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Network (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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Customer Reviews
Rating:  - Why this film is still relevant today
It must have been at least 20 years since this film was made and it is amazing that it is still relevant today. Director Sidney Lumet has lined up fantastic cast and found even better screenwriter that has made this movie to be one of the everlasting classics of the American cinema. Throughout the film we observe characters from the network television pushing their way around network for their personal gain. The rule of the game is "ratings" and those better be good or heads will roll. And if the american public is not watching news for its value, then what can enhance sagging ratings: scandal, popular demand or modern prophecies of the time? As news descend into entertainment value for the sake of the ratings, high level executives are too busy brokering deals: selling air time to marketing companies, terrorist groups, even communists; paying off high interest loans to foreign investors, firing anyone on their way of achieving goal of becoming financially successful. 20 years ago, Lumet told us, thru this film that rule of capitalism, democracy and american way is one way - make money. One must do whatever it takes to make that goal a reality. It is amazing how relevant this film still is today. Not much has changed at all.
Rating: - Virtual reality and corporate cosmology
I saw "Network" when it was released in 1977. I'd just graduated from college and was still pretty wet behind the ears. Now, with thirty years' worth of experience in the world, I've watched the film again, and am stunned by how prescient it is. Screenplay author Paddy Chayefsky nailed it on both counts when he suggested that the world of television addicts us to artifice, and that money, not nationhood, is the new basic international unit. Incredible that he could've predicted all this a full generation ago.
As a culture brought up on television and films, we're more comfortable with virtual reality than with reality. We want TV shows with formulaic plots (parodied in "Network" by a hilarious meeting of producers in which every pitch for a new show has a similar "crusty but benign" character). We want titillation, outrageousness, and splendor more than truth (think about today's talk shows). And even when given a dose of reality on the screen (today's misnamed "reality shows" come immediately to mind), we want it directed, choreographed, and offered in a convenient timeslot. This is precisely the kind of entertainment that poor Howard Beale (brilliantly played by Peter Finch) offers, and that the network predators want to cash in on. Bread and circuses: that's what the people want, that's what the network gives 'em.
Corporate chief Arthur Jensen's (played equally brilliantly by Ned Beatty) "corporate cosmology" soliloquy toward the end of the movie perfectly captures the dark side of globalization, the film's second major theme. "The world is a business!" thunders Jensen. The only important international players are the huge multinationals, not national governments. The entire social structure of the planet has shifted, propelling us into an entirely new world. And the media, increasingly bought up by the multinationals, become more homogeneous in their programming, news becomes infomercial, and corporate cosmology becomes a reality.
It's as if Chayefsky wrote "Network" while gazing at a crystal ball.
The film's not perfect. Chayefsky crams too much into the plot and so their are some loose ends (the death of Edward George Ruddy, for example, seems comes across as rather contrived), and Faye Dunaway tends to overact (although she won an Academy Award for her performance). But all in all, "Network" truly is one of the greatest American films ever made.
Rating: - An entertaining depiction of mass media's public influence
This film is a wonderful combination of ideas on what the mass media system is doing to our perceptions of the world and how humanity is in constant struggle with the ways success has taken the place of real human emotions. It also presents the argument that corporate globalization is an inevitable process that will be to the ultimate benefit of mankind. A very interesting spin on so many of the most popular conspiracy theories. This film provokes serious thought on many controversial topics the people of the world are currently facing. Awesome film!
Rating: - Excelente pelicula...
es la vida misma.... todos sus discursos, paracen validarse en nuestro dia a dia....Visionaria.... es hora de que las personas creemos mas conciencia en donde vivimos y para lo que trabajamos....
Rating: - News Accountable to Network, Sold to the Highest Bidder According to Ratings
A refreshingly cynical film about the fallout occuring from transitioning the business of journalism to a commoditized commercial interest. A peak experience movie that captures the business of marketing anger, as enabled by the ambitious personalities beholden to nothing but competitive advantage.
The conflict is a struggle of principles for prominence, one that serves the sense of an individual free will against the "forces of nature" argued as capitalism. The prophet for the humanistic cause makes his choices and the captivated public echoes him enthusiastically whatever his position happens to be. Why? The business of amusement doesn't serve any great human design, only the ceremonious murder of boredom.
There is also a love story, that serves as an excellent compatibility experiment between the old and new. William Holden, our objective old school news executive is loyal to the news and the traditional values, and we see his transformation upon realizations of whether falling for the seductive charms of a mercenary agent of entertainment are really worth the conversion. And what is to be said of this new mercenary, how would she fare having to face the responsibility for genuine human experience? Who, needed whom?
I think my favorite part had to be the legal terms and conditions negotiations between the ecumenical liberation army and the network attorneys over the Mao Tse Tung Hour.
I am amazed at the extent to which the makers of this film demonstrated lucid self awareness with vivid and meaningful representations of the competing ideologies at work. I wonder to what extent the hippy celebrations for the dawning of the age of aquarious mantras had something to do with this film's themes, given its timing and central arguments against the hypocrisy inherent in the new order of things. Many have wondered if the hippy generations really added anything to the American Experience. Perhaps this film could be argued in favor of the cause to expand American awareness through creative license.
I think my review is only about 32 years overdue, however, I just discovered this film a couple of months ago, and to be honest, I was very young when it came out, more captivated by Sesame Street at that point in time.
Altogether a fascinating and intriguing story with brillint dialog, direction, performances and an outstanding story in general. I wonder how the people of Fox News would comment on this film given their current criticims.
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