Network (Comedy/Drama) ( 1976) © 2000 by Raymond Weschler Major Characters Howard Beale.......................Peter Finch An anchorman (TV journalist) for the UBS television network, who is fired after many years of service because of falling popularity ratings. He soon becomes an increasingly crazy national sensation after he announces he is going to kill himself on his own news show. Diana Christensen..................Faye Dunaway A smart and driven TV programmer at UBS who is willing to do anything to make her shows popular, including using Howard as a modern day "prophet" (religious leader). Max Schumaker.......................William Holden The well respected producer of the UBS News who tries to keep the network from exploiting Howard’s growing insanity. Frank Hackett........................Robert Duvall A power-hungry executive in the UBS network who supports Diana in her goal to do anything it takes, no matter how ridiculous, to create popular TV shows that will increase the network’s profit. Arthur Jensen.........................Ned Beatty The president of CCA, a company that has bought the UBS network, who tries to convince Howard that all of life is based on business. Edward Ruddy..........................William Prince The head of the UBS news division, who tries to balance Max’s fear of the news show losing its dignity and independence, and Hackett’s determination to make the news division profitable. Caroline Schumaker.....................Cindy Grover Max’s wife, who must face the fact her husband is having an affair. Laureen Hobbs..........................Marlene Warfield An intellectual black leader in the Communist Party who Diana decides to use in order to help make a weekly show about real acts of terrorism. The Great Ahmed Khan....................Arthur Burghard The African-American leader of the "Ecumenical Liberation Army," a tiny extremist political group that is engaged in various acts of political terrorism, including bank robberies and kidnapping ("Ecumenical" is an odd name for this group, since it refers to the world wide Christian church). Plot Summary This film is probably the greatest movie ever made about the American media. It is the story of Howard Beale, a giant of television journalism who is fired after many years of service because his TV ratings have started to fall (Ratings estimate the number of viewers that are watching a show). Alone because his wife had recently died, and depressed by the fact that he is going to lose his job, Howard announces to a national television audience that he will kill himself with a gun on his own news broadcast (an act, which he observes, should get "a hell of a rating"). The announcement shocks the country, but Howard instantly becomes a news sensation himself, and he soon finds th责任编辑:yechenglu
上一篇：
下一篇：
