Quiz Show (1994)

Based on true events that transpired during NBC's rise to prominence with televised quiz shows in 1958, Quiz Show is an enrapturing tale of television gone wild and its tendril influence on the American population. Though Quiz Show doesn't shine an infracted light on television and the corruption and lack of regulation directly, it does raise a lot of questions about what we're willing to believe in order to stay entertained. In an era that caters to the Kardashian clan and other reality blights; this film draws a lot of parallels to modern situations and even predicts our nation's complacency in forms of television that are neither true nor lacking in debilitation. Though quiz shows in the fifties didn't hurt anyone and lent to education, they were also based on enjoyment of the American public, therefore only letting who they wanted win based on biased beliefs. The story covers a rigged game and the prominence of Charles Van Doren, an instructor at Columbia who was supplied the answers, winning a considerable amount of money while selling the product Geritol and giving the show Twenty-One high viewership. The film is very emotional and brings up the questions of what is truth, what are the public being led to believe in order for big wigs to win out financially, and should we trust the box in our living rooms over what we know to be true. Though it's an amazing story and a turning point in advertising taking over television and influencing all new forms of media, it's the tension over the investigation that keeps this film thrilling. Ralph Fiennes is the intellectual pretty boy, a role that he was born to play, and though he usually grates on my nerves, here he is neither condescending nor problematic to the rest of the story. The casting of the entire film was spot on. Rob Morrow as the investigating government agent who likes Van Doren but also has to bring down all the people around him was perfect, with his easy accent and intense scrutiny of the indiscretion around him. Turturro does irritate like a bothersome gnat, while also being pitiful and naïve. This film is so sickeningly good it makes me cringe to think about everything yet it's also so important. Certainly my favorite Redford directed film.