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Howard Beale is angry in Network.
by Paul (movies profile)
Apr 12, 2008
3
of
3 people found this review helpful
Howard Beale is one of the most extrodinary characters in film history. He's angry, angry about the economy, society, politics, and how people use the television. He shouts, he rants, he tells everybody to go to their windows, open them, and yell, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" He yells it at the camera, drench from the rain, and wearing a an overcoat over his pajamas.
When I look back at Network after I see or want to see, I mainly want to look back at this character. He is incredible because of what he says and how he says it. Here is one of his epic speeches (thank you, IMDb):
"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
This speech is perfect to tell people from the 70's, but even more so today. Many people, back when this was released in 1976, wouldn't have ever believed that everything that Howard says and everything that happened to Howard could have or will have happened on TV. Well, now we can. With all of the mishaps that is going on television now, the most obvious example is the Janet Jackson incident. What happens at the end is shocking and abrupt, even though television executives talk about it first. Eventually, it's probably going to happen, hence this is one of the few films that grow better with age.
Peter Finch is the actor who plays Howard Beale. In the speech above, he gave it all he got the first time. The director asked for another shot, and Beale got halfway through it, and he was just wore out. He couldn't take it anymore. So, the second half of that scene was the second take, while the second half was the first take. Peter Finch died of a heart-attack before he was announced best actor of the year by the Academy in 1976, and after seeing his performance in Network, I believe that this film and his performance could maybe have something to do with his death? But it doesn't matter, no other actor could perform like how Finch did (the role was offered to Henry Fonda). Finch's performance is definately one of cinema's best.
This is amazing how many great performances that are packed into this film, and surprisingly, the academy noticed all but one, Robert Duvall, who was nomination worthy. This film also stars Faye Dunaway as Dianna Christianson, a heartless woman in charge of the primetime line-up for the fictional network UBS, which is being beat out by NBC, ABC, and CBS. Dianna convinces Frank Hacket, played by Robert Duvall, to keep Howard on the air after his unexpected rantings on his news broadcast, saying that he will kill himself live on the air, and then saying that he has ran out of bull*****, and then saying the speech above.
Another TV exec is Max Schumacher, who is in charge of the news division of UBS, and then he is put out of work because the primetime division is now in charge of the work division, and it is their choice to put Howard on the air. Max is played by William Holden. Of the four main characters, he is the only one with a calm personality and the only one with a heart. He, and a few others who we don't shine too much upon in the movie, are against exploiting Howard's obvious mental problems. He then finds romance with Dianna, while being married to Louise, played brilliantly by Beatrice Straight. Straight only appears on the screen for five minutes and forty seconds, and yet she won the best supporting actress oscar. Her performance is that good. Another great supporting performance is by Ned Beatty, who only showed up for a day on the set and he got nominated for an oscar. That is how much skill and talent on the screen.
Though it is strange, but Beale isn't the main character here. The main character is Dianna. She probably has the most screentime, and Faye also won best actress. She plays a woman that is so obsessed with her job that she can't keep a relationship going and is completely unable to raise a family (she even talks about ratings during sex!). She doesn't just want Howard telling what the people are thinking. She wants a new kind of primetime line-up. She doesn't want conventional shows about nothing, she wants shows that are anti-establishment, shows that speak for the people. This is even more about Holden and Dunaway and their romance/affair. But whenever Finch is on, he dominates, which is why he won best actor, not supporting actor.
Sidney Lumet (born 1924) has made other popular and controversial classics, such as Dog Day Afternoon, and has made other great movies such as 12 Angry Men, Serpico, and recently Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Network definately stands out of these others. He made this into a news satire, a drama, but also a dark comedy. He succeeds in all of those things, but according to Walter Kronkite, he thought it was just comedy because he knew that wasn't how a newsroom worked, but movies don't have to be accurate in every way.
Who is the person who thinks up of the genius dialogue that Finch delivers? Paddy Chayefsky was the one who wrote this clever and genius satire. This film is of many genres, and it does change from one kind of genre to another, but it doesn't do it so abruptly, it does it rather smoothly. It's like when we have had enough of Schumaker and Christainson, we go back to Hacket or Beale, and the other way around. The script is possibly the best in history. The writing here is like poetry.
Instead of this, or Taxi Driver, winning best picture in 1976, it went to Rocky. Rocky, to me, is just another inspirational sports film and that's it. Films like Taxi Driver and Network are much more rich films with a lot more to say, better acted and directed and written, and better films. One of many mistakes made by the Academy. I think that this is the best film of 1976, a poetic, thought-provoking, 2 hour tour de force that will make you want to revisit it again and again. |
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