review by Colin the dude
Network 1976
Rewatched Jul 11, 2012
Colin the dude’s review:
Network gives me goosebumps with how perfect every aspect of it is. It is so huge in its dramatic scope you often have to laugh. The performances are perfect. Scarily perfect. Everyone. Peter Finch’s mad as hell speech is one of the definitive moments in 70s expression and it still blows me away in 2012. Of everyone though, it’s Bill Holden who secretly steals the show. He’s the wise, wrinkly, aging heart of the movie and he stunningly fits into the role like a glove. His best acting by a long shot. The whole experience is eerie, heartbreakingly honest, and astonishingly well written. I wish sometimes I could have the pleasure of sitting down for a big screen double feature in a 1976 theatre- Network and Taxi Driver. Cynical, blissful 70s film-making.
best damn screenplay.
Aside from a few dated references to 70s shows, the script is shockingly modern.
Absolutely, it's about reality TV and tabloid culture and they didn't even know it yet. Chayefsky's actual script is in a case at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. I don't think I've ever stared at a sheet of paper so long in my life.
Well put review, and totally agree on Holden. It's not the best film I've ever seen, but it is my favourite (and the script is the best ever written). Sometimes it's fun to think about how Rocky won the Oscar over this, Taxi Driver and All the President's Men. What a world we live in...
There's a reason the direct credit after the title Network in the beginning is "By Paddy Chayefsky"- it's his movie, his final cut.