Network Reviews and Ratings


  • adfill7
    November 21, 2009
    adfill7
    Though I appreciate the satire, this movie was almost too ridiculous for my taste. Maybe I just don't get it.
  • SirPant
    November 10, 2009
    SirPant
    A masterpiece and one of the best films of the 70's (and ever). The direction, performances and story are all perfect and the script is hilariously subtle and quite relevant to today's sociality. Perfect film making, definitely in my top 100, probably in my top 25! Howard Beale i...( read more)s also one of the best film characters ever written!
  • agonzalez7000
    November 4, 2009
    agonzalez7000
    Deep and somewhat okay very twisted movie that has the evils of television as its core.
  • Nighthawk246
    October 23, 2009
    Nighthawk246
    "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." Network is a great film, with superb acting on display, especially from Peter Finch, and a fantastic script. The movie is truly prescient regarding the current state of media culture as well as modern day corporate and bu...( read more)siness attitudes. It?s a searing and caustic satire that?s entertaining from the beginning to the very end.
  • anastasia57001
    October 12, 2009
    anastasia57001
    Sidney Lumet's "Network" was at least a few decades ahead of its time - that's why it feels so relevant today. It's an excellent take on the power of the media and an ever better one on media frenzy!

    An excellent cast works wonders with the reality hammered by a very accurate a...( read more)nd very inspired script. William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, you just can't pick who's doing the best job here- and Dunaway does her part a solid.

    All in all, a classic piece of film-making that's worth spending 2 hours on, as it addresses issues that are very much alive today, like terrorism, capitalism... and mentally challenged television prophets.
  • ElCochran90
    September 12, 2009
    ElCochran90
    What an outstanding social liberalist commentary for the masses!

    Network deals with Howard Beale, an old and soon-to-be fired from a powerful television company because of his age: The United Television Network. Since he can't fully accept the idea that he will be dismissed fr...( read more)om his 25 year work, he announces he'll commit suicide, ending up becoming a controversial and liberalist social influence for the masses that incredibly raises the TV ratings for the company. Soon, he's used for the mere purpose of gaining a bigger audience and even is able to have his own program. The tone in his messages and comments turns so pessimistic that everything goes down, thanks to the blindness caused by the power, greed and ambition of the same company.

    The script is absolutely awesome, the acting is unbelievable, and the pacing of the direction throughout is perfectly adequate. A rare American masterpiece of 1976, Network is a film to be enjoyed and looked at several times, but to think about the intention therein nevertheless.

    88/100
  • InTheFleshOfBlood
    September 9, 2009
    InTheFleshOfBlood
    This is one of those truly rare movies in which every single actor hit's his career best performance. The writing sparkles throughout the entire movie, the plot is perfectly imagined, and the characters are all great. This is one movie that deserves to be remembered.
  • gih3
    September 2, 2009
    gih3
    One Hell of a Remake
  • sanjurosamurai
    August 31, 2009
    sanjurosamurai
    they just dont make films like this anymore. an absolute genuine masterpiece of filmmaking, the highlight of the already brilliant career of sydney lumet. the acting was stellar, especially the performance of william holden, and the film was flawlessly directed. a perfect comm...( read more)entary on the effect of t.v. and big business on the world and a brilliantly crafted film all around makes for one of the best american films in history.
  • StewartMc
    August 21, 2009
    StewartMc
    THE Media Satire to rule them all!
  • SageSlowdive
    August 12, 2009
    SageSlowdive
    A brilliant masterpiece.
  • SummonMorphling
    August 12, 2009
    SummonMorphling
    Flixster - Shar
    ...( read more)e Movies

    I'd just like to come on, make some brief farewell statement and then turn the show over to Jack Snowden. I have eleven years at this network, Max. I have some standing in the industry. I just don't want to go out like a clown. It'll be simple, dignified.


    Today, television is a tough, hard-bitten business - everybody's jobs, whether they be janitor, executive, or actor - are run by the ratings. Your entire career counts on a single sheet of paper that tells how many people watched your shows the night before. Sidney Lumet\'s \'Network\' is undoubtedly the most truthful and bitterly prophetic tale of a challenging network that runs an insane man\'s life on the line just for some miserly rating, in fierce competition with the three larger networks. It's uncanny to look at today's prime time lineups and cable news channels, and see how truthfully it was depicted more than twenty years ago. Who knew writer Paddy Chayefsky could predict the mishaps of daily talk soups and biased connections with radical groups? It's amazing to think about.


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    In 1976, the smallest of the four large major broadcasting channels, Union Broadcasting System, has fallen down in the charts so quickly, that they've decided to do some spring cleaning and take out a few of its weak spots. But the company did the wrong thing when they fired veteran news anchorman Howard Beale (Finch) after 30 years on the air. Since Howard doesn't take this well, he decides to announce live on air that he is going to kill himself on the next Tuesday, because he's 'sick of all the bulls**t'. The ratings go up sky high, and the network decides to keep Beale on and allow him to rant as much as he wants. Howard's good friend Max (Holden) doesn't think the idea is any good because of Beale's instability, and so chief exec Frank Hackett (Duvall) fires him. A heartless rating chief who Max has fallen in love with, Diana (Dunaway), cares nothing about Beale's sanity and decides to keep the show running, and give him a prime-time spot. But when Beale starts spreading the truths about how the network is using him, the ratings are dropping by the minute, and something needs to be done to stop Howard Beale...such as murder.


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    This cast is amazing and heartstopping in every way. Faye Dunaway, who won an Oscar for Best Actress for it in 1976, is pure perfection as Diana Christensen, who has not one shred of decency or dignity within her - taking care of the ratings as if it was a life-or-death situation. She is cruel, heartless, and unforgiving, realizing only till the end that she has lost her connection to reality and humanity because of her constant hopeless dedication to the network. When the scenes begin to reel of her network dealing with a terrorist radical group that robs and brainwashes Americans into joining their liberation army, the audience realizes the low depths that her heart would sink just to get a couple more bucks in her pocket. William Holden is also excellent, as the one sane worker of UBS, who can not understand how the channel would go through all the trouble just to help increase the network's share. He develops a close relationship with Diana, but then significantly stops it when he realizes that there's 'nothing left in you that I can live with'. His realization of what he has done to his family and how he has dropped all of that for a woman with no soul is very realistic. Frank Hackett, played by Duvall, is even more evil and maniacal than Diana and Beale combined - he is greedy, pushy, and hateful - and is fueled by the power of money. But the cake goes to Peter Finch, who perfects the role of the insane Howard Beale, who has become an iconic symbol for the ranting and raving airwave slots, and has personified his unforgettable phrase 'I'm mad as hell, and I\'m going to take this anymore!' He is frantic, short-temper, and a grumbling lunatic - one that can only be remembered by his rain-soaked trenchcoat as he stands behind his wooden newsroom platform, screaming out his prophecies of the world. It is purely horrific brilliance.

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    Network has an very haunting personality. At times, it's very darkly humorous, as we watch Beale jabber on and on about the wrongs of the world, and the insanity that Americans experience after watching TV. But sometimes it's plain scary, as Jensen, the corporate CEO, screams some sense into Beale and convinces him that he is God - an untruth, but scary as we watch the instable Beale accept it as true. Hackett talks at the very end of the film about \'whether to kill Howard Beale or not', wanting to \'hear everybody's opinions on the idea'. The fact that networks could drop this low, and be portrayed in the deadly serious fashion, is simply amazing. Lumet also uses the techniques involving light to help a scene's traction. The darkness of some scenes as well as the little worklight lamp from the desks give the impression of the emptiness of the offices. We watch as something so outrageously unpredictable becomes the biggest hit, beating All in the Family and the local news - it shows how obsessed television viewers are when they see something so wildly attractive such as Howard Beale telling them to stick their heads out of the windows and shout.

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    This film is one of the best ever created, undoubtedly. It's a chilling truth-bomb that has slowly become more of a prophecy than a movie as years have gone by. The art of television networking has been entirely exposed as well as the institutions that run along on our tubes at home. To watch as some talking head tells the entire world his point of views and then to be followed someone else's who is the polar opposite is just a prime example of how low we can go to sway people's beliefs. Perhaps Holden's character said it the best about television: 'Indifferent to suffering; insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality.' Somebody ought to tell the reality show makers for the networks this sometimes soon.

    5/5 stars - Highly Recommended
  • Marty78
    August 7, 2009
    Marty78
    I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!

    Starts off very entertaining for someone who only knows this film is about the media, love the way Howard tells everyone he is going to kill himself on air and no one in the newsroom is really paying any attention. If...( read more) anything about this film was true about the media in 1976 then it?s more true today than ever. The media will do whatever they can to get ratings no matter who they hurt to get it and this film shows this very well especially the ending.
  • lupaup
    July 30, 2009
    lupaup
    1001 filmes para ver antes de morrer
  • cep5101
    July 29, 2009
    cep5101
    Contains great acting and is ambitious but seems to fall a bit short of perfection.
  • cosmo313
    July 25, 2009
    cosmo313
    Boasting an excellent and Oscar winning script and featuring superb direction of an all-star cast (with three of the cast members winning oscars for their roles), Network is one of the most biting, venomous, and confrontational satires of all time, and stands out as being still f...( read more)resh and relatable and prophetic over 30 years after it's release. Calling this movie ahead of it's time is grossly understating the obvious. It's incredibly scary though just how prophetic this film is though. There are a few slow places, and people do tend to shout maybe a little too much, but those are just slight nitpicks. Other than those, this is an incredible film, and required viewing for everyone alive since in this day and age, it's impossible to go without getting ensnared by the grasp of some form of media.
  • brocksssssnyder
    July 23, 2009
    brocksssssnyder
    this shit should be shown in schools.
  • pier007
    July 13, 2009
    pier007
    The cruel and caustic story of Howard Beale, a newscaster who had a breakdown due to the loss of his family, the booze, and all the fallacies he regurgitated to millions of automatous viewers.
    The ugly truth is Beale's new weapon of choice to bury everything he despises, includin...( read more)g the greedy and corrupt superiors who placed him in his new job and labeled him as "the mad prophet of the airwaves" or "angry media messiah", immoral individuals who own that old brainwashing machine par excellence called television and whose only religion is that of the money and ratings.
    Fine performances. Outrageous and brilliant screenplay.
  • Louxchador
    July 11, 2009
    Louxchador
    What does it mean when the insane news anchor is the man with the most sense in the room?

    Everyone remembering the "mad as hell" monologue may be either the greatest homage or the greatest disservice to the movie, where madman Howard Beale is more of a greek chorus to the acti...( read more)ons of Faye Dunaway (can we have more sex symbols like her, please?) William Holden, and the boardroom execs. While some of the satire goes over the top, even in those moments you see glints of prescience. Lumet saw Clear Channel running the media and youtube viral vids and twitter feeds getting more airplay than an Iranian Political Analyst or a health care policy specialist. He foresaw TV where people shouted what you wanted to hear back at you. But he also saw the death of nation states and the supercedence of corporations that know no political boundaries. Globalization supporters like to think of that dirty little secret as something inherently new to Generation X and beyond, but Lumet, in what really is an awakening and disheartening movie, at least offers us millennials this small comfort - we didn't start the fire.
  • lizzardb72688
    July 7, 2009
    lizzardb72688
    DAMN! Good movie. Lots of great monologues. A lot of people watching this movie want to support the "I hate the government and the media" perspective, but the real take is that people will support crazy people if they put them on the television.
  • HorrorMovieCinema
    June 15, 2009
    HorrorMovieCinema
    ""NETWORK"... the humanoids, the love story, the trials and tribulations, the savior of television, the attempted suicides, the assassination -- it's ALL coming along with a galaxy of stars you know and love"


    Media madness reigns supreme in screenwriter Paddy Chayefsk...( read more)y's scathing satire about the uses and abuses of network television. But while Chayefsky's and director Sidney Lumet's take on television may seem quaint in the age of "reality TV" and Jerry Springer's talk-show fisticuffs, it's every bit as potent now as it was when the film was released in 1976.
    And because Chayefsky was one of the greatest of all dramatists, his Oscar-winning script about the ratings frenzy at the cost of cultural integrity is a showcase for powerhouse acting by Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight, and Oscar nominee William Holden in one of his finest roles. Finch plays a veteran network anchorman who's been fired because of low ratings. His character's response is to announce he'll kill himself on live television two weeks hence.
    What follows, along with skyrocketing ratings, is the anchorman's descent into insanity, during which he fervently rages against the medium that made him a celebrity. Dunaway plays the frigid, ratings-obsessed producer who pursues success with cold-blooded zeal; Holden is the married executive who tries to thaw her out during his own seething midlife crisis. Through it all, Chayefsky (via Finch) urges the viewer to repeat the now-famous mantra "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" to reclaim our humanity from the medium that threatens to steal it away
  • alexroy69
    June 13, 2009
    alexroy69
    Définitivement, ce film est encore meilleur au second visionnement. Un bon mélange de drame et d'humour noir, sans jamais tomber dans le mélo et avec toujours cette dose de réalisme qui rend l'ensemble crédible. Ça a bien vieilli cette bête-là.

    La distribution est pas mal canon ...( read more)et tout le monde fait un travail sensationnel. Je pense d'ailleurs que le jeu des acteurs est le point fort du film, qui souffre un peu d'un laisser-aller au niveau de la direction artistique et photographique, sensé rehausser le réalisme, je sais, mais quand même...

    La réalisation n'en demeure pas moins habile, bien que relativement effacée dans le plus pur style de Sydney Lumet, qui fait tout de même montre d'un talent de conteur indéniable. Il faut dire qu'il travaillait avec un scénario solide, et des dialogues qui suffisent presque à eux-seuls à soutenir le film.
  • vendettabacz
    June 9, 2009
    vendettabacz
    "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

    A satirical social commentary.
  • abbicabanding
    May 20, 2009
    abbicabanding
    Network (1976) is considered as one of the one hundred best films ever made and for good reasons. Instead of fading into irrelevance as is natural of films three decades past, Network resonates louder and sounds truer and becoming more relevant today. During its time, it was hail...( read more)ed because it handn?t been done before and it took risks but it took its place in history by being one of the few great films that became so much better with time.

    Indeed, there are political and cultural analogies throughout the picture that are dated. But the core of his vision remains startlingly clear and eerily prophetic. Howard Beale a composite of several different personalities with whom we have become all too familiar in the world of ?news-fo-tainment.? Or maybe a news ?celebrity? that hasn?t materialized yet. Maybe that is just how far ahead of its time Network really was.

    Chayefsky?s characters are, more often than not, over the top and one may argue that no one speaks that way but it is precisely this element that made the film more effective, leaving a mark in our minds and in the annals of film. Political satires come and go but Network went down to the audience with clarity of message and purpose. It is a riveting and grim tale of the sleaze surrounding the American television industry but rings true elsewhere. It is indeed one off the most powerful, influential and meaningful films ever made.

    http://aquarter.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/network-a-review/
  • sevendust420
    May 5, 2009
    sevendust420
    BEST MOVIE EVER.. simply put.
  • RThornhill
    May 2, 2009
    RThornhill
    I want you to stand up.....and rent this DVD.....
  • timedalkat
    May 1, 2009
    timedalkat
    Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet with William Holden and Faye Dunaway. Awesome. Probably one of the greatest films ever made.
  • Rossjm
    April 13, 2009
    Rossjm
    A different, clever satire. Network is known as a clssic now and always should be.

    Odd in many ways yet also very down to earth, this film messes with you. You can laugh, you can be sat on the edge of your seat and you can sit with your mouth wide open with awe. This is a sati...( read more)re on a whole other level. It is a film experiance you will never forget.

    Peter Finch won a much deserved posthumous oscar for his role as Howard Beale, who has to be one of the best film characters of all time. His record was unique until Heath Ledger won for The Dark Knight, in a performance that when compared to Finch, is like one you could find in any recent spoof film like Epic Movie.
    2 other cast members won deserved oscars too. Dunaway, who was long due one ever since she played Bonnie in Bonnie and Clyde and Beatrice Straight, who's role may be short, even short for a supporting role, but was still magnificent nonetheless and had a powerful enough impact on the film to make her win deserved.

    However, it could be the screenplay that is the most standout part of the film. Also winning an oscar, it portrays in a clever way, a funny and shocking tale of how televison is run behind the scenes and some really memorable lines are spoken. "I'm mad as hell, and i'm not going to take itanymore" probably being the best and most famous.

    Again, Sidney Lumet does a great directorial job, showing how versatlie he is. From 12 Angry Men, the drama and Dog Day Afternoon, the unconventional thriller and then this, the odd satire. And look, all of them are classics. Lumet really is one of the best directors, with some great 70's films, yet overshadowed by other great directors like Scorsese and Spielberg, who found fame in this decade.

    A film that takes you on a journey of different feelings and it does so in a gripping and entertaining way.
  • DustinPrewitt
    March 31, 2009
    DustinPrewitt
    heavy handed, and a tad imbalanced, but still bitterly bleak, and a darkly prophetic of the world of network news to come.
  • JATbobDYLAN93
    March 22, 2009
    JATbobDYLAN93
    I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
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    Trulley one of the greatest film of all time. with some of the most amazing preformece ive ever seen with Finch, Holden, Dunaway & Duvall, this is a film im coming to remeber for rest of my life.
  • Jossepi
    March 21, 2009
    Jossepi
    This is the single most important film that taps into the depth of the basic failing structure of the entire society as a whole--That the entire system is build for only one illusion: Profit for the few on the top of the pyramid while others are blindly entertained and educated w...( read more)ithout critical thinking. We must think and regain humanity that we have value that is far more than a pawn in the hands of the players of this money game.
  • BigBabyJesus
    March 15, 2009
    BigBabyJesus
    Satirical look at Network News, that is eerily prescient today. I see bits of Fixed News, CNN, MSNBC and Rush Limbaugh in this movie. Stellar performances from Holden, Finch and Dunaway. Highly recommended.
  • tucoldscorpio
    March 12, 2009
    tucoldscorpio
    Bar none one of the greatest movies ever!
  • aleksei96
    March 11, 2009
    aleksei96
    Metaphorical satire about an old news anchor going mad, everything that happens after that is prophetic regarding what TV has become. Good acting, interesting ideas, weird subplots... all in all an interesting and adult movie.
  • berigan
    March 9, 2009
    berigan
    Serio-comic scripting at its best. Fantastic performances and much like other films from this general period, even interium events have not caught oup to Paddy's vison! A masterpiece in every way.
  • Eyecircus
    February 28, 2009
    Eyecircus
    As Network had been on my must-see list for a decade, when I eventually saw it a few months ago the build-up had all but fizzled.
    Lucky it was exceptional, bold and brilliantly subversive. A script decades ahead of its time sears with authenticity given by the ensemble cast.
    It ...( read more)speaks of the loss of free-speech, corporate control and the behemoth that is the commercial media. It feels volumes louder now than when it was released in 25 yrs ago, given that, well, it's 25 yrs on and it's just gotten worse.

    It's provides an unmarred view through the looking glass into the Television industry of the 70's. As 'Sandy Hildebrandt' below said: 'its relevance to today's world is bordering on prescient', touche.
  • robfearon
    February 24, 2009
    robfearon
    A hilarious and disturbingly prophetic look at the silliness of TV news.
  • buddywbond
    February 20, 2009
    buddywbond
    a scathing look at the television industry that actually has more relevance today than it did when it was released.
  • ember22
    February 11, 2009
    ember22
    Brilliant on so many levels. Only the second film I've ever given a five star rating bar two documentaries, and this is why.

    Not only is this film powerful and affective, it's also true. Everything is true, and that's why its brilliant.
  • Tetsuo8
    February 8, 2009
    Tetsuo8
    An amazing look at what lengths network will take to be #1 on the air.....informative and scary
  • marylanenalyram
    February 4, 2009
    marylanenalyram
    Jeer for movie stories played out in a movie. music swells over.
    super mad(ness).
  • jules07d
    January 31, 2009
    jules07d
    Seeing someone lose it on air is hilarious!
  • ralch
    January 25, 2009
    ralch
    WIDESCREEN. De ser una sátira ágil, fascinante y con los arcos de sus personajes bien delineados, pasa a convertirse en una sucesión de discursos y artificios autoreferentes. Por lo menos los discursos son bastante interesantes. Las actuaciones son excelentes. / What begins as an...( read more) agile and fascinating satire, with well-delineated arches for its characters, becomes a succession of speeches and self-referential artifices. The speeches are interesting, however. The performances are excellent.
  • undeadfeature
    January 25, 2009
    undeadfeature
    A marvelous film that takes a look at how far the execs will go for ratings, truly shocking in its final act. I wonder if they handed oscars out to the entire cast, they sure earned them. I love the messages it confronts and the themes it purveyes. Not many movies have that and m...( read more)aintain their pure entertainment value. It is also an exhibition of some of the most well written dialouge I've ever heard. Oh, and that "Mad as hell scene"? I believe I can safely say that it is one of the best scenes in all of cinema.
  • doqtor
    January 22, 2009
    doqtor
    S.Lumet really can get the best out of his cast, and 5 nominees and 3 wins in actor categories for Oscar proves that point. But, this movie gives more than any Oscar can award it. Because it's more than just a movie. It was, and still is the best critical vision of Americas and G...( read more)olbal economy, which is masterfully explained by Mr.Jensen(Ned Beatty) in only one scene. A must see.
  • wildandcrazygal
    January 18, 2009
    wildandcrazygal
    Faye Dunaway, Best Actress, 1976, as "Diana Christensen" in "Network".
  • jeffckelly
    January 17, 2009
    jeffckelly
    Absolutely brilliant. Ten times more relevant in 2009 than it was in 1977. More like a brilliant stageplay than a film (cuz it was written by a playwright). Felt the whole time that I was finally watching a movie created for grownups. My new favorite Bob Duvall performance.
  • smith44
    January 17, 2009
    smith44
    "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Network is one of the best films I've seen in a long time and easily one of the best films ever.

Summary

Network Summary