Network -- What Makes This Movie Great? (Episode 188)

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Disclaimer: All reasonable comments are welcome, including reasoned disagreements. You will be banned for foolish talk, harassment, and hate speech on sight; it's a tremendous waste of life. I believe in freedom of association and, by extension, freedom of dissociation from you.

[@robertlandrum1971]

The film is a masterpiece. It’s not just a comedic satire. It’s also a prophecy of the shape of things to come. It’s also, in my humble opinion, a commentary on the shape of politics and economics that has hardly changed in the almost half a century since it was released. Network is a seriously underrated film.

[@FauxRomano]

I've shown this to a few 20-somethings and they ate it up. It resonates with the internet world just as well as the one of television. A long-time favorite I'll usually watch whenever it pops up on TCM.

[@KatStephen]

I love that you finally did a video on this one. Fantastic film. I've been involved in broadcasting almost 30 years and much of this one isn't too far off from the truth.

[@NostalgiNorden]

Both Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky(Who both started out in television) has said that the movie is not a satire at all. Even when the movie was made everything depicted(Except the last scene) in the movie had already happened.

[@SophiaLambton-hb4it]

I found Network utterly arresting when I watched it 9 years back. Speaking of technological and sociological prophecy, Wim Wenders' 1991 Until the End of the World (a near-masterpiece) was very similar in its predictions. It's a must-see!

[@anthonya.1359]

Paddy Chaffsky did this film a few years after he did "The Hospital " with George C. Scott. Two of the funniest satires ever! Loved both films. Thanks for the review.

[@cicolas_nage]

the dangers of girlbossing too hard

[@garrettbays6942]

It took me years to pick up, especially because I don't own this film anymore, but one of the things Sidney Lumet mentioned is while the characters are being manipulated into this grand TV show idea, the lighting in the film is being manipulated as well, so that by the end of the movie, it looks like a Ford commercial. I finally understood what he meant by that when I really started to look at how cinematography was handled in films. The beginning of the film, with the exception of the broadcasting moments, is often very soft, with some diffusion, giving a warm hue effect, especially in the intimate scenes between Dunaway and Holden. However, as the television ratings are going up, and the demands and expectations of having the best network are being carried out, the softness is gone, the lighting is brighter, making the scenes splash with color (especially the gorgeous lighting with the incredibly flashy set pieces during Howard's sermons in front of the stain glass window mockup), and sometimes providing light flares like on some polished surface; hence like a brand new car being photographed for a TV commercial. This is especially the case in the (spoiler) assassination plot where everyone is sitting in the dark, but certain surfaces and Hackett in particular are lit very harshly, providing this reflective surface on his desk, his head, and other pieces of furniture in the room. This film, and The Exorcist (1973), to me, are some of the best examples of Owen Roizman's cinematography. He would use some the television lighting approach in a much more humorous and incredible way for the soap opera sequences in Tootsie (1982) as well, while combining it with a gritty lighting style for the New York scenes, and an almost Norman Rockwell color pallette for the farm scenes. This type of cinematography is so rare anymore.

[@drdavid1963]

Great review. Well said. I agree that the affair between Max and Diana is both unconvincing and kind of unnecessary but, the stuff at the Network involving Howard Beale in particular is so daring and spectacular that it doesn't diminish what is still a classic. A nod to Paddy Chayefsky who must be credited for one of the best screenplays ever written. Beale's monologues haven't dated at all, especially his criticism of TV addiction which he calls 'mass madness' and says, 'you're the reality, we're the illusion'. Incidentally, as outlined in Adam Curtis' documentary, Hypernormalisation, the bankers took control of the finances of New York City in 1975 when it had gone deep into debt which, Curtis argues, started a trend for more and more things to be governed by the ideology of the marketplace. That could be said to take hold in the 1980s (just think of Gordon Gekko's Greed is Good speech). So, I think Jensen's diatribe on money governing everything is not far wrong, particularly as around the time, there was a cultural shift from the radical collectivism of the late 60s and early 70s to what has been coined 'the culture of narcissism' . It could be said that the bankers were taking advantage of the situation where everyone was depressed (by Vietnam, Watergate, the oil crisis, the crisis in government etc...) to establish a new order. I'm sure you've seen it but I would highly recommend another movie about TV set in the 1950s, Quiz Show (1994) which also has a literate script that deals with the politics behind television in the form of the rigged quiz shows at the time just when television was increasing in popularity.

[@maxonlegend4139]

Great review! Also, have you watched the conformist? I think you should do a video on it.

[@donshults7772]

Network, A Face In The Crowd, Citizen Kane, Broadcast News, and Ace In The Hole..none of these are dated. All are brilliant examples of forethought and present day behaviors and attitudes. What is truly sad to me is that Network is nearly 50 years; consider the quality of filmmaking in 2023-24 to that of 1975-1976. Network didn't even win the Oscar for Best Picture. Where are the films of today that will become the centerpiece of conversation 50 years ftom now? What will be the topic of those conversations? Top 10 films from 1975 Jaws, Dog Day Afternoon, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Barry Lyndon, Three Days of the Condor, The Holy Grail, Nashville, Rollerblade, Shampoo, Apple Dumpling Gang Top 10 of 1976 Taxi Driver, Rocky, Carrie, The Omen, Marathon Man, Network, Outlaw Josie Wales, The Bad News Bears, Silver Streak. Then compare those to 2023 Oppenheimer, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, Past Lives, Killers of the Flower Moon, May December, Asteroid City, Holdovers, Zone of Interest, John Wick 4. While there are some good films in the 2023 bunch (Oppenheimer, Holdovers, to me, stand out), the overall quality is really poor. In my opinion, the emphasis of the craft work of filmmaking has shifted too far onto production values, settings, lighting and effects and too far away from story telling, character and metaphor/application. In short, too much reliance upon mechanization and far too little humanization

[@Oskar_808]

What do you think about the comparison between “Network” and “Look Who’s Back.” Both seem unsettling and applicable to our current times.

[@frankieholmes1565]

It would be nice to get your opinion on Ken Loach or one of his films

[@evep5689]

Personally I like the fact that Max is flawed and that they made him an adulterer, especially because the film is a satire. I find it important to have an element of ambiguity, it makes us less passive as viewers in my opinion. It is truer to real life as well.

[@nedmerrill5705]

Screenplay 👍👍 The question at this point is, will Network _ever_ be dated? Beale is cracking up, and the only person in the network who cares is Schumacher, who is fired. Schumacher is the moral center of the film, despite his adultery with Christensen. I think he tries to redeem her, but she is beyond hope. Max Schumacher: _He could be jumping off a roof for all I know. The man is insane. He's not responsible for himself. He needs care and treatment. And all you grave-robbers think about is that he's a hit!_

[@tristanwatson8882]

I love Sydney Lumet immensely but I think this one has dated allot more than his other films and feels a tad overacted and hammy. It's a great film for sure but doesn't hold up like The verdict, Prince of the City or The offence.IMO

[@lillyaltland4359]

How can you talk about this movie without talking about Paddy Chayefsky's Oscar-winning screenplay? I think you're giving too much credit for this movie's greatness to Sidney Lumet.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

Anybody can make their own channel. As usual, the answer is that if I talked about all that could be talked about, and should be talked about, the video would be hours and hours long. And as usual, the *director* is responsible for translating the screenplay onto the vision of film.

[@lillyaltland4359]

@@LearningaboutMovies My apologies to you. I should not have made such an aggressive statement. I love your channel.