Network

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Network

R

1976

2h 1m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

91%

Tomatometer

87 Reviews

93%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

In this lauded satire, veteran news anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) discovers that he's being put out to pasture, and he's none too happy about it. After threatening to shoot himself on live television, instead he launches into an angry televised rant, which turns out to be a huge ratings boost for the UBS network. This stunt allows ambitious producer Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) to develop even more outrageous programming, a concept that she takes to unsettling extremes.

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Critics Consensus

Driven by populist fury and elevated by strong direction, powerful acting, and an intelligent script, Network's searing satire of ratings-driven news remains sadly relevant more than four decades later.

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Derek Smith

Slant Magazine

Feb 13

Half a century later, Sidney Lumet’s Network remains a darkly humorous and relevant treatise on capitalism’s erosion of morality.

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David Thomson

Sight & Sound

Dec 22

The film is as vicious and feeble as a wasp trapped in the jam it craves, and if Network is essential viewing it is because of this chronic confusion.

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John Hindle

The Age (Australia)

Sep 27

Network is good, strong stuff. Fine performances enhance a meaningful script.

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Michael Clark

Epoch Times

1d

5/5

Presenting this kind of absurdity with even a whiff of knowing, tongue-in-cheek self-awareness would have neutered its desired sting, so it’s all played with straight faces for the duration.

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Calum Baker

Radio Times

4d

5/5

Lumet keeps the pace up throughout his marvellously edited film, with the actors - three of whom won Oscars - doing stellar work, remaining utterly believable even at their most absurd and verbose.

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Frank J. Avella

The Contending

Feb 25

A+

If there’s one role that epitomizes all that Chayefsky found simultaneously seductive and horrific about the medium of television it was that of Diana, magnificently brought to scathing life by Dunaway. It’s her best screen work...

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Chaz K

@RT43802349 Feb 15

great movie. shows what happens when left leaning media stops showing the news.

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Camilo S.

@camyado Dec 13

I didn’t expect much when I sat down to watch this film. Apart from the famous line I knew nothing. It blew me away. I saw it around 2013 and the headlines from the newspaper could be the same. Everything that the film predicted about the tv industry basically happened. It is perfectly written. I love this film. Faye Dunaway does what she does best. Acts like a- But seriously this film says something. And means something. That’s still relevant today. 🖖🏽

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Patrick C

@RT84374237 Nov 21

Having watched 'Network' this evening, it's hard to believe Sidney Lumet didn't have Sybil the Soothsayer on hand to give the lowdown on life as lived through the social media lens in 2025. Prescient isn't the half of it. A film rooted in a emotionally uprooted present and gazing uneasily toward an unsettling future, it succeeds in being very amusing and somewhat disturbing in equal measure. Wonderful.

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Harsh C

@H_A_R_S_H Oct 31

Yeah nah it started off dull and half an hour later still the same, so stopped watching.

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kevenquinlan T

@RT75276071 Sep 16

Amazed by the glowing reviews. Um, I'm watching this for the first time in 2025. I'm a movie person. I got that it was Satire- but I couldn't understand what it was going for? TV as the godhead of all? There was cable when this came out and it was only a matter of time before the 4 major networks were going to at least be deluded by other networks?! I get the anything for ratings premise but I thought it a bit shortsighted and I didn't find much humor in the movie and when it's Satire= it has to be funny. I even tried putting myself in the time/era of when it was released, but to no avail. I'm not going to keep it for my collection and not sure why anyone thought it was great? Stumped.

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Byron H

@HalloweenII Jul 15

4/4 Network foretold the world around us. This drive for original interesting content whether it be on TV, a streaming service, or an influencer. It's script rivals Citizen Kane & Chinatown as some of the best writing ever put on screen.

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Sidney Lumet

Director

Faye Dunaway

Diana Christensen

Peter Finch

Howard Beale

William Holden

Max Schumacher

Robert Duvall

Frank Hackett

Beatrice Straight

Louise Schumacher

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Synopsis

In this lauded satire, veteran news anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) discovers that he's being put out to pasture, and he's none too happy about it. After threatening to shoot himself on live television, instead he launches into an angry televised rant, which turns out to be a huge ratings boost for the UBS network. This stunt allows ambitious producer Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) to develop even more outrageous programming, a concept that she takes to unsettling extremes.

Director: Sidney Lumet
Producer: Howard Gottfried
Screenwriter: Paddy Chayefsky
Distributor: United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: United Artists, Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 27, 1976, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2008
Runtime: 2h 1m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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