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Network

Play trailer Poster for Network R Released Nov 27, 1976 2h 1m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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91% Tomatometer 79 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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Network

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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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Critics Reviews

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Kevin Maher The Times (UK) Everything about the movie is thrilling and flawless. Rated: 5/5 Jun 28, 2024 Full Review 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 The 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 Full Review Daniel Allen Loud and Clear Reviews Network acted as a troubling warning of where we were heading when it came to media, populist messages, commercialism, sensationalism and corporate dominance over all those fields. Perhaps we should have listened. Rated: 5/5 Jul 16, 2025 Full Review 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 Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Amazed by the glowing reviews. Um, I'm watching this for the first time in 2025. I'm a movie person. I got that it was Satire- but I couldn't understand what it was going for? TV as the godhead of all? There was cable when this came out and it was only a matter of time before the 4 major networks were going to at least be deluded by other networks?! I get the anything for ratings premise but I thought it a bit shortsighted and I didn't find much humor in the movie and when it's Satire= it has to be funny. I even tried putting myself in the time/era of when it was released, but to no avail. I'm not going to keep it for my collection and not sure why anyone thought it was great? Stumped. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 09/16/25 Full Review Byron H 4/4 Network foretold the world around us. This drive for original interesting content whether it be on TV, a streaming service, or an influencer. It's script rivals Citizen Kane & Chinatown as some of the best writing ever put on screen. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/15/25 Full Review Lorenz L The single most prescient film ever made. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/13/25 Full Review Farah R It’s easy to see why critics and audiences hail this satire as one of the best in Cinema, but Network is a boring film with unlikable characters. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/25/25 Full Review Clint A I was very surprised to see the raving reviews over this movie, and I know im just some dude so who cares what i think, but I literally created a rotten tomatoes account just to rate this movie poorly. seriously, save your time, while I can admire the nice cinematography and production quality of the movie, the overall story and message of the movie is very simple and basic and predictable. The acting is pretty good. The dialogue is extremely boring and the entire movie I just struggled to care about anything happening. There are no stakes, The characters are very hard to care about because everybody in the movie is extremely generic + there is no context/good backstory to any of them. it takes over 2 hours to convey a very basic message and it's just a waste of time. Not a poorly made film just painfully boring, and i never write reviews on things. 3/10 at its very best. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/08/25 Full Review Brett C Absolutely fantastic! 50 years ago but feels like right now. WOW. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/27/25 Full Review Read all reviews
Network

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Cast & Crew

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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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Network

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Movie Info

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
United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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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