“Network” (1976) is on TCM!!

I can't watch Network anymore. What was once an extreme parody has come true.

Was Ned Beatty lying in his boardroom meeting? Or was he speaking the gospel truth?

Faye deserved more than 3 Oscar nominations in her career

I revisited this a few weeks ago. As far as 1970s Oscar bait, it really holds up. It got so much right. It feels somewhat ironic that a film which pushes hollow American exceptionalism beat it at the Oscars.

The writing for Max's wife isn't the best, but Beatrice Straight plays the hell out of the role. Peter Finch's win was one of my favourites in his category.

But, I also get what R1 is saying. We're so fucked.

[quote] the film one of only a handful to have won three acting Oscars.

Which other ones have?

A Streetcar Named Desire, R5.

[quote] The writing for Max's wife isn't the best, but Beatrice Straight plays the hell out of the role.

Totally agree.

Ned Beatty should have gotten the Oscar for best supporting actor instead of Jason Robards. On the other hand Beatrice's performance did nothing for me. Lee Grant in Voyage of the Damned would have been my choice.

R9 fuck you right in your dirty pillows!

Peter Finch shouldn't have won an Oscar for this. His performance was hammy and overacted, which is what I think he meant to do, considering the tone of the movie, which was over the top. Robert De NIro should have won that year, for "Taxi Driver."

The film was so prescient. It depicted a world gone mad, it was so insane, unbelievable...and it came true! In spades. That's what so frightening about it now; nobody had any idea how bad things could be, how nuts everything would become.

I can no longer watch Network because I am too spooked of how prescient that film is soI watched The Eyes of Laura Mars instead and had a great time.

R6, thanks!

R11, try Supergirl next.

Beatrice Straight's win is still puzzling. One scene, but it's so broadly overacted and unconvincing.

All of the other nominees had so much stronger work.

Even tho I'm gay as a goose, Faye's breasts were stupendous in those scenes where she charged across the newsroom.

"Beatrice Straight's win is still puzzling. One scene, but it's so broadly overacted and unconvincing."

No, it isn't. It was a devastating scene of a wife being told by her husband he's in love with another woman. The dialogue was wrenching:

Louise Schumacher: Do you love her?

Max Schumacher: I don't know how I feel. I'm grateful I can feel anything. I know I'm obsessed with her.

Louise Schumacher: Then say it. You keep telling me that you're obsessed, you're infatuated. Say that you're in love with her.

Max Schumacher: [pauses] I'm in love with her.

Faye should have won Best Actress, Sidney Lumet should have won Best Director, and the movie should have won Best Picture over that slop Rocky. DeNiro, Best Actor definitely.

I thoroughly enjoyed it in 1976, great satire, though sexist even them. I saw it at the Sutton Theater on E57th near Bloomingdales. On the way out I ran into actor James Coco and two other guys in make-up wearing white sheets on the way in.

Truly Overrated movie. The best thing in it was Peter Finch, who I've always had a soft spot for him and enjoyed his acting through the years.

Guess you were a sucker for Rocky then, eh, R18?

"Beatrice Straight's win is still puzzling. One scene, but it's so broadly overacted and unconvincing." "The writing for Max's wife isn't the best" "Truly Overrated movie"

The soullessness at the heart of NETWORK'S cautionary tale.

[quote] On the way out I ran into actor James Coco and two other guys in make-up wearing white sheets on the way in.

Why the white sheets?

They were like makeshift caftans, R21. Or that's what little ol 20 year old me thought at the time. The guys with Coco were young.

In 1976, Network was such an amazing well written satire that people in the television biz were OFFENDED that TV was being made fun of in such a sharp way. I gave my boss a copy of the movie ten years ago, he wasn't thrilled...guess it hasn't aged well. Though, like every older movie, you should be able to put yourself in a time warp to understand and appreciate/enjoy it.

It has aged well, though. Hence the use of the word "prescient" by others in this thread.

Trivia point, The rich girl girl terrorist (aka Patty Hearst) robbing the bank was played by Walter Cronkite's daughter.

Thanks, R17/R22, and thanks for that tit bit, R24.

This movie is so much better than the recent stage adaptation, mainly I think in the acting roles. Bryan Cranston was pretty compelling, but the rest of the cast was a blur, no standouts.

Poor William Holden looked so bad in this movie, so worn out by his alcoholism. But his acting was brilliant.

Holden should’ve won best actor. Finch won partly due to his dropping dead before the Oscars, partly for his career, partly for the film. But he was really supporting. I hardly remember Robards in ATPM, but Finch is great as the mentally ill anchor being exploited. Holden and even Stallone had truly wonderful work in their films. I have no problem with Straight winning. She truly sends chills during her explosion to Holden in a very small role which could’ve barely registered with a lesser actress.

Am I the only one who found Network extremely boring?

I am Beatrice Straight!

Also, FU F29.

Of course, NETWORK is only tangentially about television and, in truth, about the depersonalization and dehumanized "network" of human relations, circa the 1970s. Needless to say, they have only devolved and degraded in the fifty years hence.

Peter Finch was into chocolate! Way before Robert de Niro made it trendy

R32, was the Oscar chocolate wrapped in gold foil?

So if Rump is Howard Beale, will the execs get together at the end of the movie and decide his fate too?

William Holden was still sexy as hell in this movie. Plus, Sidney Lumet was like King Midas, every movie he directed was golden.

Also, I second the appeal of Faye's free range titties. Distracting but also appealing!

[quote] Peter Finch was into chocolate!

Not exclusively. Trivia point #2: The movie The VIPs subplot of Liz Taylor's cheating wife character being foiled by fog from escaping her husband played by Richard Burton was inspired by Peter Finch and Vivian Leigh.

"Leigh and Finch made it to London's Heathrow Airport, but their plane was delayed by incoming fog, giving Olivier time to confront the two and bring Leigh home. She abandoned the plan after several hours of fog delay. "

Finch had a daughter with his third wife Elthea, as possibly also with Shirley Bassey.

Tragically, Samantha Novak was murdered at a young age.

Finch was a South African born in 1916. Do the math.

I LOVED Finch in "The Nun's Story".

Still, I agree with r28. Holden should have been nominated for Best Actor.

[quote] Finch was a South African born in 1916. Do the math.

?

R36 reminded me of a story someone posted on a Vivien Leigh thread on DL. She was apparently sexually insatiable (no surprise there), and Finch said that as a young man that was wonderful. However, she turned out to be too much even for him, and he couldn’t keep up so to speak.

Yes, R29.

"Sidney Lumet was like King Midas, every movie he directed was golden."

Er, no. The Wiz?

The Wiz was after Network.

I think it is way too dark and funny to be typical Oscar bait. Like "Dr. Strangelove", it could never have won best picture. To me, "Ordinary People" (which I like) and "Out of Africa" (which I hate) are quintessential Oscar bait.

Buck would never have voted for Network as Best Picture.

R40, black women were forbidden fruit during Apartheid, hence part of his attraction.

Sidney Lumet in the 1970s - The Anderson Tapes, Serpico, Murder on the Orient Express, Dog Day Afternoon, Network. I credit Paddy Chayefsky for half of Network because of his brilliant script.

"Tragically, Samantha Novak was murdered at a young age"

I thought the story was it was suicide because of whatever, and that fact that she grew up with an absent neglectful mother (Shirley Bassey)

Bump for Faye's jiggly titties.

What else should she have been nominated for?

Marlene Warfield (playing Laureen Hobbs) OWNS this movie. She should have been nominated too.

[quote] Bump for Faye's jiggly titties. What else should she have been nominated for?

Not her flat ass.

EVERYONE had jiggly tits in the 1970s, except for Sally Field's Burt Reynolds demanded implants. Even your gay idol Barbra Streisand. Babs jiggles her B-Cups all over The Main Event, a movie you do not need to see.

"Bonnie & Clyde", "Chinatown', "Network", yes, "Mommie Dearest"

When a grade "A" Asshole like Dustin Hoffman has a Kennedy Center Honor, don't anybody tell me that Dunaway hasn't earned one.

and Hoffman is just one example.

Utterly agree, Della dearest.

"EVERYONE had jiggly tits in the 1970s, except for Sally Field's Burt Reynolds demanded implants. Even your gay idol Barbra Streisand. Babs jiggles her B-Cups all over The Main Event, a movie you do not need to see."

As I recall, Streisand also jiggled her ass all over "The Main Event." That is definitely a movie NOT to see.

Speaking of asses, here's poor Beatrice Straight getting smacked in the head by someone's ass when Rocky wins Best Picture (at 1:10)

Faye's speech and look is still one of the best ever. Looking like she had a good joint and a nice fuck in the limo before the show.

Not like these primped up tarts of today. This is a movie star.

Smoooches, r53.

Lol, and thank You for posting that r56. Yes, Dunaway was Pure Movie Star there. I adore that in a certain celebrities.

For instance, I readily acknowledge that reactions to Angelina Jolie vary, to say the least, but damn, love her, hate her or be indifferent, when she hits the Red Carpet, she Brings It- Mega-Wattage Star Power to Infinity.

R54, why do you repeat what I already said? The ass, yes, the tits, yes.

Robert Duvall was very good too, as he usually is.

When Robert Duvall is very good, it's not very surprising.

R55 lol that was one of the producers of Rocky doing the smacking.

LOL, R55 — that clip of Beatrice Straight’s reaction to getting hit in the head is hilarious!

"Network" is again on TCM right now. What a movie.

So much YELLING!

Everyone gets at least one scene where they get to ACT!

As someone said years ago here on DL, Dunaway has three masterpieces on the resume. Streep has O.

[quote]As someone said years ago here on DL, Dunaway has three masterpieces on the resume. Streep has O.

True, but Streep has Devil Wears Prada on her resume. Can't call that a zero.

Yup, this movie is extremely prophetic as everyone else has stated - especially the scene in which Ned Beatty gives a speech about corporations eventually ruling the world. Boy, did Paddy Chayefsky ever get that one right!

R65 Three masterpieces AND one legendary unmatched camp classic for which she was a RU with NYFCC!

Name me one other actor who has won a Razzie for a performance where they were also a RU with a major critical body (NYFCC, LAFCA, NSFC)!

Eat your heart out Meh!

(BTW, [italic]technically[/italic] Streep has Manhattan as far as masterpieces)

R68 I would guess Amy Irving who was nominated for an Oscar and Razzie the same year for the same movie (Yentl).

Had Talia Shire gone supporting which is where she was placed for the critics awards she would’ve easily won.

Dunaway was nominated for Bonnie & Clyde and Chinatown and won for Network.

She should have been nominated for Barfly as well. She was terrific in that.

She won an Emmy for a Columbo TV movie but she should have been nominated for Cold Sassy Tree and Gia (which, if it had been a theatrical release, she definitely would have/should have been nominated for an Oscar - she was so good in that movie).

Streep also has Sophie's Choice. The Deer Hunter and Kramer vs Kramer deserve mention though she's a supporting player.

Faye doesn't dominate the classic movies she's been in, there's always a male character who's the focus. Most people think of Warren Beatty Jack Nicholson and Peter Finch before they think of Faye's character. She gave great performances in Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown and Network, but she's almost a supporting player in those movies. Not that that's a bad thing, it's just a fact.

R64- Pauline Kael said that actors yelling was the Lumet touch.

R71 Most masterpieces are dominated by male characters. It's just a fact.

Streep only has one masterpiece: Manhattan. It's a much smaller role than Dunaway's roles in the three aforementioned masterpieces (and the one untouchable camp classic).

Dunaway more than held her own with Redford in Three Days of the Condor. She was terrific in that film.

You must be kidding, R74. She wasn't believable for an instant, it was like the role was added on to give the movie a romance. She and Redford were absolutely dreadful together - ICE meets ICE.

[QUOTE] Name me one other actor who has won a Razzie for a performance where they were also a RU with a major critical body (NYFCC, LAFCA, NSFC)!

James Coco received both Razzie and Oscar nominations for his supporting turn in 1981’s ONLY WHEN I LAUGH.

I loved Faye in The Eyes of Laura Mars.

Holden was only 58 (!) when this movie was made.

Here’s the tip, Bill: moisturize, moisturize, moisturize and no more cigarettes.

R78, with Holden it was BOOZE. Lots and lots of it.

William Holden was an alcoholic. It prematurely aged him (he looked about 70 in Network) and eventually killed him. A shame; he was a very good actor and a very well-liked figure in Hollywood.

[quote]"Network" is again on TCM right now. What a movie.

JFC, at this point TCM should just make it a weekly series. Enough, already!