With stunning prescience, Sidney Lumet's searing satire of television and the contemporary moment chronicles media corruption and the way that the public buys into the myths the media creates. The moral and spiritual turpitude delivered by the debilitating forces of television are rendered in sharp relief against a backdrop of crumbling humanity in what is regarded as one of the great satires in Hollywood history. With a visceral script from Paddy Chayefsky, NETWORK follows the doomed path of aging newsman Howard Beale (Peter Finch), who, upon learning that he is to be fired after decades as a news anchor, announces to millions of viewers that he will publicly commit suicide during his last broadcast. When the ratings consequently shoot up, hungry executive-in-training Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) seizes the moment to exploit Beale's Messianic nervous breakdown, turning his rage into the vehicle for the network's first Number One show and a nationwide craze. Who could have predicted that this 1976 film might someday influence an even more contagious trend in television broadcasting: the reality show?

Sidney Lumet's NETWORK takes a close look at the lengths to which television stations will go to improve their ratings--pulling publicity stunts, playing up news team dramas, and constantly scheming behind the scenes.

Theatrical release: November 27, 1976.

Filmed on location in New York City.

The film is Peter Finch's last big-screen project; his last performance was in the TV movie RAID ON ENTEBBE.

NETWORK is number 66 on the American Film Institute's list of America's 100 Greatest Movies.

NETWORK was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2000.

Beatrice Straight won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress despite logging mere minutes onscreen, causing a minor uproar.

Excerpt: "So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it and stick your head out and yell, 'I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!'"--Howard Beale (Peter Finch)

"You're messing with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale!"--Arthur Jensen (Ned Beatty) to Howard Beale

DVD Features:

2-Disc Set
Keep Case
Special Edition
Audio:
Mono 1.0 English
Mono 1.0 French

Peter Finch: Oscar-winning Australian Actor/In UK
Faye Dunaway: Oscar winning american actress, NETWORK
William Holden: American actor, STALAG 17, SUNSET BOULEVARD, NETWORK
Robert Duvall: American Actor/Director
Wesley Addy: American actor, HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE
Ned Beatty: American character actor
Beatrice Straight: American Character Actress, NETWORK (1976)
Arthur Burghardt: 
Bill Burrows: 
Jordan Charney: American TV/Film Actor
Kathy Cronkite: 
Ed Crowley: 
Jerome Dempsey: 
Conchata Ferrell: American actress, TWO AND A HALF MEN
Gene Gross: 
Stanley Grover: 
Cindy Grover: 
Darryl Hickman: American TV/Film Actor
Mitchell Jason: 
Paul Jenkins: 
Ken Kercheval: American TV/Film Actor
Kenneth Kimmins: 
Lynn Klugman: 
Carolyn Krigbaum: 
Zane Lasky: 
Michael Lombard: Actor/Australian?
Pirie MacDonald: 
Russ Petranto: 
Bernie Pollack: Costume Designer
Roy Poole: American Actor
William Prince: American Supporting Actor
Sasha Von Sherler: 
Lane Smith: American Character Actor
Ted Sorel: Actor
Fred Stuthman: 
Cameron Thomas: 
Marlene Warfield: Supporting Actress
Lydia Wilson: 
Lee Richardson: Actor
Michael Lipton: Score Composer

Sidney Lumet: American director/producer

Howard Gottfried: Producer/Executive

Paddy Chayefsky: Screenwriter, Novelist, Playwright, NETWORK, ALTERED STATES

Elliot Lawrence: American Composer

Alan Heim: American Editor

"...A vicious, exaggerated satire which aims for barbed black humour over belly laughs....[With a] sharp screenplay..."
"Finch won a posthumous Oscar for his all-over-the-map portrayal of Beale."
"NETWORK is the perfect meeting of director and screenplay....Lumet and Chayefsky's real achievement is the subtle escalation of the drama..."
4 stars out of 4 -- "If movies can tell the future, then this 1976 harbinger about a major network's calculated and deranged ratings grab is right on time."