Coming Soon
NETWORK
1976
Director
Sidney Lumet
Starring
Faye Dunaway
William Holden
Peter Finch
Robert Duvall
Runtime
121 minutes
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“We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take this anymore!” - famous Beacon Cinema saying
Howard Beale (Peter Finch), a veteran newscaster, is informed by his ratings-driven network executives that he is about to be dumped because he “skews old.” So Beale uses his next broadcast to announce that he’s going to kill himself live on-air during his final show. And just like that... he’s a hit! Basking in the sky-high ratings, an ambitious programming executive (Faye Dunaway) convinces her superiors to keep Beale on as their very own mad prophet of the airwaves and the network begins to supplement their new direction with shows like The Mao Tse-Tung Hour, starring the Ecumenical Liberation Army. But when Beale balks at the news that his network’s parent company is being acquired by a Saudi conglomerate, he comes face to face with the reality of how corporate power really functions.
A scorching satire that applies the cynical conspiracy-minded tone of ‘70s American political cinema to the world of tabloid TV, NETWORK endures as bracingly confrontational viewing. As a critique of the media and an expression of political discontent, there are few films that resonate with our own historical moment more presciently.
“Having begun as a five-seconds-into-the-future satire, NETWORK becomes an anatomy of American discontent, born of inflation and rocketing gasoline prices and not especially aware of any boost from the forthcoming bicentennial. Finally it’s an outrageous conspiracy thriller. Like John Updike, writer Paddy Chayevsky and director Sydney Lumet are here giving us Memories of the Ford Administration – only they weren’t memories at the time. This was America as it was happening, suicidal ideations born of a scotch hangover, beamed live into every home.” - Peter Bradshaw
Howard Beale (Peter Finch), a veteran newscaster, is informed by his ratings-driven network executives that he is about to be dumped because he “skews old.” So Beale uses his next broadcast to announce that he’s going to kill himself live on-air during his final show. And just like that... he’s a hit! Basking in the sky-high ratings, an ambitious programming executive (Faye Dunaway) convinces her superiors to keep Beale on as their very own mad prophet of the airwaves and the network begins to supplement their new direction with shows like The Mao Tse-Tung Hour, starring the Ecumenical Liberation Army. But when Beale balks at the news that his network’s parent company is being acquired by a Saudi conglomerate, he comes face to face with the reality of how corporate power really functions.
A scorching satire that applies the cynical conspiracy-minded tone of ‘70s American political cinema to the world of tabloid TV, NETWORK endures as bracingly confrontational viewing. As a critique of the media and an expression of political discontent, there are few films that resonate with our own historical moment more presciently.
“Having begun as a five-seconds-into-the-future satire, NETWORK becomes an anatomy of American discontent, born of inflation and rocketing gasoline prices and not especially aware of any boost from the forthcoming bicentennial. Finally it’s an outrageous conspiracy thriller. Like John Updike, writer Paddy Chayevsky and director Sydney Lumet are here giving us Memories of the Ford Administration – only they weren’t memories at the time. This was America as it was happening, suicidal ideations born of a scotch hangover, beamed live into every home.” - Peter Bradshaw