01
The Hospital
Why this pick
Like Network, this is Paddy Chayefsky’s ferocious institutional satire: a desperate professional is swallowed by a system that converts human crisis into managerial absurdity.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1976 2h 2m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
Network
Drama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved Network, try these.
01
02
A Face in the Crowd
Why this pick
Network’s prophecy has a clear ancestor here: an electrifying media personality becomes a commercial and political force, observed with mounting cynicism and alarm.
03
Wag the Dog
Why this pick
Its brisk, deadpan manipulation of news, spectacle and public feeling shares Network’s disgust at media logic overwhelming truth and responsibility.
04
The Parallax View
Why this pick
For Network’s paranoid 1970s bite, this offers a colder, visually exacting vision of institutions treating individuals as expendable material.
05
Broadcast News
Why this pick
A more humane but still sharply observed newsroom drama, balancing professional idealism, ratings pressure and the uncomfortable performance built into television news.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
Howard Beale (Network), the longtime News anchor of the Union Broadcasting System's ''UBS Evening News'', learns from friend and news division president Max Schumacher that he has just two more weeks on the air because of declining ratings. The two get drunk and lament the state of their industry. The following night, Beale announces on live television that he will commit suicide on next Tuesday's broadcast. UBS fires him after this incident, but Schumacher intervenes so that Beale can have a dignified farewell. Beale promises he will apologize for his outburst, but once on the air, he launches back into a rant claiming that life is "bullshit." Beale's outburst causes the newscast's ratings to spike, and much to Schumacher's dismay, the upper echelons of UBS decide to exploit Beale's antics rather than pull him off the air. When Beale's ratings seem to have topped out, Diana Christensen, who heads the network's programming department, approaches Schumacher and offers to help him "develop" the news show. He says no to the professional offer, but she also makes a personal offer and the two begin an affair.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Faye Dunaway
Diana Christensen
William Holden
Max Schumacher
Robert Duvall
Frank Hackett
Wesley Addy
Nelson Chaney
Roy Poole
Sam Haywood
Marlene Warfield
Laureen Hobbs
Jerome Dempsey
Walter C. Amundsen
Ted Sorel
Giannini