Network

This story is about Howard Beale...

...who was the Network News anchorman on UBS TV.

In his time, Howard Beale had been a mandarin of television.

The grand old man of news, with a HUT rating of 16 and a 28 audience share.

In 1969, however, his fortunes began to decline.

He fell to a 22 share.

The following year his wife died, and he was left a childless widower...

...with an 8 rating and a 12 share.

He became morose and isolated, began to drink heavily.

And on September 22, 1975, he was fired...

...effective in two weeks.

The news was broken to him by Max Schumacher...

...who was the president of the news division at UBS.

The two old friends got properly pissed.

I was at CBS with Ed Murrow in 1951.

Must've been 1950, then.

I was NBC, uh, associate producer, Morning News.

I was just a kid, 26 years old.

Anyway....

Anyway, they were building the lower level of the George Washington Bridge.

We were doing a remote from there.

And nobody told me.

Then after 7 in the morning, I get a call.

"Where the hell are you? You're supposed to be on the George Washington Bridge."

I jump out of bed, throw my raincoat over my pajamas.

I run down the stairs, I run out in the street, hail a cab.

And I say to the cabby, "Take me to the middle of the George Washington Bridge."

And the cabbie turns around and he says....

He says, "Don't do it, buddy.

You're a young man.

You got your whole life ahead of you."

Didn't I ever tell you that one before?

I'm gonna kill myself.

Oh, shit, Howard.

I'm gonna blow my brains out right on the air.

Right in the middle of the 7:00 news.

Well, you'll get a hell of a rating, I'll guarantee you that.

-50 share easy. -You think so?

Well, sure. We could make a series out of it.

Suicide of the Week.

Hell. Why limit ourselves?

Execution of the Week.

Terrorist of the Week.

I love it.

Suicides.

Assassinations.

Mad bombers, Mafia hit men...

...automobile smashups.

The Death Hour.

Great Sunday night show for the whole family.

We'll wipe that fucking Disney right off the air.

Hmm.

Let's do the Lenin deportation at the end of three.

That strong enough to bump?

In one then, I'll do a lead on Sara Jane Moore to Mayberry in San Francisco.

In the film I saw, it was the chief of detectives.

I think we've got about 10 seconds on the shooting itself.

The whole thing is 1:25.

-What does that come out? About 4:50.

We using Squeaky Fromme? Let's do that in two.

Squeaky, Ford at the airport, bump.

Now, you using a map going into San Francisco?

Um, I prefer our news pics.

What have we got left?

Gun control, Patty Hearst affidavit.

Guerrillas in Chad, OPEC in Vienna.

All right, fine. I'll see you later.

-Hello, Howard, how are you? Hi. Okay.

Don't forget, Howard, Ron Nessen is now 16, okay?

Mm-hm.

The first attempt on President Ford's life was 18 days ago...

...and again yesterday in San Francisco.

In spite of the two attempts...

...Mr. Ford says he will not become a prisoner of the Oval Office...

...a hostage of would-be assassins.

The American people are good people:

Democrats, Independents, Republicans and others.

How the hell you always get mixed up....

Under no circumstances will I...

...and I hope no others, capitulate...

...to those that want to undercut...

...what's all good in America.

Two, cue Howard.

Ladies and gentlemen...

...I would like to announce that I will be retiring from this program...

...in two weeks' time because of poor ratings.

Since this show was the only thing I had going for me in my life...

...I have decided to kill myself.

So, what did she say?

I'm gonna blow my brains out right on this program, a week from today.

Ten seconds to commercial.

So tune in next Tuesday.

That should give the public-relations people a week to promote the show.

We ought to get a hell of a rating out of that. A 50 share, easy.

Take Tellison. -Listen.

-Uh, did you hear that? -What was that about?

Howard just said he was going to blow his brains out next Tuesday.

What are you talking about?

-Didn't you hear him? He just said-- -What's wrong now?

Howard just said he was going to kill himself next Tuesday.

What do you mean, "Howard just said he was going to kill himself next Tuesday"?

He was supposed to do a tag on Ron Nessen--

He said, "Tune in next Tuesday. I'm gonna shoot myself."

What the hell's going on?

He said he was going to blow his brains out.

What the fuck's going on, Howard?

They wanna know what the fuck's going on.

-I can't hear you. -Turn the studio mike on.

-We're back on in 11 seconds. Ten seconds.

Howard, what are you doing?

-Have you flipped? -I think we better get him off.

-Get him off. -What's the matter with you?

-Get your fucking hands off. -Turn the sound off. He's going out live!

We're in a lot of fucking trouble down here.

-This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. That's my head.

Go to standby. You dumb schmuck!

Lou, can't we clear out that downstairs lobby?

-There must be a hundred people. -How?

Every TV station and wire service in the city. I could barely get in.

-Arthur, anything litigable? -Not so far.

How many spots were wiped out? -Frank just walked in.

We had to abort. What could we do?

He's talking to Wheeler. Over 900 phone calls...

-...complaining about foul language. Shit.

Come on, Mickey, what page are you putting it on?

Hackett just walked in. -ABC again, they want the tape.

Tell him to go fuck himself. That goes for you too.

You're off the air as of now.

He wants to talk to you. -Who's replacing Beale tomorrow?

-We're flying Snowden up from Washington. -Everybody, hold it.

Let's see how the other networks handle this.

Ten o'clock news opened with it.

Good evening. Howard Beale, one of television's....

They're all gonna make it their lead story.

Howard Beale interrupted his Network News program tonight...

...to announce that he was gonna kill himself.

An unusual thing happened at one of our sister networks, UBS, this evening.

How are we handling it?

Halloway's going to make a brief statement at the end of the show...

...that Howard's been under great personal stress, et cetera.

I'll call you back, John.

All right. We've got a stockholders' meeting tomorrow...

...at which we're gonna announce the restructuring-of-management plan.

I don't want this grotesque incident to interfere with that.

I'll suggest Mr. Ruddy open with a short statement, washing this whole thing off.

You, Max, you better have some answers...

...for those nuts that come to stockholders' meetings.

Mr. Beale has been under professional and personal strain.

I've got some surprises for you too, Schumacher.

I've had it up to here with your cruddy division and its annual $33 million deficit!

You keep your hands off my news division, Frank.

We're responsible to corporate level, not you.

-Well, goddamn, we'll see about that. -All right, take it easy.

Right now, how do we get Beale out of here?

I understand there's at least a hundred reporters and camera crews in the lobby.

We got a limo at the freight exit.

Howard, you're gonna spend the night at my place.

There's bound to be press around yours.

I want Snowden here by noon.

Have Lester cover the CIA hearings...

...and give the White House to Doris.

You're late for your screening, Max.

Right. Okay.

If John Wheeler calls, switch him to Projection Room 7.

Margot, come in here a minute.

-I'm sorry. This Beale business.... -It's all right.

Sit down. Diana asked if she could sit in on this.

Fine. How's it going?

I think you'll like this footage better than the stuff I showed you last time, Max.

Max Schumacher.

Goddamn it. When, Louise?

Laureen?

Well, did he say anything?

-Communist Party to be these--

All right, thank you.

-splintered underground groups?

The Communist Party believes...

...that the most pressing political necessity today...

...is the consolidation of the revolutionary, radical...

...and democratic movements into a united front.

Harry, Howard Beale left my house about 20 minutes ago. Has he come in yet?

-of the bourgeois democratic state....

Well, let me know when he arrives, huh?

That's Laureen Hobbs, isn't it?

Yeah. This is from a David Susskind thing a while back.

I think we can use some of this stuff.

-by the broadest possible coalition....

What we're going to see now is something really sensational.

The Flagstaff Independent Bank of Arizona was ripped off last week...

...by a terrorist group called the Ecumenical Liberation Army.

They actually took movies of the rip-off while they were ripping it off.

-Wait till you see it. -The Ecumenical Liberation Army.

That's not the one that kidnapped Patty Hearst?

No, no. That's the Symbionese Liberation Army.

This is the Ecumenical Liberation Army.

They're the ones who kidnapped Mary Ann Gifford three weeks ago.

There's a lot of liberation armies in the revolutionary underground...

...and a lot of kidnapped heiresses. This is Mary Ann Gifford.

That's the Great Ahmed Kahn, he's their leader.

You mean, they actually shot this film...