1) It was released in 1976, but is still a culturally relevant, and incredibly prescient, film. As one reviewer noted, it seems that Paddy Chayefsky predicted the popularity of shows like Jerry Springer - trite garbage masquerading as human drama.
2) It is a very dark comedy that doesn't pull punches or make an attempt at a happy, tied-together ending. Some may find it depressing to an extent, but to me the dour ending rings true and loud, a warning against the sort of communal degradation that comes from being members of the Cult of The Tube.
3) The acting! Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, et al - magnificent acting all around. The three acting Oscar's the film won were well deserved - Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch both won for best actress and actor in a leading role, respectively, and Beatrice Straight won Best Supporting Actress. She still holds the record for shortest on-screen time of a female Supporting Actress winner, almost 40 years after the film was originally released.
4) The monologues! Holy shit, the monologues! Written and delivered perfectly - biting, satirical, and dramatic. In fact, 9 of the 10 best film speeches of 1976, as listed by filmsite.org, are from Network. Here's the list, if you're feeling like practicing your angry-speech-giving skills.
http://www.filmsite.org/bestspeeches28.html
5) And speaking of monologues..."I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" is a rallying cry for the ages - and when everyone starts to shout it from their windows - what a memorable moment! This speech, along with the image of poor Howard Beale, battered and defeated by the rain in his long, drab coat - have become symbols of a new age of shit-stirrers, the age of broken promises and disillusioned citizens.
6) This movie is a virtual onomasticon! Expand your personal lexicon by watching it! Even with a Bachelor's Degree in English, I still found myself occasionally stumped by a turn of phrase. Despite the verbosity of this film, it never really comes across as heavy-handed or pretentious. Howard Beale and Co. are an intelligent group - yet being part of the intellectual elite doesn't preserve them from the machinations of global capitalism and power struggles.
7) The social commentary in Network doesn't start and end with journalism. Rather, the film is an indictment against many societal ills - messianic madmen masquerading as bastions of journalistic integrity; the emergence of a "scripted" reality - children raised on television become a lost generation of "actors" without lines; the sensationalizing and branding of ideologies - even those ideologies, like socialism, which are averse to the very idea of marketing and target audiences; gendered power structures - women can only become leaders when they adopt the attitudes and appearance of men. So many social and ideological issues crammed into a single movie, your puny human brain will barely know where to start!
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