Network
1976
Sidney Lumet
"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" According to the American Film Institute, that's the nineteenth-best movie quote of all time. This quote was also the only thing that I knew from or about Network, the critically acclaimed and award-winning film from 1976. I feel like maybe it's the only thing that has survived, culturally, into the 21st century. Compare it to the film that beat it for the 1977 Oscar for Best Picture—Rocky. Everyone knows Rocky. It remains culturally relevant, and not just because they are still churning out sequels. But I would guess that not many people my age (and with a comparable, i.e. low-moderate, knowledge of classic films) are familiar with Network. And if they are, that's probably only because they saw the "I'm as mad as hell" scene on Reddit or some bullshit like that.
And the funny thing about watching a film only because you are familiar with a famous quote is that the quote never quite lands in the way you expect it to. I assumed that Howard Beale was going to holler "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" at the climax of the film. But no! When the famous scene hits, there's still over an hour of movie left to go. That really caught me off-guard, but that's what happens when you assume, I guess. Thinking back at all the famously-quoted movies I've seen on this list so far, it usually goes this way. Jerry Maguire was a big one; "Show me the money!" was weird, and "You had me at 'hello'" landed flat. Really, only A Few Good Men's famous quote of "You can't handle the truth!" hit during the true climax of the film, and felt like a climax too.
Anyway, the fact that "I'm as mad as hell" happens with half the film left to go gives us a sense of what kind of movie this is. The line is cathartic in its raw emotion and basic truth. People are mad as hell, and maybe it just feels good for the schmoes like me and you to yell about it out the window during a thunderstorm. The system is fucked, and Howard Beale is right to call it out.
Anyway, the fact that "I'm as mad as hell" happens with half the film left to go gives us a sense of what kind of movie this is. The line is cathartic in its raw emotion and basic truth. People are mad as hell, and maybe it just feels good for the schmoes like me and you to yell about it out the window during a thunderstorm. The system is fucked, and Howard Beale is right to call it out.
But as the film progresses, it is gradually revealed to have layers beyond that. The first level is one of self-awareness. The big romantic fight scene between William Holden's Max and Faye Dunaway's Diana includes accusations like "it feels like you want your life to be like on of your scripts!" and meanwhile, Network is itself scripted. So it felt like a film that was trying to escape itself, and almost got there. The second level is basically a farce, but one that never laughs or flinches. A lot of the movie follows the "execs" of the TV station, and their quest for bigger ratings and, thus, bigger profits. Diana is leading the charge, first turning Howard Beale into a messianic figure / TV ratings bonanza, then... well, we follow these profit-driven villains to their logical conclusion. When Howard Beale begins his decline in the ratings, they have him murdered on air.
A shocking, glorious, and deeply cynical ending. Knowing that a key moment of the film was a man yelling "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" made me think that this was going to be a hopeful film, perhaps cathartic in an underdog-wins-the-day sort of way. Nope. A cathartic moment, for sure, but the hour that follows that moment underlines the fact that everything will be sucked up by the great gaping maw of the brutal capitalistic machine eventually. We see celebrations of Howard Beale's great angry exaltation, but those celebrations are due to the big ratings that Beale is going to bring in, and the money that is going to pour into the station's shareholders' pockets. The revolution is only allowed to exist because it is profitable. And when it's even hinted at that the profits are going to take a dip, a hitman is hired. These people would kill Christ again because imagine how many people would tune in.
I marvel at the casualness that Network barrels toward its conclusion. Maybe that speaks more to what it predicted of the future than to what it explained of its present. What is obvious today—capital is king, democracy is offered in ritual sacrifice so that Fox News can thrive—might not have been so obvious in the mid-'70s. Howard Beale yelled on TV that the TV is an evil and is going to lead you down the wrong path, and he bid his audience to turn off their TVs right now, and no one did. And then one of those television zealots who reaffirmed his kingship via the almighty dollar and underlined his disdain for those less powerful than he then went on to win the U.S. Presidency. They're calling for more lynchings on television; are we really that far away from the so-called "absurd" reality that is presented in Network?
I don't think a film has to be "prescient" for it to be great. Network succeeds in how its prescience kind of sneaks up on you. First, it feels normal. Then, the assassination, and you're taken aback regarding how absurd it is. Then you sit on it for a couple hours or a couple days and it dawns on you that maybe that isn't so absurd after all. Network is cynical, and there's an immense truth in that cynicism. I'm as mad as hell, and I'm going to take it for as long as I can.
GRADE: 4.5 pukes out of 5
NEXT TIME: Got a couple pals returning to give their takes on No Country for Old Men.
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