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This darkly satirical drama about the TV industry is a multi-Oscar winning classic (including a posthumous Best Actor win for Peter Finch).

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Director
Sidney Lumet
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With
Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch
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USA 1976. 121min
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Digital
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Certificate
15
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A Park Circus release
Peter Finch is mesmerising as veteran news anchor Howard Beale, who’s ‘mad as hell’ and ‘not going to take it anymore’, in this era-defining satire. Having been given two weeks’ notice due to his evening news show’s falling ratings, Beale announces that he will kill himself live on air. With the show’s fortunes reversing due to his outburst, Beale’s mental health, distress and anger are exploited by the network, who indulge his ranting, turning him into a populist entertainer. But as the network searches for viewers in increasingly outrageous ways, things begin to take a very dark turn. Writer Paddy Chayefsky’s satirical masterpiece, directed with brio by Sidney Lumet, is a prescient portrait of the media and entertainment world’s push for profit over quality, presaging the rise of reality television and a world in which anything is up for grabs.
Justin Johnson, Lead Programmer

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