Network (1976) Breakup Scene

[Brrowwnie]

i love this scene.. it's so contemporary

[neeemojsrat]

that is one weird breakup...

[Di0genesus]

It us funny how Diana so adequately represents the privileged element of the Baby Boomer generation who treated the tumult of the 1960's like it was just another trend to be a part of and discard when it became unfashionable. They were the same in parenting and all other aspects of life. I wish someone would make an intellectually equal conceptual update of this source material that reflects how my peers (genX) are going to just burn everything down like we've already started to do.

[Salamon2]

@Di0genesus Since you brought up "generations"--that's Gen X's job as a Nomad generation; and IMO Diana is a Boom/Silent cusper (like Faye Dunneway)--more Silent than Boom, which explains the "follow the latest trend" as Silents tend to like to think they're "hip" a la Will Shatner. Max is GI/Silent cusper. Both are attracted to their Silent qualities, but bring the other half of their personalities along for the ride which spoils the relationship.

~a child of similar Silent/Boom cuspers.

[quicksnipe23]

This is a top five greatest scene of any film i've ever seen. Made me reevaluate my generation and how much influence television and pop culture and the media has on us. Wish i could have seen life before television, when everyone wasn't trying to mimic someone else. That's what a good movie does

[Mephisto808]

This is one of the most underrated films of the last 50 years.

The script, and the execution of dialogue by these wonderful actors makes this film a true work of art.

[Evi1M4chine]

I always think of FOX when I see this. And then of every other network and outlet of the old media i can think of.

[4ndreGusmao]

@levanyzzuf at all. The point of satire is to exaggerate our problems so much it becomes funny. So if u r looking for a realistic satire u won't find it anywhere

[4ndreGusmao]

@levanyzzuf I understand what u r saying, that satires aren't realistic. But a realistic satire wouldn't be a satire i

[burnstagger]

I gave up comparing genitals back in the schoolyard. OUCH.

[Alohalakay]

why the old guys need to be with younger girls? they even look older next to them

[AppropriationIsMe]

For all the attention the movie gets for "I'm mad as hell!" and the other rants, this was one of the most powerful scenes for me.

[Chaoticfilter]

The dialog is really awesome in this scene.

[metalmilitia1890]

"final commercial, and here are a few scenes from next week's show" *opens the door and leaves*, Brilliant

[WLegacy30]

What a poignant scene. So heartbreakingly true. I see it all the time, especially now with cable news and politics. Too bad movies like this are so rare today.

[mcpelvic]

"No one in the history of the world has ever broken up with a partner talking like this." What a knuckehead you are. Humanoid!

[foobird58]

@mcpelvic

iT IS  A satire what is a Satire ? it was not indented to be realistic .

[levanyzzuf]

lol the dialogue in this scene is outrageous - this has to be one of the worst scenes ever written for a film and couldn't possibly be further away from how human beings actually speak.

[sfplaysguitar]

@levanyzzuf maybe you dont know how to speak your native tongue properly, but some of us still get enjoyment from poetic justice such as this, dumbass.

[levanyzzuf]

@sfplaysguitar It's clearly dialogue written by a didactic stage writer. My problem with the film is that it screams the points at you with exclamation marks, and the lines are so calculated that seem more appropriate to be delivered on the pulpits, or maybe by a mad prophet on a soapbox. No one in the history of the world has ever broken up with a partner talking like this.

[sfplaysguitar]

@levanyzzuf Your personal inability to use feeling with your words due to ignorance of the words themselves is none of my concern.

[CapricaSix]

@levanyzzuf The reason contemporary movies are so uninteresting is most dialogue/plot is written in such a common manner...it doesn't interest us (or at least me) -- moviemaking has fallen into a state of either reality mimicry or such a warping of reality through endless visual effects - that we don't believe any of it - it all rings false. Dialogue like this scene actually makes an impact, causes one to think perhaps...there was a time when cinema in general was poetic. Not nowadays.

[levanyzzuf]

@CapricaSix I think that would depend on your own selective viewing habits. There is plenty of great in films today if you know where to look. On the other hand if your viewing is limited to the mainstream blockbusters and special effects pictures, of course you're not going to find much of interest. That's true of almost any decade.

[MrGrevy]

@levanyzzuf Just because you are shallow and unlettered doesn't mean everyone else is.

[levanyzzuf]

@MrGrevy @kaejae24 The next time you hear a real life breakup articulated as a dramatic monologue/lecture on ethics and professional integrity like this beast of a scene, come back to me and we'll talk.

[foobird58]

@levanyzzuf IT IS A SATIRE!!!!!!!! a sTORY NOT A "REAL lIFE BREAK UP"

FROM NEW York TIMES REVIEW 1976, "...outrageous. It's also brilliantly, cruelly funny, a topical American comedy that confirms Paddy Chayefsky's position as a major new American satirist. Paddy Chayefsky? Major? New? A satirist? Exactly.

access to the mass market. His humor is not gentle or generous. It's about as stern and apocalyptic as it's possible to be without alienating the very audience for which it is intended."

[levanyzzuf]

@foobird58 The movie is obviously a satire on the influence of television, but I don't think this particular scene has a satirical component to it. It seems to be played straight as a way of taking down the "villain" and putting her in her place. My objection is that satirical targeting throughout any film doesn't hit when the characters aren't written with recognizably human behavioral traits or with realistic dialogue.

[cutis1000]

@levanyzzuf Of course no one in history of the world has ever broken up with a partner talking like this. But this isn't just any "one." This is Network. It is a film that damns television as the destroyer of all that we treasure in human relations, that of love and compassion towards our fellow human. What's brilliant about the screenplay is that it is consistent throughout and never lets up for an instant. The script is a critique of television told in exquisite dramatic language.

[kaejae24]

@levanyzzuf - Well- who knows what is said behind closed doors , who knows what any-one says. You shouldn't be so harsh on the dialogue. These are characters who are in the TV industry , which is what this film is about. I think if you try to give this film another look and broaden your scope, you may enjoyt it more. Look at it this way

[kaejae24]

@levanyzzuf Just because you or I or any-one have not heard people speak like that , does not mean it's not done. I know a lot of blue collar guys who swear like a sailor, but it doesn't mean that every-one has too. Take it down a notch. It's just words and for this movie and for these characters, the words work

[AppropriationIsMe]

@levanyzzuf Yes some of the dialogue in this film feels 'written', but remember who the characters are, these are smart, literate, media savvy people who no doubt enjoy using baroque language. Holden's character is also of an age where his language stems from the first half of the twentieth century - people generally spoke with more rich language than that of recent times. The film's dialogue is not as unrealistic as you make it out to be.

[AppropriationIsMe]

@levanyzzuf Also, if this dialogue is unrealistic, what's wrong with that? Films can be abstractions or exaggerations or reality without loosing anything. We have enough lazy 'realistic' dialogue, what's wrong with pushing the form now and then?

[levanyzzuf]

@AppropriationIsMe No satire can be successful if it does not portray its targets realistically. The tonal arrangement of this film does not suggest that Chayefsky and Lumet were aiming for an "abstraction or exaggeration" - it's meant to be a scathing commentary on the television industry in the 70's, and in my opinion it fails on that level because the characters are synthetic concoctions, and their dialogue plays like the contrived soapbox platitudes of an over-ambitious screenwriter.

[AppropriationIsMe]

@levanyzzuf I think it's fine, it doesn't bother me being a bit unrealistic. *SPOILERS AHEAD* Howard Beale is gunned down at the end of the film, on air, at the request of executives. That was unrealistic but it didn't make me dislike the movie any. The only line of dialogue that I wished they dropped was "Muttering mutilated Marxism". I think this film would be less remarkable and less well remembered if it had plain dialogue. Some satires are as real as day, others aren't. And that's fine!

[Thorne42]

This scene was probably the best acting of William Holden's career. He deserved the oscar over Finch that year.

[rolex427sc]

Holden--incredible through out..

[mlb0580]

Superb.

[jferkfjkj]

faye dunaway is both talented and sexy. she DESERVED the oscar hands down

[segan25]

i really felt like max in this scene once. this is so awful. there are still people like diana in the world today -- cold, cold, people.

[tlcarpenter]

"You don't puff or snorkle and make death-like rattles.." Faye is great in this scene...

[kwixotic]

Yep, when it came to top quality dialogue, Chayevsky was best o' the best!

[TwistedGentleman]

"cocksmenship"

Fantastic.

[whatuswattingat]

@TwistedGentleman ISN'T IT? LOL!

[whatuswattingat]

One of the deepest scenes in the movie. Too bad William Holden didn't get the Oscar.

[dustylacson]

@whatuswattingat i know! tough call between William Holden and Peter Finch

[wasteland70]

@dustylacson Not taking anything from Finch, but as I've watched this so many times over the years, I am now tempted to give it to Holden by a nose. Finch was fantastic, however, I think Holden was taking on the deeper role. I think he had more nuances than Finch's character. He was the counter balance to Finch and, really, the reference point for the fim, in my opinion. Thanks.

[wasteland70]

@whatuswattingat It was beaten him and Peter Finch. I would have been just as happy had William Holden won. The entire cast is amazing.

[Atreus21]

@whatuswattingat

Every one of them deserved an Oscar.

[whatuswattingat]

@Atreus21 Yes they do.

[comperic2003]

My favorite scene of the movie, thanks.

[shockisallinyourhead]

I'm so glad you put this up