
Network
1976, Drama/Comedy, 2h 1m
70 Reviews 25,000+ RatingsWhat to know
critics consensus
Driven by populist fury and elevated by strong direction, powerful acting, and an intelligent script, Network's searing satire of ratings-driven news remains sadly relevant more than four decades later. Read critic reviews
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Network Photos
Movie Info
Cast & Crew
Diana Christensen
Howard Beale
Max Schumacher
Frank Hackett
Louise Schumacher
Nelson Chaney
News & Interviews for Network
Critic Reviews for Network
All Critics (70) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (64) | Rotten (6)
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No performance is less than brilliant, with Dunaway particularly effective in the film's showiest role. Holden, Finch and Duvall, as always, contribute bed-rock-solid performances.
September 26, 2016 | Full Review… -
This tale of a failing network that feeds on the mental breakdown of one of its anchors, cannibalising itself for ratings, feels as savagely relevant now as it did when it was released nearly 40 years ago.
March 27, 2015 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review… -
The plot that Paddy Chayefsky has concocted to prove this point is so crazily preposterous that even in post-Watergate America -- where we know that bats can get loose in the corridors of power -- it is just impossible to accept.
July 18, 2011 | Full Review… -
The film's never been more timely.
February 17, 2011 | Rating: A | Full Review… -
Chayefsky was apparently serious about much of this shrill, self-important 1976 satire about television, interlaced with bile about radicals and pushy career women, and so were some critics at the time.
June 26, 2007 | Full Review… -
Slick, 'adult', self-congratulatory, and almost entirely hollow.
January 26, 2006 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for Network
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Mar 30, 2021Paddy Chayefsky takes a shot at societal prognostication with this artfully devised entertainment that imagines the fall and rise of a network anchorman who is cracking under the strain of remaining relevant near the end of his career. While the performances are first rate, award-worthy, its the point of the thing that carries the day here and, it's indeed a resonant work, if perhaps unheeded due entirely to it's very relevance.Kevin M. W Super Reviewer
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Jun 26, 2016it must've got low ratings. we should liberate the unthinking audience by assassinating the production team behind it! tell me how to eat my hot dog! god is now the internet. this is out of date!Sanity Assassin ! Super Reviewer
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Jan 21, 2014Peter Finch's ravings represent what a lot of people feel about being placed in a box by an employer unable to express frustrations in a productive way. Unfortunately Finch died before being rewarded with an Oscar. The performance speaks to many of us.John B Super Reviewer
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Sep 19, 2013An intelligent and hilarious satire whose main strength lies especially in a superb ensemble cast and a fantastic script that delights us with many priceless exchanges of dialogue as it offers us a relevant, thought-provoking social commentary on the television industry.Carlos M Super Reviewer
Network Quotes
Howard Beale: | I would like at this moment to announce that I will be retiring from this program in two weeks' time because of poor ratings. Since this show is the only thing I had going for me in my life, I've decided to kill myself. I'm going to blow my brains out right on this program a week from today. So tune in next Tuesday. That should give the public relations people a week to promote the show. You ought to get a hell of a rating out of that. 50 share, easy. |
Max Schumacher: | After living with you for the last six months, I'm turning into one of your scripts. Well, this is not a script, Diana. There's some real, actual life going on here. |
Diana Christensen: | Howard Beale is processed instant God, and right now, it looks like he may just go over bigger than Mary Tyler Moore. |
Frank Hackett: | Where's that put us, Diana? |
Diana Christensen: | That puts us in the shithouse. That's where that puts us. |
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