Tribute to Network

Another great tribute to another great movie – from my friend Alex.

Tribute to “Network”

“Network” trivia

She’s so right that that movie is prescient. It depicted a “nightmare” scenario where TV became solely about “reality”. The freaks of the world suddenly leap on the chance to get their 15 minutes, and TV networks collaborated with them, giving them the spotlight. Hahahaha, right? Network came out in 1976. It predicted the world that we live in now. The world of Reality TV on every network, “battle of the reality TV stars”, Jerry Springer, take your pick.

At the time, the film was seen as a broad parody, while obviously making some great points about the business of television. But now, with the perspective of 30 years, we can see that it wasn’t a parody at all. It was just a freakily accurate prediction.

I posted a bunch of excerpts a while back from Sidney Lumet. Here they are:

The camerawork

Lumet on William Holden

Lumet on Faye Dunaway

Lumet on dialogue

And then I wrote this long piece on the general great-ness of William Holden.

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3 Responses to Tribute to Network

  1. Independent George says:

    My favorite scene is the one where Ned Beatty delivers the ‘wrath of God’ speech, and Peter Finch just cowers before him. The expression of utter defeat and panic on his face was terrifying.

    As far as prescience, let’s not forget about The Running Man :)

  2. red says:

    Oh, yeah, Ned Beatty is amazing in that scene!

  3. Alex says:

    Beatty was nominated for an Oscar for that performance. By the by.

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