Network

This movie wasn't on my radar in any way.  I had of course heard its catchphrase, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" - but had never really thought about its origins.

It was powerful!

The premise is a network struggling with coming in last in the ratings in 1975 - which would have been a fairly big deal back then, before cable, right?  The film is "satirical" which I generally assume means an exaggeration of reality for the sake of comedy, usually dark comedy.  I don't think I really thought the movie was funny, although the continuing game of musical chairs in terms of who's head of UBS (the fictional network in question) was kind of amusing...it doesn't take much for one person to get replaced by another.  Anyway, the primary storyline in the film is the on-air breakdown of a news anchor, which has interesting results, again driven by ratings.  Everyone in the movie is great, particularly Faye Dunaway, who plays a blindly ambitious director of programming; William Holden, who plays the network division president who unknowingly provokes the anchor's (Peter Finch) breakdown by letting him go because of poor ratings.  Robert Duvall, who plays Dunaway's boss, is also great, as is Ned Beatty - in the most passionate role I've ever seen him play...and I feel like I've seen him in a lot of stuff.

Anyway, I'm not going to add spoilers, because the film should stand on its own - but it was really good.

Availability: DVD only
Released: 1976
Added to my queue: 4/11/2010
Reason added to my queue: Netflix recommended based on my enjoyment of: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost in Translation, and Taxi Driver.