Network

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Network

R

Released Nov 27, 1976

2h 1m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

91%

Tomatometer

78 Reviews

93%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

In this lauded satire, veteran news anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) discovers that he's being put out to pasture, and he's none too happy about it. After threatening to shoot himself on live television, instead he launches into an angry televised rant, which turns out to be a huge ratings boost for the UBS network. This stunt allows ambitious producer Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) to develop even more outrageous programming, a concept that she takes to unsettling extremes.

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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.

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Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

Everything about the movie is thrilling and flawless.

Rated: 5/5

Jun 28, 2024

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

Like John Updike, Chayevsky and Lumet are here giving us Memories of the Ford Administration -- only they weren’t memories at the time. This was America as it was happening, suicidal ideations born of a scotch hangover, beamed live into every home.

Rated: 5/5

Jun 26, 2024

Full Review

Pauline Kael

New Yorker

The film looks negligently made; the lighting bleaches the actors' faces, like color TV that needs tuning, and the New York views outside feel like blown-up photographs.

Jan 20, 2024

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Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

Sidney Lumet's quick-paced direction feels remarkably fresh nearly half a century later. It also says something powerful about the state of the media today. And with their pointed personalities, the charismatic performances still zing.

Rated: 5/5

Jul 2, 2024

Full Review

Ian Kane

Epoch Times

“Network” is both a highly entertaining drama with lots of laugh-out-loud humor and a film that carries some very timely messages, ones that are extremely prescient in modern times.

Rated: 4.5/5

Feb 13, 2023

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Its awfully entertaining, thanks to the self-conscious theatrics of Paddy Chayefsky, the terrific performances, and Lumets steady eye keeping the real world in perspective as the circus comes to town and stays.

Apr 22, 2022

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Fer S

I thought it was way too slow. Not much happens in the movie. The ending is quite good though, but I do not think it is worth it. Should have been a shorter movie maybe.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/22/24

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Roger C

Don’t do it, it’s a ling and agonizing film!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

08/20/24

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Stefano L

Beyond the perfect casting, acting, and script - not enough accolades are given to the amazing editing and pacing of this syperb film, which gallops and glue’s one’s interest to the screen much more than many modern movies do! And Network has a lot more to say about America than the majority of modern films do!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/20/24

Full Review

stephen b

Ahead of its time. Imagine what they would have thought of the Internet. About 2/3 into the film it starts to drift before finally coming back to a conclusion that fits the absurdity of what they're trying to portray.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/20/24

Full Review

Julian S

Morally, it’s a tough watch, but if you can get through it, you’ll find some golden moments scattered among the rotten parts.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/12/24

Full Review

David G

Riveting performances by Dunaway, Finch, Holden, Duvall, Beatty take this amazing screenplay to the highest level. This movie is still absorbing 50 years later. The visuals of refrigerator sized computers and the menacing clacking of the newsroom teletype machines are harbingers of the disinformation mess we’re in today.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/03/24

Full Review

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Sidney Lumet

Director

Faye Dunaway

Diana Christensen

Peter Finch

Howard Beale

William Holden

Max Schumacher

Robert Duvall

Frank Hackett

Beatrice Straight

Louise Schumacher

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Synopsis

In this lauded satire, veteran news anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) discovers that he's being put out to pasture, and he's none too happy about it. After threatening to shoot himself on live television, instead he launches into an angry televised rant, which turns out to be a huge ratings boost for the UBS network. This stunt allows ambitious producer Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) to develop even more outrageous programming, a concept that she takes to unsettling extremes.

Director: Sidney Lumet
Producer: Howard Gottfried
Screenwriter: Paddy Chayefsky
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, United Artists
Production Co: United Artists, Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 27, 1976, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2008
Runtime: 2h 1m

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