Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:01 am Posts: 19477 Location: Brooklyn NY
so many great fucking lines
this is like the best movie I've ever seen, everybody should watch this
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LittleWing sometime in July 2007 wrote:
Unfortunately, it's so elementary, and the big time investors behind the drive in the stock market aren't so stupid. This isn't the false economy of 2000.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:25 am Posts: 1235 Location: Philadelphia
I fucking love this movie! That whole "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" bit - and how they're keeping track of where everyone is shouting it out their windows - is one of my favorite moments in cinema. Peter Finch's monologue still gives me the chills.
What a great year 1976 was, eh? Network, Rocky, Taxi Driver, The Omen... A year full of classics. This was undoubtedly one of the best - this is the stuff movies are made of. Network reminds me why I love the movies.
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stip wrote:
All this baseball talk makes me wonder where Meg is.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:25 am Posts: 1235 Location: Philadelphia
Turner Classic Movies are playing a tribute tonight to Sidney Lumet, playing seven of his films through the night and a feature called Private Screenings, where he's being interviewed about his work.
Here's the schedule:
8:00 - Private Screenings: Sidney Lumet 9:00 - 12 Angry Men 11:00 - Private Screenings: Sidney Lumet (encore)
12:00 - The Pawnbroker 2:00 - Network 4:15 - Long Day's Journey into Night 7:15 - The Hill 9:30 - Stage Struck
I love it - ideal for the hopeless insomniacs who'd rather not be watching some crappy Judy Garland movie. They somehow put the big, Oscar-winning film at 2:00 am.
Hey, if you're up, these films are worth a look! If you haven't seen Network yet, you either sacrifice your night for it or go out and rent it right now! One of my all-time favorites, that I watch over and over again.
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stip wrote:
All this baseball talk makes me wonder where Meg is.
great movie. Faye Dunaway was hot back in the 70's...
the Ned Beatty scene is classic.
_________________ “You’re good kids, stay together. Trust each other and be good teammates to one another. I believe there is a championship in this room.”
-Ernie Accorsi in his final address to the NY Giants locker room before retiring as GM in January of 2007
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
I just saw this for the first time on Saturday night. This was one of the best movies I've ever seen. Prophetic. It's like Fox television took their playbook directly out of this film.
It's incredible that this movie did and said the things it did in 1976, and then it's even more incredible that even after the film garnered this much attention, TV unabashedly went in this direction anyway.
Absolute genius at all levels of production. I can't believe this didn't win best picture.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:47 am Posts: 27904 Location: Philadelphia Gender: Male
punkdavid wrote:
Absolute genius at all levels of production. I can't believe this didn't win best picture.
Rocky ko'd this great flick from winning, as it also did my favorite film of all time, Taxi Driver. Now out of those 3, which one has NOT stood the test of time so well? That one about the Philadelphia pugilist, methinks.
But Network is so fucking great. I first saw it when I was 18 and didn't think it was anything that special. Then I saw it again in 2004, and holy shit... as you had said, so prophetic. Lumet's 70's filmography ranks up there with any director of that decade.
_________________ It's always the fallen ones who think they're always gonna save me.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
dirtyfrank0705 wrote:
punkdavid wrote:
Absolute genius at all levels of production. I can't believe this didn't win best picture.
Rocky ko'd this great flick from winning, as it also did my favorite film of all time, Taxi Driver. Now out of those 3, which one has NOT stood the test of time so well? That one about the Philadelphia pugilist, methinks.
No offense to Taxi Driver, but it seems pretty dated now also. Network could have been made today. All The President's Men was that year also, and I love that one.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:47 am Posts: 27904 Location: Philadelphia Gender: Male
punkdavid wrote:
dirtyfrank0705 wrote:
punkdavid wrote:
Absolute genius at all levels of production. I can't believe this didn't win best picture.
Rocky ko'd this great flick from winning, as it also did my favorite film of all time, Taxi Driver. Now out of those 3, which one has NOT stood the test of time so well? That one about the Philadelphia pugilist, methinks.
No offense to Taxi Driver, but it seems pretty dated now also. Network could have been made today. All The President's Men was that year also, and I love that one.
I can see how Taxi Driver might perceived as dated, but it still works for me 30 years later.
I totally forgot about All the President's Men. Fuck, '76 was a great year for movies.
_________________ It's always the fallen ones who think they're always gonna save me.
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 12:03 am Posts: 18376 Location: outta space Gender: Male
i think this movie won out for most screenings in my 3.5 years at usc film school... i think it was screened once a year in the classes i took. that's more than citizen kane. i think maybe hitchcock's the birds was shown about the same... either way one of my favorite movies and it should be one of everybody's favorite movies.
it's paul thomas anderson's favorite movie, which shows when you watch magnolia
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thodoks wrote:
Man, they really will give anyone an internet connection these days.
it's paul thomas anderson's favorite movie, which shows when you watch magnolia
I've never noticed it before, but you're right. I see a lot of Scorcese in that one too.
I've always compared this movie to Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd. It'd make a great double feature. I never thought I'd say this, but I think I actually prefer Andy Griffith's performance to that of Peter Finch, though Network is the better film overall.
_________________ ...and a bitter voice in the mirror cries, "Hey, Prince, you need a shave."
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:47 am Posts: 27904 Location: Philadelphia Gender: Male
Network (1976): Directed by Sidney Lumet
sat•ire –noun
1. the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
What could have possibly made for a better subject to satirize in the 1970’s than television? It was the most popular form of home-based media in the country; the average person could afford a TV set, and they could use the instrument for two purposes: entertainment (sitcoms, serials, etc.) and to keep up on the news, which, unlike with radio or print media, included moving pictures of what was happening in the world. Network asks the question, “What if we sensationalized the news to make it more entertaining?†In 2007, this doesn’t seem the least bit unusual, but thirty years ago the idea must have seemed ludicrous. Hence a film that was produced as a satire eventually became prophetic and disturbingly real.
Howard Beale (Peter Finch) is a fallen hero of the golden age of television who spends most of his time outside (and sometimes inside) of the studio drinking and talking about suicide. He’s worked as a TV anchor his whole life, and as a younger man earned incredibly high ratings for his news program, thanks in part to his colleague and friend Max Schumacher (William Holden). Like any king of the mountain, he has long been dethroned and has lost the public’s interest—until one night while on the air when he unexpectedly goes off on an over-the-top rant that reignites his public appeal. While Max worries about his friend’s mental health, career-obsessed Vice President of programming Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) wants to keep Howard on the air (much to the chagrin of the network higher-ups) to exploit his so-called madness and make the network a ton of money through higher ratings and share. Before long, Beale’s program has become not only the network’s fiscal savior, but a ray of hope to all of his viewers as well. But how long can it last until people tire of him yet again, and how does the network cross that bridge when they approach it?
A good satire is dependent upon a great script, and boy did writer Paddy Chayefsky hit a homerun with this one. The dialogue is so sharp it cuts right to the bone, and the dramatic aspects of these characters’ lives are blended in quite nicely to make the story funny as hell as well as forcing us to become emotionally involved with them. Though he won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for this gem, Chayefsky never could have imagined that modern life has 100% imitated his art, which is certainly not for the better. Turn on your TV right now and you may very well see a crusty, bitter old man (Bill O’Reilly, anyone?) spouting off racist remarks about Arabs or just about any other demographic. Or maybe you’ll flick your remote a couple of channels up, in which you encounter a reality TV show that exploits the sadness of real people in order to attain a higher audience count. And maybe, just maybe, people who start off with a genuine terrorist/rebel cause can be bought and will betray their beliefs after becoming punch-drunk on money and fame. Not too much of a stretch, is it?
But ultimately, you don’t have to care about politics or the inner-workings of TV network protocol to enjoy Network. It’s universal in as where anyone can enjoy it. But for those who choose to look closely, it’s as biting a satire as ever created; this and Dr. Strangelove would make fine companion pieces to showcase the best of the genre. I watched this again last week in preparation for this write-up, and I can’t believe I never saw the many, many Christ-like attributes to Finch’s character. Chalk another one up to the script, to Finch, and to Lumet as well. No one can, or should, consider themselves a fan of movies without seeing this one at least once. And chances are good that if you see it once, you’ll want to see it again.
“I’M MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GONNA TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!â€
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