IMDb > Network (1976)
Network
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Overview

User Rating:
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 4% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Sidney Lumet
Writer:
Paddy Chayefsky (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Network on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
29 January 1977 (Japan) more
Genre:
Drama more
Tagline:
Not since the dawn of time has America experienced a man like Howard Beale! more
Plot:
A TV network cynically exploits a deranged ex-TV anchor's ravings and revelations about the media for their own profit. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Won 4 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 19 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(41 articles)
AFI's 100 Years ...100 Movie Quotes
 (From Extra. 4 November 2009, 4:45 AM, PST)

Robert Towne: The Hollywood Interview
 (From The Hollywood Interview. 8 October 2009, 10:54 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Network more (230 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Faye Dunaway ... Diana Christensen

William Holden ... Max Schumacher

Peter Finch ... Howard Beale

Robert Duvall ... Frank Hackett
Wesley Addy ... Nelson Chaney

Ned Beatty ... Arthur Jensen
Arthur Burghardt ... Great Ahmed Kahn
Bill Burrows ... TV Director
John Carpenter ... George Bosch
Jordan Charney ... Harry Hunter
Kathy Cronkite ... Mary Ann Gifford
Ed Crowley ... Joe Donnelly
Jerome Dempsey ... Walter C. Amundsen
Conchata Ferrell ... Barbara Schlesinger
Gene Gross ... Milton K. Steinman
more
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Additional Details

Runtime:
121 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
In Shaun Considine's biography of Paddy Chayefsky, it is revealed that Glenn Ford and William Holden were the finalists for the role of Max Schumaker. Holden's recent success in The Towering Inferno (1974) was believed to have been the deciding factor in his casting. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Max Schumacher is telling Howard Beale a story on the sidewalk in front of their building, he backs up into the street a few times as cars pass by. At the very end of the story, as he hugs Beale, an empty cab is parked on the sidewalk, right behind where he was standing in the street. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Narrator: This story is about Howard Beale, the acclaimed news anchorman on UBS T.V. In this time, however, he was a mandarin of television with a HUT rating of 16 and a 28 audience share. In 1969, however, his fortunes began to decline. He fell to a 22 share. The following year, his wife died, and he was left a childless widower with an 8 rating and a 12 share. He became morose and isolated, started to drink heavily, and on September 22, 1975, he was fired, effective in two weeks. The news was broken to him by Max Schumacher, who was the president of the news division at UBS. The two old friends got properly pissed.
Howard Beale: [on the street] I was at CBS with Ed Murrow in 1951.
Max Schumacher: Must've been 1950 then.
[Beale nods]
Max Schumacher: I was at NBC, uh, associate producer. Morning News. I was just a kid. 26 years old.
[Not interested, Beale wanders off, until Schumacher stops him]
Max Schumacher: Anyway... anyway... they're building a lower level of the George Washington Bridge.
[Interested, Beale listens]
Max Schumacher: We were doing a remote from there.
Howard Beale, Max Schumacher: [start to laugh and snicker in unison]
Max Schumacher: And nobody told me!
[Beale keeps laughing, very interested]
Max Schumacher: Next morning I get a call, "Where the hell are YOU? You're supposed to be in the George Washington Bridge!"
[Beale and Schumacher exchange laughs]
Max Schumacher: I jump outta bed, throw my raincoat over my pajamas, I run downstairs, I run into the street,
[Schumacher runs into the street]
Max Schumacher: SO I TAIL A CAB, AND I SAY TO THE CABBY, "TAKE ME TO THE MIDDLE OF THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE!"
[Beale laughs]
Max Schumacher: And the cabby turns around and he says...
[giggles]
Max Schumacher: he says "Don't do it, buddy! You're a young man! Ya got your whole life ahead of ya!"
Howard Beale, Max Schumacher: [shriek in hysterics, as Beale gives Schumacher a hug]
Max Schumacher: Did I ever tell ya that one before?
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Making 'Murder on the Orient Express' (2004) (V) more

FAQ

How does "Network" end?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
Is "Network" based on a book?
more
44 out of 70 people found the following comment useful.
Network, 2 May 1999
10/10
Author: Tim Cox from Marietta, OH

Engrossing satire from Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet about sensationalism and the almighty dollar in television. All the performances astound, especially Beatty as the tycoon who tells Peter Finch his ideal America and his ideal philosophy on where America is heading. The film is a fine mix of black comedy and drama, brought to life by Chayefsky's incredible script and Lumet's superb direction. Dunaway won a much deserved Oscar for her performance. It's a performance that makes your jaw drop to the floor from start to finish. She makes being a bitch look so darn good.

Was the above comment useful to you?
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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Network (1976)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Just how bad is the language in this film? NeoVoyager
Taxi Driver vs Network vs Rocky vs All the President's Men TopNotchTime
Anyone else dissapointed by what happened to Diana? onyx-1
Network, a naive liberal film. ThomasHayden
'Magnolia' stole a lot from this movie. shamelessly. ThatSoapsALittleHard
David Icke War_Pig
more

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