American Cinematographer - June 2006 - 28

breaks down the

instills Network with

create the film's live-TV

next

newscaster

common,

unexpected bulletin
enrages UBS executive Frank Hackett
(Robert Duvall) and stuns the anchor's
boss and longtime friend, Max Schu¬
macher (William Holden). Schumacher,
Beale's

the head of UBS's
Beale

a

news

division, offers

chance to make amends

on

the

evening's show, but the deranged
again goes off script, stat¬
ing, "Yesterday, I announced on this
program that I was going to commit
public suicide - admittedly, an act of
madness. Well, I'll tell you what
happened. I just ran out of bullshit."
Beale becomes

a

media

sensa¬

tion, resulting in a ratings spike for the

struggling network, and becoming an
inspiration to UBS's new programming
head,
Diana Christensen (Faye
Dunaway). With Hackett's support,
Christensen quickly develops The
Howard Beale Show, during which the
"angry prophet of the airwaves" can
vent his rage to the delight of equally
unsatisfied viewers. The show becomes
a

smash hit, and Christensen soon
a slate of "reality" program¬

launches

ming, including the tentatively titled
Mao Tse-Tung Hour, which follows the
Ecumenical Liberation Army, an urban
terrorist organization, and features self¬
shot footage of the criminals at work.
The

success

of these outrageous

shows

brings UBS back from the brink,
but the popularity of Beale's program
gradually fades, and his increasingly
unpredictable rants soon draw the ire of
UBS's corporate masters. As a result,
Hackett orders Beale's assassination -
an

event that will take

place

on

of course, in one final stab at a
win.

the air,
ratings

Chayefsky's script, Lumet's direc¬
tion and the cast's universally excellent
performances have long been given the

24 June 2006

never

mugging for laughs - that
an overarching air
of credibility, despite the surreal and
satiric events unfolding onscreen. The
film is long on character, compelling
dialogue and plot, but very short on
visual action or even interesting
venues. Long speeches - including a
blistering rant directed at Beale by UBS
owner Jenson (Ned Beatty) - are

show, and jokes that it will surely
improve his ratings.

and Lumet's almost tableau-

style approach to the material left Roiz¬
man with the conundrum of making
such "uncinematic" scenes visually
interesting.

methodology used to
components.

The

image quality on this trans¬
fer is a distinct improvement over
MGM's 1998 DVD, offering reduced
compression- and age-artifacting, far
less noise and flicker, and more shadow
detail and richer colors. In

particular,
built-up contrast
reveals more pleasing skin tones -
vital in a film largely based on expres¬
sive performance.
The image improvement is most
the

reduction

noticeable in

of

of Roizman's most

one

subtly impressive visual moments:

to focus

Christensen's nocturnal seduction of

on

setting the appropriate mood for
speech or statement with subtle
lighting variations, in addition to break¬
ing the film into three visual phases:

Schumacher, which takes place in his

each

low-key UBS office in front of floor-toceiling windows looking out on

"naturalistic," "realistic" and "commer¬
cial." In the first, lighting is closely

projecting soft warmth, the
two verbally spar with innuendo and
half-truths as the aquamarine, night¬
time cityscape glows behind them. The
high-speed Panavision lenses and

Roizman's solution

based

on

available

nature of the

was

sources

and the

location; in the second,

Roizman gave himself greater leeway
in terms of modeling to accentuate the

increasing drama; in the third, the light¬
ing is far more stylized, with the
cameraman creating his own sources
and using them to punctuate the
emotions of the

scene.

ment is controlled as

Camera

move¬

well, with the

picture starting out with a fairly frenetic
gradually coming to an almost
complete halt as Beale's fate is sealed,
a simple visual tactic that seems
almost unimaginable today.
The six making-of documen¬
taries presented on this DVD offer a
compelling account of Chayefsky's
inspirations and writing process,
producer Howard Gottfried's careful
guidance of the project, Lumet's sense
of responsibility in bringing the result¬
ing script to the screen and the actors'
approach to their characters, as well as
an interesting take on the film by CBS
feel and

anchor emeritus Walter Cronkite.

by Owen Roizman, ASC is equally
sublime. Shot exclusively on practical
locations, the picture is a study in subtle
distortions of reality, and it is this cleanyet-distorted visual sense - soberly
devoid of extreme lenses or angles and

commentary begins with a brief break¬

full-length

numerous

Kodak stocks that were
made this

audio

new

at the time

possible, and this
transfer nicely re-creates the accom¬
plishment. In his commentary, Lumet
describes in detail the extreme difficul¬
ties of shooting

this sequence and cred¬
ingenuity in helping

its Roizman for his
to make the scene

film

-

a

-

indeed, the entire

stunner.
-

David E. Williams

NEXT MONTH'S

REVIEWS
The

Passenger (1975)
Cinematographer:

Luciano Tovoli, ASC, AIC

Cinematographer:
Jose F. Aguayo

down of Roizman's

lighting approach,
point out
specific examples of how the lighting
changes. Lumet also discusses the
advantages of shooting on location and
and the director goes on to

small

scene

Viridiana (1961)

lion's share of Network's accolades, but
the Oscar-nominated cinematography

Lumet's

Manhattan. Lit with
sources

Funny Games (1997)
Cinematographer:
Jurgen Jurges, BVK
American Cinematographer - June 2006

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - June 2006
