Northwest Film Forum

“I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” bellows “mad prophet of the airwaves” Peter Finch–with America seeming to joining in–while network news head William Holden breaks the news of his guilty affair with scheming entertainment chief Faye Dunaway to wife Beatrice Straight. An all too eerie prefiguring of Jerry Springer, Bill O’Reilly, and “reality” shows, Paddy Chayefsky’s film is a scabrous satire of television. Winner of three acting Oscars (tying Streetcar Named Desire) including Finch (posthumously), Dunaway, and Straight (at 5 minutes, 40 seconds the shortest award–winning role ever), as well as awards for Chayefsky’s script and nominations for Holden, Ned Beatty (eloquently preaching the good in dehumanization), Cinematography, Editing, Picture, and Director.

“Twenty–five years ago, this movie would have seemed like a fantasy; now it’s barely ahead of the facts.”– Roger Ebert