Just got done watching "Network" on the netflix and oh boy....

[ejpoeta]

you guys who have been referring to it weren't just a shitting. A guy goes on the tv and says matter of factly that he is going to kill himself on the show next week and that will give them time to promote it. he says bullshit like a bunch of times. wow!!! first of all, it was hilarious watching the old typewriters etc. but it was a good movie.

[Bonobo]

1. I was mad as hell and I couldn't take it anymore.

So I left America and told it to fuck off down the street.

[ejpoeta]

3. sometimes i wish i could leave. i am scared at what i see happening.

i have three daughters... what is there future going to be like with this anti woman crap going on!

[FormerDittoHead]

2. CBS showed it on the air with the word "Bullshit".

I was kinda surprised. It was quite a while ago.

I saw it in the theater. Lots of great performances.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Sidney Lument who directed Network just died.

This is a great film. The following is from the Screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky, and I think it is the most important passage in any modern American film. Mad as Hell speech, good stuff, but this is the truth on ice.


Howard Beale:
Edward George Ruddy died today! Edward George Ruddy was the Chairman of the Board of the Union Broadcasting Systems, and he died at eleven o'clock this morning of a heart condition, and woe is us! We're in a lot of trouble!
Howard Beale: So. A rich little man with white hair died. What has that got to do with the price of rice, right? And *why* is that woe to us? Because you people, and sixty-two million other Americans, are listening to me right now. Because less than three percent of you people read books! Because less than fifteen percent of you read newspapers! Because the only truth you know is what you get over this tube. Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube! This tube is the Gospel, the ultimate revelation. This tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers... This tube is the most awesome God-damned force in the whole godless world, and woe is us if it ever falls in to the hands of the wrong people, and that's why woe is us that Edward George Ruddy died. Because this company is now in the hands of CCA - the Communication Corporation of America. There's a new Chairman of the Board, a man called Frank Hackett, sitting in Mr. Ruddy's office on the twentieth floor. And when the twelfth largest company in the world controls the most awesome God-damned propoganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this network?
Howard Beale: So, you listen to me. Listen to me: Television is not the truth! Television is a God-damned amusement park! Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, side-show freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We're in the boredom-killing business! So if you want the truth... Go to God! Go to your gurus! Go to yourselves! Because that's the only place you're ever going to find any real truth.

Bye bye Sidney.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Time to get my own copy of that movie.

A keeper.

[misanthrope]

7. Just as heavy was the speech that elicited from Ned Beatty's character...

...When they escorted Beale upstairs and Beatty told him how things were, it was reality laid bare for whoever wanted to listen.

[closeupready]

6. Faye Dunaway at her absolute best, to say nothing of all the other great

performances, writing, direction, etc. A classic of American cinema. Glad you enjoyed it. :)

[lunatica]

8. It was even better when it first came out

It was a trend setter. One of a kind at the time. It hit the bulls eye with audiences because for the first time the audience realized it was based of truth.

[blogslut]

9. They broke the mold when they made Paddy Chayefsky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddy_Chayefsky

"The Hospital" is on Netflix streaming.

[Octafish]

10. +1

"Genius" is an understatement.