Don't Make a Scene (Redux): Network

Over the next couple weeks, there's going to be a bit of a thematic similarity between posts. I'm not going to make too big a deal of it, and it'll probably mean more if that's kept in mind.

The Story: Back when this scene was first presented (away back in 2008, election week) it was accompanied with these words: "No words necessary. Except to say that the words ring truer now than they did in 1976. You bet they're still yelling in Baton Rouge...from their FEMA trailers."

The second time I ran it, it was to commemorate Senator Ted Cruz for his own little rant on the Senate floor before cameras about the Affordable Care Act, in an apparent bid to get camera-time by aping Rand Paul's filibuster of a few weeks previous over domestic drone usage. (that little piece of theater, lest we forget the particulars, scrapes the bottom of the page in green-eggs-and-ham bold!***).

But, I'll tell ya, this speech never gets old or out of relevancy.

And so, here's another go'round for the "I'm as mad as Hell" speech," the dramaturgical epicenter of Paddy Chayefsky's bicentennial Oscar-winning satire on news and television and America, Network. In it, an American newscaster cracks up, like King Lear or Willie Loman and rants against the absurdities of it all and garners more attention than when he was just reading the news. He's both Public Service and Bread and Circuses, in one convenient package, and you don't even have to turn the channel.

Trouble is, he's just ranting—he doesn't have any solutions ("I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write!") but the anger is cathartic, it's addictive and it's instructional in it's delusion, it gives people a directive and as it doesn't cost them anything, not money, and only the fewest ticks of time without commitment of more. You don't risk your toaster, your TV, or your steel-belted radials without sacrifice. 

But, of course, there is. It's just ephemeral, slow-motion, imperceptible—like global warming. Doesn't affect your job, your home. Why not yell at the world? Why not fantasize about seeing it all burn? What could be worse than it is now? Especially if you've lost your job or something.

Not to be harsh or anything, but tell that to a buggy-whip salesman, or a video-rental store owner, or...better yet, try preaching that gospel on the reservation.
What have you got to lose?

History chews up those who only see in the short term, and it's tough to be anything but when you're living paycheck to paycheck. So, it's better to rant impotently into the night, rather than light a single candle. Better to look to a charlatan selling the snake-oil you're buying.

And so, back to Howard Beale, "Mad Prophet of the Airwaves," sociological evangelist, who has no answers and no solutions, but just wants us to react because yelling about it always solves things, and impresses people you're dealing with that you're a thoughtful person who can be reasoned with. Anyway, that's what I learned in customer service.

But lest one become too smug, there's not a lot of original thought being displayed here, merely feel-good mob mentality, which, as we've learned, can not only garner large ratings, but also win the most important election in the country.

Also, when this was first presented it was stated that George Clooney (was) prepping a remake...which will be broadcast...live...on TV.

Several years later, no TV network has decided to bite its own hand and the plans for a live TV remake of Network haven't appeared. 

But then, why should it? Reality has outpaced it.

The Set-Up: Old-school UBS news-anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch) has been fired for low ratings, so he has announced that in a week's time he will commit suicide on the air. As a result, his ratings have soared. But his mental condition deteriorates. Now, after wandering the streets of New York in the rain in his pajamas and trench coat, he arrives at the studio in time for his newscast...and some commentary. Programming Director Diane Christensen (Faye Dunaway) and former News Director Max Schumacher (William Holden), along with the rest of the country, are watching.

Action!
DIRECTOR: Take two, cue Howard.
HOWARD BEALE: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression.
BEALE: Everybody's out of work, or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street...
BEALE: ...and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.

BEALE: We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad--worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."
BEALE: Well, I'm not going to leave you alone. I want you to get mad. I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot.
BEALE: I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad.
BEALE: You've got to say, "I'm a human being, goddamn it! My life has value!"
BEALE: So I want you to get up now, I want all of you to get up out of your chairs.
BEALE: I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it and stick your head out, and yell, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
HARRY HUNTER: (in the control room): Stay with him, stay with him!
DIRECTOR: Everybody, stay with him!
BEALE: I want you to get up right now, get up, go to your windows, open them, and stick your head out and yell, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
DIANA CHRISTENSEN: How many stations does this go out live to?
BEALE: Things have got to change! But first you've gotta get mad!
HUNTER: Sixty seven! I know it goes to Louisville and Atlanta and...

BEALE: You've got to say, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis.
(Former news-director Max Schumacher sits at home with his wife and daughter watching the screen as Howard rants. Max is alarmed)
BEALE: But first get up out of your chairs, open the window...
BEALE: ...stick your head out, and yell, and say:
BEALE: "I'm as mad as hell...
BEALE: ...and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
CHRISTENSEN(walking into executive Herb Thackeray's office): Who are you talking to, Herb?
HERB THACKERAY(on phone): WCGG in Atlanta.
CHRISTENSEN: Are they yelling in Atlanta, Herb?
THACKERAY: Are they yelling in Atlanta, Ted?
BEALE: But first you've got to get mad! You've got to say, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
RAY PITOFSKY (handing the phone to Christensen): They're yelling in Baton Rouge.
BEALE: Get up! Get up out of your chairs!!
CHRISTENSEN (throwing the phone into the air): Son-of-a-bitch! We've struck the mother lode!
BEALE: Stick your head out of the window, open it, stick your head out and yell and keep yelling, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore." Just get up from your chairs...right now..
LOUISE SCHUMACHER: What are you doing?
CAROLINE SCHUMACHER: I'm going to see if anybody's yelling!
BEALE: Stick your head out and start yelling, and keep yelling...
(It's already started. More and more windows start to open, and people come out and begin yelling in different tones, different accents, different cadences "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!!")
"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
(A thunderstorm begins overhead, and its thunder can't drown out the, by now, hundreds of voices shouting out into the night.)
(Max Schumacher listens for a moment, then he shakes his head, and closes the window, shutting out the noise.)

Network

Words by Paddy Chayefsky

Pictures by Owen Roizman and Sidney Lumet

Network is available on DVD from MGM Home Video.

*** From the earlier version: Only this wasn't a filibuster.  There's wasn't a vote being debated, and what he wanted to talk about—when he wasn't going somewhere else, like the philosophy of "Duck Dynasty"*—was about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was voted into law March 23, 2010—and hasn't gone into effect yet (that will be October 1st, 2013). Cruz says it doesn't work. He's right. It doesn't. It can't...and that's because it doesn't go into effect for a couple days (That's a bit like me saying that I know what the score for the first game of the World Series is because, since it hasn't started it's 0 to 0). How effective it will be will depend entirely on how states decide to fund it and utilize it, and that will fall along party lines. 

Because, in a democracy, your health depends on your political party affiliation. 

Anyway, Cruz wanted to prove he wasn't just an empty shirt with hopes to run for the White House. He proved it. Under that shirt is a lot of hot air...that's fairly directionless. My big take away after his twenty one hours of sad-clown fretting and regretting was his recalling the Little Engine That Could and it's mantra "I think I can, I think I can." It would be not only more economical, but more truthful and more determined if he left off the words "I think" and merely adapted "I can."  

But then he'd actually have to do something, I think.

And so, back to Howard Beale, "Mad Prophet of the Airwaves," sociological evangelist, who has no answers and no solutions, but just wants us to react because yelling about it always solves things, and impresses people you're dealing with that you're a thoughtful person who can be reasoned with. Anyway, that's what I learned in customer service.

But lest one become too smug, like Cruz's speech, there's not a lot of original thought being displayed here, merely feel-good mob mentality.

* Funny.  The episode of "Duck Dynasty" after Cruz's speech was about how the Uncle Si was doing some insurance scamming to buy himself a motorized scooter.  Great values we should all emulate. Thanks, Senator.  

Don't Make a Scene: Fail -Safe (1964)

The Story: Lots of reasons for doing this scene from Fail-Safe (the theatrical 1964 version directed by Sidney Lumet, not the live-TV version done in 2000, directed by Stephen Frears), and none of those reasons—absolutely none of them—have anything to do with balloons.

So, stand down.

 

No, I've been wanting to put this scene up because I've already done the similar President/Premier exchange from Dr. Strangelove and it's interesting to do a compare and contrast. The two stories are very much the same—just the occurrence that sparks it and the ultimate horrifying conclusions being a bit nuanced (as if playing with mega-tonnage can be considered "nuanced). Strangelove's source was a 1958 novel by Peter George called "Red Alert", while today's film came from an American best-seller by authors Eugene Burdick (who'd co-written "The Ugly American") and Harvey Wheeler. An out-of-court settlement from a "copyright infringement" suit over "Fail-Safe's" origins resulted in Strangelove being released first, to critical and box-office success, then the next year, Fail-Safe—to critical applause, but negligible box office. Once you see the satire, the serious version seems a lot less serious.

It's why Kubrick took the route he took. He was specifically working out a scene where the U.S. President aids and abets the Russian military to destroy U.S. bombers. Kubrick was not shy of portraying horrific military ironies—he had a French general firing on his own troops in Paths of Glory—but, he balked at this. It IS nuts! No one would believe it. Just like no one would believe a President would bomb one of his own major cities in a retaliatory strike to prevent Armageddon. But, Fail-Safe does that, and with a straight-face and with absolute sincerity. And it comes across as absurd.

It did back then, anyway. These days, who knows what politicians are capable of? They keep surprising us every damn day, with some new absurdity and rather than apologizing, doubling-down on it. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a politician nuke an American City—especially one that didn't vote for them. That's what we've come to. Apes with nukes.

Well, the scene: It's a full 6 minutes (by Lumet's clocking on the film's commentary track) without a cut, just Henry Fonda and Larry Hagman (Lumet thought it was his first film—it wasn't, he'd been doing TV and theater for awhile), hashing it out with a telephone (the prop was the type of phone they use to relay orders on demolition sites using high explosives) between them without a net and the camera in both of their faces the whole time. It's a high-wire act, and they're both amazing in it.

But, again, you can't help but not think of the crazy: the Premier's coming on-line and asks "How are you?" or Hagman fumbling with his glasses because they won't work with his head-phones—and realizing the absurdity of THAT at a time like this. Fonda gives Hagman a reassuring smile before the phone-call, an odd reflex, and when the call's over, he grabs a glass of water and pushes the decanter to Hagman. This is farce. And they're playing it straight.

Sincerity just doesn't cut it when you're presenting something that beggars the imagination.

 

The Set-Up: Something's gone wrong! An unidentified aircraft has entered American air-space! No worries! It's an off-course civilian airliner. But Air Force jets have been scrambled—apparently not the only thing—and one of them, Group 6, is on-course to bomb Moscow due to a computer glitch. The president (unnamed, but played by Henry Fonda) is sequestered to a bunker buried far beneath the White House with his translator, Peter Buck (Larry Hagman). There, after learning that USAF attempts to knock down the bombers have been unsuccessful, he calls the Soviet Premier to tell him the bad news.

 

Action.

 

THE PRESIDENT: Buck, I'll talk to the Soviet premier now. 

PRESIDENT: You'll translate what he says to me. He'll have his own translator telling him what I say... 

PRESIDENT: but I want something more from you. - 

BUCK: Yes, sir, whatever I can do. - 

PRESIDENT: I think The premier will be saying what he means...but sometimes there's more in a man's voice than in his words. 

PRESIDENT: There are words in one language that don't mean the same in another. You follow me? - 

BUCK: I think so, sir. 

PRESIDENT: It's very important the premier and I understand each other. I don't have to tell you that. So I want to know what he's saying and what you think he's feeling. 

PRESIDENT: Any inflection of his voice, any tone... any emotion that adds to his words... I want you to let me know.

BUCK: Yes, sir. I'll do my best. - 

PRESIDENT: I know you will. 

PRESIDENT: It's all any of us can do. Don't be afraid to say what you think. Don't be afraid all this is too big for you. 

PRESIDENT: It's big, but it still depends on what each of us does. History lesson number one. 

THE PRESIDENT: I'll talk to Moscow now. 

The phone beeps.

BOGAN: It's the premier, sir. 

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Chairman, this is the president of the United States. Do you hear me clearly? 

BUCK (translating): Fine, Mr. President. How are you? 

THE PRESIDENT: I'm calling you on a matter of great urgency. I hope it turns out to be a small matter... but it's the first time it's happened. If it's misunderstood, it could be... 

BUCK (translating): Does it have to do with the aircraft... we have detected flying towards Russia? 

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Mr. Chairman. 

BUCK (translating): I suppose it's another of your off-course reconnaissance flights. Mr. President, we have warned you again and again...that this constant flying of armed aircraft... 

THE PRESIDENT: This is a mistake, a serious mistake.

BUCK (translating): ...over Soviet territory...It cannot...

THE PRESIDENT: I say, it's a mistake. 

BUCK (translating): Very well. Tell me. Tell me the mistake. 

THE PRESIDENT: A group of our bombers each loaded with two 20-megaton bombs...is flying towards your country. 

BUCK (translating): We shall watch with great interest...while you recall them. 

THE PRESIDENT: So far we have been unable to recall them. 

BUCK (translating): Are...are the planes being flown by crazy men? 

THE PRESIDENT: We're not sure. It...it, it might be a mechanical failure. All I can tell you is that it's an accident. It's not an attempt to provoke war. It's not part of a general attack. 

BUCK (translating): How do I know you do not have hundreds of other planes...coming in so low our radar cannot pick them up? 

THE PRESIDENT: Because I hope to prove to you that it's an accident...that we take full responsibility...that we're doing everything we can to correct it.

BUCK (translating): Go on.

THE PRESIDENT: You must have seen...that we sent fighter planes to shoot down the bombers. 

BUCK (translating): American fighters...to shoot down American bombers? 

THE PRESIDENT: That is correct.

BUCK (translating): And you gave that order?

THE PRESIDENT: I did. 

BUCK (translating): How do I know that the planes were not simply diving... to a low altitude to escape our radar? 

THE PRESIDENT: On our plotting board, the action could only be interpreted...as planes out of control. 

THE PRESIDENT: You have the same equipment we do. What did it tell you? 

BUCK (translating): It did not tell us what is in your mind, Mr. President. 

THE PRESIDENT: I'm telling you that. 

BUCK (translating): And you ask me to believe you? 

THE PRESIDENT: You must believe me. 

BUCK (translating): You ask for belief at a curious time. 

THE PRESIDENT: If we don't trust each other now, Mr. Chairman... there may not be another time. 

BUCK (translating): We saw, we saw your planes fall into the sea. I wanted only to hear your explanation...and whether it was done at your own order. 

BUCK (translating): It is a hard thing to order men to their death, is it not? 

THE PRESIDENT: It is. 

BUCK: Sir, there's someone trying to persuade him it's a trick. They want him to strike back at once. 

BUCK (translating): Soviet airspace has still not been violated, Mr. President. But if it is, we will be forced to shoot down your bombers. 

BUCK (translating): And then we will come to full alert with all our missiles and planes. 

THE PRESIDENT: I understand that. I hope you're able to shoot down our bombers. But I urge you not to take any steps that cannot be recalled. 

BUCK (translating): You know we must protect ourselves. 

THE PRESIDENT: You also know that if you launch missiles, we must do the same. If that happens, there'll be very little left of the world. 

BUCK (translating): I understand. Is there anything more you wish to say? 

THE PRESIDENT: If I may make a suggestion...I will arrange to open a conference line between our headquarters in Omaha and your similar officials in the Soviet Union. We will do all we can to help you. 

BUCK (translating): We do not need your help. We are...

BUCK (translating): ...perfectly capable of defending our country. 

THE PRESIDENT: As you wish, but I must tell you what my people tell me. No matter what you do...at least one of the planes will get through to the target. 

BUCK (translating): What is the target? 

THE PRESIDENT: Moscow. 

BUCK (translating): I'll call you back when I see what our fighters do.

 

Fail-Safe

 

Words by Walter Bernstein

 

Pictures by Gerald Hirschfeld and Sidney Lumet

 

Fail-Safe is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Sony Home Video.