Shadows on the Wall

Network

Review by Rich Cline | MUST SEE

dir Sidney Lumet
scr Paddy Chayefsky
prd Howard Gottfried
with Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, Beatrice Straight, Ned Beatty, Marlene Warfield, William Prince, Conchata Ferrell, Wesley Addy, John Carpenter, Ken Kercheval
release US 14.Nov.76,
UK 17.Feb.77
reissue 28.Jun.24 for Lumet's centenary
76/US MGM 2h01

PRE-SHADOWS AWARDS:
BEST FILM OF 1976

Is it streaming?

With a lacerating script by Paddy Chayefsky, this searing satire is fast-talking and terrifyingly prescient as it explores the clash between genuine news reporting and corporate ownership. This was something new in 1976, but 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.

After being sacked for bad ratings, national TV news anchor Howard Beale (Finch) announces he'll kill himself live on his final broadcast. News division head Max (Holden) scrambles to calm things down, but the network boss (Duvall) uses this crisis to restructure, tired of losing money on news. Head of programming Diana (Dunaway), who has long had a crush on Max, suggests that Howard's unpredictable behaviour could actually be a ratings bonanza, so she repackages the news as an entertainment show. And Howard rather enjoys being "an angry prophet denouncing the hypocrisies of our time".

Vivid characters fill the screen, played to the hilt by a first-rate cast, three of whom won Oscars, along with Chayefsky. Finch is of course iconic as the truth-speaking crazed newsman, while Dunaway is at the peak of her powers as the voracious Diana ("I eat anything"). This is one of Holden's most nuanced turns, especially in a wrenching conversation with his wife, beautifully played by Straight. And several side performers, such as Beatty and Warfield, get show-stopping scenes all their own.

This is a bracing depiction of the commodification and weaponisation of news, and it serves as an important reminder of what we have lost and why. Very few satires are able to be this cutting without ever turning silly. This film relentlessly shouts the things no one has the nerve to say, even today. The executives' final discussion is simply jaw-dropping. And even now, the film reminds us that television isn't the truth, it's still an amusement park.

On a personal note, this is one of the key films that set me on a path to becoming a critic. As a young teen watching this for the first time, I didn't really like it, but I knew the film was smart and staggeringly well written and played. It said things I had never thought about, and taught me that the greatest movies are those that aren't mere entertainment: they entertain because they have the courage of their convictions.

themes, language, violence, sexuality revisited 22.Jun.24

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