyn, and Natalie Wood, while the studio suggested Jane Fonda, with alternate candidates Kay Lenz, Diane Keaton, Marsha Mason and Jill Clayburgh. Lumet wanted to cast Vanessa Redgrave in the film, but Chayefsky did not want her. Lumet argued that he thought she was the greatest English-speaking actress in the world, while Chayefsky, a proud Jew and supporter of Israel, objected on the basis of her support of the PLO. Lumet, also a Jew, said "Paddy, that's blacklisting!", to which Chayefsky replied, "Not when a Jew does it to a Gentile."