Sam Hedrin (Taken from a script by Paddy Chayefsky), �Network�
First of all, if you haven�t seen the film Network written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet, this might not make sense. And besides, you really ought to see Network. In fact, you ought to see Network right now. Go ahead, I�ll wait.
Great movie, wasn�t it? It�s hard to think of any movie that has such brutal, and more important, truthful satire in it. People often use the term �prophetic� when they speak of Network. Most reviews say things like �Life Imitates Art� �It's more realistic than ever in our days.� �This film is more true today than ever!� Even Leonard Maltin says, �Paddy Chayefsky's outrageous satire on television looks less and less like fantasy as the years pass.�
With reviews such as these, the question really lies more along the lines of how much of a prophet Chayefsky was. What I�ve discovered is that he was not a some kind of seer, but he was much more astute than others in reading what was already going on at the time. A first viewing of the film may make you miss the larger picture for the shock value behind anchorman Howard Beale. Watch it again. I�ll wait.
Man, did you see that?!? The comments about reality programming said in jest that are actually running now? The merger between corporations and news departments? The religious connotations with big business? You didn�t? Watch it again.
Now that you�ve seen it three times, think about the situation we have now. We are currently reading stories about two hostile foreign powers that may have nuclear capabilities. It is the job of a board of directors to protect their prurient business interest.
General Electric, one of the leaders of the nuclear power industry, also just happens to own NBC. Would the board of directors of NBC want (or let) their media outlets report on the story? This is the danger Howard Beale speaks of when he bemoans the death of UBS president Edward George Ruddy. As he says in the film, �When the twelfth largest company in the world controls the most awesome, god-damned propaganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this network.�
But then again, I�m supposed to be talking about the book. This was my first foray into film novelization that I can remember. It won�t be the last, as I have two others on my shelf. I can�t say this is a good thing. Hedrin seems to have a sweet gig here, as Chayefsky had already written all the dialogue. All Hedrin has to do is add some scenery and maybe a movement or gesture here or there. Some points in fact, leave all of this out and just print the speeches verbatim, complete with the slug of the speaker beforehand, just as you would see on a script.
This book would get a lot lower rating if Chayefsky weren�t so good at writing. Still, the book loses something that the film has, and that's the performances of the actors. Unlike films these days that have one or two standout performances (like Daredevil for instance. Colin Farrell and Ben Affleck are both great, but I can�t say the same for Michael Clarke Duncan or Joe Pantoliano), EVERYBODY in Network is fantastic. Beatrice Straight is only in the film for ten minutes tops, and she won an Oscar for her speech. And fucking deserved it.
