Posted on 06/16/2010 10:33:40 AM PDT by Bokababe
The other day I ran across a clip from the 1976 film "Network" -- of course, the "Mad As Hell" speech which is a perfect match for the political mood of the country today.
But then I remembered there were some other great speeches & scenes, and when I reviewed them again, sure enough -- it right on the money for today!
No, I am not saying that a writer in 1976 had some magical powers to predict the future, but yesterday's hyperbola is today's reality. How weird is that?
The World is a Corporate Holding Company
Yeah Bill O plays more to the man of the people regular guy in the middle than Beck does...so I can definitely see that.
Yes, Cheyefsky was an incredible genius, intellectually and emotionally. He had the ability to tell an "every man story" with incredible elegance.
But when Murdoch tells O’Reilly to jump, O’Reilly says “How High?”
Any man who lived under Communism, like Chayefsky, will have insight the average American can never have.
I’m existentially mad as hell.
Kill your television.
It was a prescient movie for sure. Finch was amazing. Bobby Duval is always great, and Faye Dunaway was still hot back then. But I don’t like old William Holden.
In general I just don’t like movies from the 70’s, with the exception of the Godfathers and Outlaw Josey Wales. Overall it was a pointless decade, particularly for Hollywood.
French Connection won best picture and in 72 and I thought that movie sucked.
Just my opinion. I have a friend who says Network is his favorite movie. So I guess everyone is different.
Ned’s Atomic Dustbin were visionaries, too.
Actually I loved many of the 1970's films & TV shows, because in many cases it was the last time we ever got to see some of the old 30's, 40's and 50's stars in acting roles.
And, while maybe they thought wrong, the 70's was still an era when people thought about their lives and what mattered to them. There were some really powerful films -- The Godfather, The Deerhunter (that literally left me speechless) & some real brilliant pieces.
The 80's on, was mostly decadence and fluff in film & TV. Lowest common denominator pleasers.
But maybe that's just my take on it, too.
I loved the scene with all the hippies and flower children pondering over the linear programming results designed to maximize their own monetary returns.
The story was great, chillingly prophetic.
I only wish they wouldn’t have used all the foul language - it seemed that every other word was an f-bomb. Except for that, I’d watch it with a teenager.
You are right about the old stars fading away in the 70’s. I’m not sure I enjoyed watching them all get old.
The yuppie 80’s gave us a lot of movies about misunderstood teens. John Hughes, etc. The children of baby boomers, gen X. So spoiled, but in a different way than boomers.
Movies became more fun in the 80’s. Back to the Future and Indiana Jones.
Hollywood’s evolution has been interesting.
My favorite channel is TCM
“Paddy Chayefsky was a visionary. “Network” is one his finest scripts and one of the greatest films ever made.”
Agreed.
Which is why you will almost never see it shown on television.
Too bad that Peter Finch had to be awarded his Oscar posthumously.
You know, I watch the DVD so often (at least once a year) that I never noticed, but you’re right... I don’t think I’ve ever seen it television.
Agreed, except most teenagers I know could beat me at a swearing contest, even though they don't do it around me out of respect.
Frankly, if it were me, I tell the teenager, "Look, I don't like the swearing in this film, but otherwise the film's main message is something I think that you should see. This is in my opinion -- to a large extent -- what the world looks like today. The question is, how we fix it". Kids get it, often better than we think they do.
But that's just my two cents on the issue.
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