A movie from 1976 ran on TCM the other night: Network, with Fay Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall and Marlene Warfield. Everyone over a certain age has probably seen this movie at least once, and if enough time has passed since the first time, the second time is just as refreshing; refreshing in the way a satire about an insane need for love, power, money and ratings at a TV network can be.
Watching it on the small screen the other day brought back some memorable scenes. The love scene between hard charging programing exec Diana Christensen (Fay Dunaway) and aging news producer Max Schumacher (William Holden) has to be seen to be believed. BTW, Fay Dunaway's character was so over the top yet believable that she won an Oscar for it.
Anyone watching this movie today will appreciate the timeless humor in the sub plot involving the Ecumenical Liberation Army. The ELA is a knockoff of the Symbionese Liberation Army with video taped bank robberies, a radical revolutionary agenda, and the whole lefty terrorist schmear.
Since the ELS consists of wanted criminals, Christensen brings in the head of the local Communist Party, Laureen Hobbs (Marlene Warfield) as the liaison with an offer to let her put on the "Mao Tse Tung Hour" in exchange for a weekly real crime video from the ELA. The first show was a ratings success, so the network has to get more which leads to this must-see scene in which the suits sit in the ELA hideout negotiating a contract. The Communist Hobbs steals the scene when she delivers an angry rant:
"Don't F__ with my distribution costs! I'm making a lousy 215 per session and I'm already deficiting 15 grand a week with Metro. I'm paying William Morris 10% off the top! ... The Communist Party's not going to see a nickle out of this G__D__ show til we go into syndication!"
Who says Commies can't be greedy? Hey, what do you know, here's that scene at Youtube. The blond girl playing the radical hippie chick is supposed to be Walter Cronkite’s daughter. And that should close the circle on this whole crazy network news experience.
P.S. Peter Finch played Howard Beale with the ubiquitous, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more!" But you knew that already.
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