Chiefly remembered for the on-air histrionics of Peter Finch's 'mad as hell' news anchor, Network is in fact typical of the cool intelligence of '70s American cinema, a currency found more often these days in US TV drama.
The irony would not be lost on the late, great writer Paddy Chayefsky, whose savage vision of news-as-entertainment was dismissed as paranoid back in 1976 and now appears prescient to an alarming degree.
Directed by Sidney Lumet with the sureness that typified his work back then, and graced by William Holden's best late performance, the show is still comprehensively stolen by Faye Dunaway's conniving and utterly convincing career woman.
