“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it!” is the rallying cry for Howard Beale, a news anchor that is being put out to pasture by his network. It wasn’t until Beale got the news of his dismissal that he got the gumption to be “mad as hell.” Beale becomes a real person and not a talking head. Most think he is crazy, and self admittedly is: “mad as a Hatter.” The network sees the ratings for Beale’s rants soar and want to exploit him. Network is a movie made in 1976.
The movie, at the time, was cutting edge satire. What it was, was a vision of the future. Reality television, Morton Downey Jr., manipulation, biased news and a callous disregard for doing what is right in the name of ratings. Network has many memorable speeches (sermons), “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it!” and a rant on televisions control over the masses. The television speech could easily be made today. If you insert the word computer for television and internet for the word tube, the sermon could have been given five minutes ago.
Network is a great movie with a stellar cast. It is an over the top melodramatic tale of satire. Each character is
What are you watching?
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