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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD EAN: 0012569692428 Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, Original recording remastered, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Languages: Manufacturer: Warner Home Video MPN: D66924D Number Of Items: 2 Publisher: Warner Home Video Region Code: 1 Release Date: February 28, 2006 Running Time: 121 minutes Studio: Warner Home Video Theatrical Release Date: 1976 Editorial Review: Amazon.com essential video: Media madness reigns supreme in screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky'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 (who each won Oscars), 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. --Jeff Shannon Description: Newscaster Howard Beale has a message for those who package reports of cute puppies, movie premieres and fender benders as hard news: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore." Sidney Lumet directs Paddy Chayefsky's satire (an Academy Award-winning* screenplay) about the things people do for love...and ratings. Three performers won Oscars.* Best Actress Faye Dunaway is the TV exec guarding ratings like a tigress protecting cubs. Best Actor Peter Finch is Beale, whose airwave rants become a phenomenon. And William Holden, Robert Duvall and Best Supporting Actress Beatrice Straight add to the fierce vitality. DVD Features: Audio Commentary:by Director Sidney Lumet Theatrical Trailer Documentaries:The Making of Network (6-part Documentary): The World and Words of Paddy Chayefsky; The Cast, the Characters; The Experience; The Style; Mad as Hell! The Creation of a Movie Moment; A Classic; Network by Walter Cronkite Featurette:Dinah! Episodes featuring Peter Finch (1976) and Paddy Chayefsky (1977) Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Still Pertains to this Day!Awesome picture which rings true to this very day! The message this movie sends is a relevant reflection of our Ameriacn society even unto the present. Rating:  - Great satireFilm director Sidney Lumet is, with the possible exception of Robert Wise, the most underrated director in Hollywood history. When one looks at the list of great films in Lumet's career: 12 Angry Men, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Fail-Safe, Serpico, Murder On The Orient Express, Dog Day Afternoon, and a handful of others, one marvels, not only at what he accomplished, but that he's spent a quarter-century having churned out nothing but mediocrity since 1982's The Verdict. Yet, of all the films ... Read More Rating: - Why this film is still relevant todayIt must have been at least 20 years since this film was made and it is amazing that it is still relevant today. Director Sidney Lumet has lined up fantastic cast and found even better screenwriter that has made this movie to be one of the everlasting classics of the American cinema. Throughout the film we observe characters from the network television pushing their way around network for their personal gain. The rule of the game is "ratings" and those better be good or heads will roll. And if ... Read More Rating: - Virtual reality and corporate cosmologyI saw "Network" when it was released in 1977. I'd just graduated from college and was still pretty wet behind the ears. Now, with thirty years' worth of experience in the world, I've watched the film again, and am stunned by how prescient it is. Screenplay author Paddy Chayefsky nailed it on both counts when he suggested that the world of television addicts us to artifice, and that money, not nationhood, is the new basic international unit. Incredible that he could've predicted all this a full ... Read More Rating: - An entertaining depiction of mass media's public influenceThis film is a wonderful combination of ideas on what the mass media system is doing to our perceptions of the world and how humanity is in constant struggle with the ways success has taken the place of real human emotions. It also presents the argument that corporate globalization is an inevitable process that will be to the ultimate benefit of mankind. A very interesting spin on so many of the most popular conspiracy theories. This film provokes serious thought on many controversial topics the ... Read More |
