1 00:00:18,227 --> 00:00:19,977 This story is about Howard Beale... 2 00:00:20,145 --> 00:00:23,314 ...who was the Network News anchorman on UBS TV. 3 00:00:23,482 --> 00:00:26,693 In his time, Howard Beale had been a mandarin of television. 4 00:00:26,860 --> 00:00:31,989 The grand old man of news, with a HUT rating of 16 and a 28 audience share. 5 00:00:32,157 --> 00:00:35,702 In 1969, however, his fortunes began to decline. 6 00:00:35,869 --> 00:00:37,578 He fell to a 22 share. 7 00:00:37,746 --> 00:00:41,541 The following year his wife died, and he was left a childless widower... 8 00:00:41,709 --> 00:00:43,751 ...with an 8 rating and a 12 share. 9 00:00:43,919 --> 00:00:47,380 He became morose and isolated, began to drink heavily. 10 00:00:47,548 --> 00:00:51,217 And on September 22, 1975, he was fired... 11 00:00:51,385 --> 00:00:53,094 ...effective in two weeks. 12 00:00:53,262 --> 00:00:55,847 The news was broken to him by Max Schumacher... 13 00:00:56,014 --> 00:00:58,850 ...who was the president of the news division at UBS. 14 00:00:59,017 --> 00:01:01,644 The two old friends got properly pissed. 15 00:01:01,812 --> 00:01:06,691 I was at CBS with Ed Murrow in 1951. 16 00:01:07,443 --> 00:01:09,694 Must've been 1950, then. 17 00:01:09,862 --> 00:01:14,866 I was NBC, uh, associate producer, Morning News. 18 00:01:15,033 --> 00:01:17,160 I was just a kid, 26 years old. 19 00:01:18,829 --> 00:01:19,954 Anyway... 20 00:01:20,330 --> 00:01:25,084 Anyway, they were building the lower level of the George Washington Bridge. 21 00:01:25,878 --> 00:01:27,837 We were doing a remote from there. 22 00:01:31,842 --> 00:01:33,843 And nobody told me. 23 00:01:36,138 --> 00:01:38,431 Then after 7 in the morning, I get a call. 24 00:01:38,599 --> 00:01:42,810 "Where the hell are you? You're supposed to be on the George Washington Bridge. " 25 00:01:43,771 --> 00:01:47,482 I jump out of bed, throw my raincoat over my pajamas. 26 00:01:47,649 --> 00:01:51,569 I run down the stairs, I run out in the street, hail a cab. 27 00:01:51,737 --> 00:01:56,282 And I say to the cabby, "Take me to the middle of the George Washington Bridge. " 28 00:01:58,786 --> 00:02:02,246 And the cabbie turns around and he says... 29 00:02:03,123 --> 00:02:06,000 He says, "Don't do it, buddy. 30 00:02:06,543 --> 00:02:08,211 You're a young man. 31 00:02:08,378 --> 00:02:10,963 You got your whole life ahead of you. " 32 00:02:16,595 --> 00:02:18,429 Didn't I ever tell you that one before? 33 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:26,729 I'm gonna kill myself. 34 00:02:27,564 --> 00:02:29,065 Oh, shit, Howard. 35 00:02:30,651 --> 00:02:34,153 I'm gonna blow my brains out right on the air. 36 00:02:34,571 --> 00:02:36,781 Right in the middle of the 7:00 news. 37 00:02:37,741 --> 00:02:41,536 Well, you'll get a hell of a rating, I'll guarantee you that. 38 00:02:41,703 --> 00:02:44,497 -50 share easy. - You think so? 39 00:02:44,665 --> 00:02:48,417 Well, sure. We could make a series out of it. 40 00:02:48,585 --> 00:02:50,670 Suicide of the Week. 41 00:02:52,589 --> 00:02:55,091 Hell. Why limit ourselves? 42 00:02:55,259 --> 00:02:56,509 Execution of the Week. 43 00:02:57,970 --> 00:02:59,512 Terrorist of the Week. 44 00:03:00,097 --> 00:03:01,931 I love it. 45 00:03:02,808 --> 00:03:04,851 Suicides. 46 00:03:05,018 --> 00:03:07,311 Assassinations. 47 00:03:07,479 --> 00:03:11,607 Mad bombers, Mafia hit men... 48 00:03:11,775 --> 00:03:13,609 ...automobile smashups. 49 00:03:13,986 --> 00:03:16,237 The Death Hour. 50 00:03:18,448 --> 00:03:22,827 Great Sunday night show for the whole family. 51 00:03:23,579 --> 00:03:26,956 We'll wipe that fucking Disney right off the air. 52 00:04:01,909 --> 00:04:04,493 Let's do the Lenin deportation at the end of three. 53 00:04:04,661 --> 00:04:05,995 That strong enough to bump? 54 00:04:06,163 --> 00:04:09,999 In one then, I'll do a lead on Sara Jane Moore to Mayberry in San Francisco. 55 00:04:10,167 --> 00:04:12,418 In the film I saw, it was the chief of detectives. 56 00:04:12,586 --> 00:04:17,173 I think we've got about 10 seconds on the shooting itself. 57 00:04:17,341 --> 00:04:19,675 The whole thing is 1:25. 58 00:04:19,843 --> 00:04:23,679 - What does that come out? About 4:50. 59 00:04:24,514 --> 00:04:27,725 We using Squeaky Fromme? Let's do that in two. 60 00:04:27,893 --> 00:04:31,687 Squeaky, Ford at the airport, bump. 61 00:04:32,147 --> 00:04:34,440 Now, you using a map going into San Francisco? 62 00:04:34,608 --> 00:04:37,401 Um, I prefer our news pics. 63 00:04:37,694 --> 00:04:39,695 What have we got left? 64 00:04:40,113 --> 00:04:43,366 Gun control, Patty Hearst affidavit. 65 00:04:43,533 --> 00:04:46,285 Guerrillas in Chad, OPEC in Vienna. 66 00:05:07,724 --> 00:05:10,977 All right, fine. I'll see you later. 67 00:05:12,396 --> 00:05:15,231 - Hello, Howard, how are you? Hi. Okay. 68 00:05:25,492 --> 00:05:27,535 Don't forget, Howard, Ron Nessen is now 16, okay? 69 00:05:32,749 --> 00:05:36,168 The first attempt on President Ford's life was 18 days ago... 70 00:05:36,336 --> 00:05:38,671 ...and again yesterday in San Francisco. 71 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:40,423 In spite of the two attempts... 72 00:05:40,590 --> 00:05:43,759 ...Mr. Ford says he will not become a prisoner of the Oval Office... 73 00:05:43,927 --> 00:05:46,762 ...a hostage of would-be assassins. 74 00:05:47,264 --> 00:05:50,641 The American people are good people: 75 00:05:50,976 --> 00:05:54,770 Democrats, Independents, Republicans and others. 76 00:05:54,938 --> 00:05:56,814 How the hell you always get mixed up... 77 00:05:56,982 --> 00:05:59,650 Under no circumstances will I... 78 00:06:01,611 --> 00:06:04,947 ...and I hope no others, capitulate... 79 00:06:05,115 --> 00:06:09,243 ...to those that want to undercut... 80 00:06:09,411 --> 00:06:11,537 ...what's all good in America. 81 00:06:11,705 --> 00:06:12,747 Two, cue Howard. 82 00:06:13,623 --> 00:06:14,832 Ladies and gentlemen... 83 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,502 ...I would like to announce that I will be retiring from this program... 84 00:06:18,670 --> 00:06:22,048 ...in two weeks' time because of poor ratings. 85 00:06:22,632 --> 00:06:26,677 Since this show was the only thing I had going for me in my life... 86 00:06:27,137 --> 00:06:28,888 ...I have decided to kill myself. 87 00:06:29,056 --> 00:06:30,431 So, what did she say? 88 00:06:30,599 --> 00:06:35,436 I'm gonna blow my brains out right on this program, a week from today. 89 00:06:35,604 --> 00:06:37,271 Ten seconds to commercial. 90 00:06:37,439 --> 00:06:38,814 So tune in next Tuesday. 91 00:06:38,982 --> 00:06:42,735 That should give the public-relations people a week to promote the show. 92 00:06:43,361 --> 00:06:48,449 We ought to get a hell of a rating out of that. A 50 share, easy. 93 00:06:48,617 --> 00:06:51,494 Take Tellison. - Listen. 94 00:06:51,661 --> 00:06:54,121 - Uh, did you hear that? - What was that about? 95 00:06:54,664 --> 00:06:57,833 Howard just said he was going to blow his brains out next Tuesday. 96 00:06:58,001 --> 00:06:59,251 What are you talking about? 97 00:06:59,419 --> 00:07:02,004 - Didn't you hear him? He just said- - What's wrong now? 98 00:07:02,380 --> 00:07:05,132 Howard just said he was going to kill himself next Tuesday. 99 00:07:06,426 --> 00:07:10,096 What do you mean, "Howard just said he was going to kill himself next Tuesday"? 100 00:07:10,263 --> 00:07:12,223 He was supposed to do a tag on Ron Nessen- 101 00:07:12,390 --> 00:07:16,018 He said, "Tune in next Tuesday. I'm gonna shoot myself. " 102 00:07:16,311 --> 00:07:17,520 What the hell's going on? 103 00:07:17,687 --> 00:07:20,314 He said he was going to blow his brains out. 104 00:07:20,774 --> 00:07:22,358 What the fuck's going on, Howard? 105 00:07:22,526 --> 00:07:24,401 They wanna know what the fuck's going on. 106 00:07:24,569 --> 00:07:26,695 - I can't hear you. - Turn the studio mike on. 107 00:07:26,863 --> 00:07:29,448 - We're back on in 11 seconds. Ten seconds. 108 00:07:29,908 --> 00:07:31,242 Howard, what are you doing? 109 00:07:31,409 --> 00:07:33,702 - Have you flipped? - I think we better get him off. 110 00:07:33,870 --> 00:07:35,788 - Get him off. - What's the matter with you? 111 00:07:35,956 --> 00:07:39,333 - Get your fucking hands off. - Turn the sound off. He's going out live! 112 00:07:39,501 --> 00:07:41,669 We're in a lot of fucking trouble down here. 113 00:07:41,837 --> 00:07:44,547 - This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. That's my head. 114 00:07:44,714 --> 00:07:46,924 Go to standby. You dumb schmuck! 115 00:07:49,928 --> 00:07:52,054 Lou, can't we clear out that downstairs lobby? 116 00:07:52,222 --> 00:07:53,973 - There must be a hundred people. - How? 117 00:07:54,141 --> 00:07:57,893 Every TV station and wire service in the city. I could barely get in. 118 00:07:58,061 --> 00:08:00,688 - Arthur, anything litigable? - Not so far. 119 00:08:00,856 --> 00:08:03,357 How many spots were wiped out? - Frank just walked in. 120 00:08:03,525 --> 00:08:05,109 We had to abort. What could we do? 121 00:08:05,277 --> 00:08:07,486 He's talking to Wheeler. Over 900 phone calls... 122 00:08:07,654 --> 00:08:09,613 - ... complaining about foul language. Shit. 123 00:08:09,781 --> 00:08:12,158 Come on, Mickey, what page are you putting it on? 124 00:08:12,325 --> 00:08:14,910 Hackett just walked in. - ABC again, they want the tape. 125 00:08:15,078 --> 00:08:17,705 Tell him to go fuck himself. That goes for you too. 126 00:08:17,873 --> 00:08:19,456 You're off the air as of now. 127 00:08:19,791 --> 00:08:22,751 He wants to talk to you. - Who's replacing Beale tomorrow? 128 00:08:22,919 --> 00:08:25,796 - We're flying Snowden up from Washington. - Everybody, hold it. 129 00:08:26,089 --> 00:08:28,174 Let's see how the other networks handle this. 130 00:08:28,341 --> 00:08:29,800 Ten o'clock news opened with it. 131 00:08:29,968 --> 00:08:32,511 Good evening. Howard Beale, one of television's... 132 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:34,805 They're all gonna make it their lead story. 133 00:08:34,973 --> 00:08:37,933 Howard Beale interrupted his Network News program tonight... 134 00:08:38,101 --> 00:08:40,227 ...to announce that he was gonna kill himself. 135 00:08:40,395 --> 00:08:44,398 An unusual thing happened at one of our sister networks, UBS, this evening. 136 00:08:44,566 --> 00:08:46,275 How are we handling it? 137 00:08:46,443 --> 00:08:49,695 Halloway's going to make a brief statement at the end of the show... 138 00:08:49,863 --> 00:08:52,656 ...that Howard's been under great personal stress, et cetera. 139 00:08:52,824 --> 00:08:54,241 I'll call you back, John. 140 00:08:54,409 --> 00:08:56,952 All right. We've got a stockholders' meeting tomorrow... 141 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:00,372 ...at which we're gonna announce the restructuring-of-management plan. 142 00:09:00,540 --> 00:09:03,292 I don't want this grotesque incident to interfere with that. 143 00:09:03,460 --> 00:09:07,421 I'll suggest Mr. Ruddy open with a short statement, washing this whole thing off. 144 00:09:07,589 --> 00:09:09,465 You, Max, you better have some answers... 145 00:09:09,633 --> 00:09:12,176 ...for those nuts that come to stockholders' meetings. 146 00:09:12,344 --> 00:09:15,012 Mr. Beale has been under professional and personal strain. 147 00:09:15,180 --> 00:09:17,473 I've got some surprises for you too, Schumacher. 148 00:09:17,641 --> 00:09:21,477 I've had it up to here with your cruddy division and its annual $33 million deficit! 149 00:09:21,645 --> 00:09:24,688 You keep your hands off my news division, Frank. 150 00:09:24,856 --> 00:09:27,441 We're responsible to corporate level, not you. 151 00:09:27,609 --> 00:09:31,153 - Well, goddamn, we'll see about that. - All right, take it easy. 152 00:09:31,321 --> 00:09:33,322 Right now, how do we get Beale out of here? 153 00:09:33,490 --> 00:09:37,326 I understand there's at least a hundred reporters and camera crews in the lobby. 154 00:09:37,494 --> 00:09:39,328 We got a limo at the freight exit. 155 00:09:39,496 --> 00:09:41,830 Howard, you're gonna spend the night at my place. 156 00:09:41,998 --> 00:09:43,832 There's bound to be press around yours. 157 00:09:53,218 --> 00:09:55,636 I want Snowden here by noon. 158 00:09:55,804 --> 00:09:57,846 Have Lester cover the CIA hearings... 159 00:09:58,014 --> 00:10:00,099 ...and give the White House to Doris. 160 00:10:00,267 --> 00:10:02,393 You're late for your screening, Max. 161 00:10:03,645 --> 00:10:05,688 Right. Okay. 162 00:10:08,233 --> 00:10:10,985 If John Wheeler calls, switch him to Projection Room 7. 163 00:10:11,152 --> 00:10:12,528 Margot, come in here a minute. 164 00:10:14,197 --> 00:10:16,573 - I'm sorry. This Beale business... - It's all right. 165 00:10:16,741 --> 00:10:19,285 Sit down. Diana asked if she could sit in on this. 166 00:10:19,452 --> 00:10:21,662 Fine. How's it going? 167 00:10:21,830 --> 00:10:25,207 I think you'll like this footage better than the stuff I showed you last time, Max. 168 00:10:28,044 --> 00:10:29,878 Max Schumacher. 169 00:10:31,006 --> 00:10:33,716 Goddamn it. When, Louise? 170 00:10:34,551 --> 00:10:35,634 Laureen? 171 00:10:35,802 --> 00:10:37,219 Well, did he say anything? 172 00:10:37,387 --> 00:10:39,179 - Communist Party to be these- 173 00:10:39,347 --> 00:10:40,556 All right, thank you. 174 00:10:40,724 --> 00:10:42,474 - splintered underground groups? 175 00:10:42,642 --> 00:10:44,143 The Communist Party believes... 176 00:10:44,311 --> 00:10:47,563 ...that the most pressing political necessity today... 177 00:10:47,731 --> 00:10:51,442 ...is the consolidation of the revolutionary, radical... 178 00:10:51,609 --> 00:10:54,111 ...and democratic movements into a united front. 179 00:10:54,279 --> 00:10:58,240 Harry, Howard Beale left my house about 20 minutes ago. Has he come in yet? 180 00:10:58,408 --> 00:11:00,284 - of the bourgeois democratic state... 181 00:11:00,452 --> 00:11:02,828 Well, let me know when he arrives, huh? 182 00:11:03,747 --> 00:11:05,247 That's Laureen Hobbs, isn't it? 183 00:11:05,415 --> 00:11:08,459 Yeah. This is from a David Susskind thing a while back. 184 00:11:08,626 --> 00:11:10,419 I think we can use some of this stuff. 185 00:11:10,587 --> 00:11:13,255 - by the broadest possible coalition... 186 00:11:13,757 --> 00:11:16,925 What we're going to see now is something really sensational. 187 00:11:17,218 --> 00:11:20,554 The Flagstaff Independent Bank of Arizona was ripped off last week... 188 00:11:20,722 --> 00:11:23,724 ...by a terrorist group called the Ecumenical Liberation Army. 189 00:11:23,892 --> 00:11:27,227 They actually took movies of the rip-off while they were ripping it off. 190 00:11:27,395 --> 00:11:29,938 - Wait till you see it. - The Ecumenical Liberation Army. 191 00:11:30,106 --> 00:11:32,232 That's not the one that kidnapped Patty Hearst? 192 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:34,568 No, no. That's the Symbionese Liberation Army. 193 00:11:34,736 --> 00:11:36,987 This is the Ecumenical Liberation Army. 194 00:11:37,155 --> 00:11:40,240 They're the ones who kidnapped Mary Ann Gifford three weeks ago. 195 00:11:40,408 --> 00:11:43,660 There's a lot of liberation armies in the revolutionary underground... 196 00:11:43,828 --> 00:11:47,581 ...and a lot of kidnapped heiresses. This is Mary Ann Gifford. 197 00:11:51,169 --> 00:11:53,962 That's the Great Ahmed Kahn, he's their leader. 198 00:11:55,048 --> 00:11:57,174 You mean, they actually shot this film... 199 00:11:57,342 --> 00:11:58,967 ...while they were ripping off the bank? 200 00:11:59,135 --> 00:12:04,139 Wait till you see it. I don't know whether to edit or leave it raw like this. 201 00:12:05,767 --> 00:12:09,228 This is terrific stuff. Where did you get it? 202 00:12:09,396 --> 00:12:13,816 I got everything through Laureen Hobbs. She's my contact for all this stuff. 203 00:12:19,406 --> 00:12:22,199 - Yeah? I've got Howard on the other line. 204 00:12:22,826 --> 00:12:23,867 All right, put him on. 205 00:12:24,035 --> 00:12:26,662 Howard, I've got Max on 4. Would you pick up? 206 00:12:28,456 --> 00:12:32,209 - Listen, Max, I'd like another shot. - Oh, come on, Howard. 207 00:12:32,377 --> 00:12:34,128 I don't mean the whole show... 208 00:12:34,295 --> 00:12:37,965 I'd just like to come on, make some brief farewell statement... 209 00:12:38,133 --> 00:12:41,135 ...and then turn the show over to Jack Snowden. 210 00:12:41,302 --> 00:12:43,345 I have 11 years at this network, Max. 211 00:12:43,513 --> 00:12:45,222 I have some standing in the industry. 212 00:12:45,390 --> 00:12:47,683 I just don't wanna go out like a clown. 213 00:12:47,851 --> 00:12:50,102 It'll be simple, dignified. 214 00:12:50,270 --> 00:12:52,062 You and Harry can check the copy. 215 00:12:52,689 --> 00:12:55,357 I think it'll take the strain off the show, Max. 216 00:12:56,651 --> 00:12:58,152 Well, what do you think? 217 00:12:58,319 --> 00:13:00,362 Well, okay. 218 00:13:00,530 --> 00:13:03,157 And no booze today, Howard. 219 00:13:03,741 --> 00:13:05,534 No booze. 220 00:13:08,830 --> 00:13:11,373 Summaries have been received. We're forwarding them... 221 00:13:11,541 --> 00:13:14,084 George, can, uh, you come into my office for a minute? 222 00:13:14,252 --> 00:13:15,669 Right. 223 00:13:20,717 --> 00:13:22,885 - Barbara, is Tommy around anywhere? - I think so. 224 00:13:23,052 --> 00:13:25,721 I'd like to see the two of you for a moment. 225 00:13:32,270 --> 00:13:36,023 Uh, this is Bill Herron from our West Coast Special Programs Department. 226 00:13:36,191 --> 00:13:38,817 George Bosch, Barbara Schlesinger, Tommy Pellegrino. 227 00:13:38,985 --> 00:13:42,279 Look, I just saw some rough footage of a special Bill's doing... 228 00:13:42,447 --> 00:13:45,240 ...on the revolutionary underground. Most is tedious stuff... 229 00:13:45,408 --> 00:13:48,911 ...of Laureen Hobbs and two fatigue jackets muttering mutilated Marxism. 230 00:13:49,078 --> 00:13:53,081 But he's got about eight minutes of a bank robbery... 231 00:13:53,249 --> 00:13:56,293 ...that is absolutely sensational. Authentic stuff. 232 00:13:56,461 --> 00:13:59,421 Actually shot while the robbery was going on. 233 00:13:59,589 --> 00:14:01,840 You remember the Mary Ann Gifford kidnapping? 234 00:14:02,091 --> 00:14:05,761 It's that bunch of nuts. She's in the movie shooting off machine guns. 235 00:14:05,929 --> 00:14:10,432 Really terrific footage. I think we can get a hell of a Movie of the Week out of it... 236 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:11,725 ...maybe even a series. 237 00:14:13,019 --> 00:14:15,229 A series out of what? What are we talking about? 238 00:14:15,396 --> 00:14:17,898 Look, we've got a bunch of hobgoblin radicals... 239 00:14:18,066 --> 00:14:20,067 ...called the Ecumenical Liberation Army... 240 00:14:20,235 --> 00:14:23,654 ...who go around taking home movies of themselves robbing banks. 241 00:14:23,821 --> 00:14:26,573 And maybe they'll take movies of themselves kidnapping heiresses... 242 00:14:26,741 --> 00:14:30,911 ...um, hijacking 747s, bombing bridges, assassinating ambassadors. 243 00:14:32,997 --> 00:14:35,916 We'd open each week's segment with that authentic footage... 244 00:14:36,084 --> 00:14:38,752 ...hire writers to write some story behind that footage... 245 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,088 ...and we've got ourselves a series. 246 00:14:41,256 --> 00:14:44,675 A series about a bunch of, uh, bank-robbing guerillas? 247 00:14:46,010 --> 00:14:47,928 What are we gonna call it, The Mao Tse-Tung Hour? 248 00:14:48,096 --> 00:14:50,389 Why not? 249 00:14:50,974 --> 00:14:54,184 They've got Strike Force, Task Force, SWAT, why not Che Guevara... 250 00:14:54,352 --> 00:14:56,019 ...and his own little mod squad? 251 00:14:56,187 --> 00:14:58,855 Look, I sent you all a concept-analysis report yesterday. 252 00:14:59,023 --> 00:15:00,857 Did any of you read it? 253 00:15:03,069 --> 00:15:06,572 Well, in a nutshell, it said the American people are turning sullen. 254 00:15:06,739 --> 00:15:10,659 They've been clobbered by Vietnam, Watergate, inflation, the Depression. 255 00:15:10,827 --> 00:15:14,413 They've turned off, shot up and fucked themselves limp. And nothing helps. 256 00:15:14,581 --> 00:15:19,293 So this concept-analysis report concludes the American people want somebody... 257 00:15:19,460 --> 00:15:22,296 ...to articulate their rage for them. 258 00:15:22,463 --> 00:15:25,591 I've been telling you people since I took this job six months ago... 259 00:15:25,758 --> 00:15:27,843 ...that I want angry shows. 260 00:15:28,011 --> 00:15:31,597 I don't want conventional programming on this network, I want counterculture. 261 00:15:31,764 --> 00:15:33,765 I want antiestablishment. 262 00:15:36,185 --> 00:15:39,771 I don't wanna play butch boss with you people. 263 00:15:40,106 --> 00:15:41,732 When I took over this department... 264 00:15:41,899 --> 00:15:44,693 ...it had the worst programming record in television history. 265 00:15:45,153 --> 00:15:47,154 This network hasn't one show in the top 20. 266 00:15:47,322 --> 00:15:49,656 This network is an industry joke. 267 00:15:49,824 --> 00:15:52,868 And we better start putting together one winner for next September. 268 00:15:53,036 --> 00:15:58,582 I want a show developed based on the activities of a terrorist group. 269 00:15:58,750 --> 00:16:01,043 Joseph Stalin and his merry band of Bolsheviks. 270 00:16:01,210 --> 00:16:04,630 I want ideas from you people. That is what you're paid for. 271 00:16:04,797 --> 00:16:08,550 And, by the way, the next time I send an audience research report around... 272 00:16:08,718 --> 00:16:12,554 ...you'd all better read it, or I'll sack the fucking lot of you, is that clear? 273 00:16:12,722 --> 00:16:14,890 I'll be out on the coast in, uh, four weeks. 274 00:16:15,058 --> 00:16:17,142 Will you set up a meeting with Laureen Hobbs? 275 00:16:17,310 --> 00:16:18,352 Sure. 276 00:16:18,770 --> 00:16:21,980 But the business of management is management. 277 00:16:22,148 --> 00:16:24,858 And at the time CCA took control of the UBS TV Network... 278 00:16:25,026 --> 00:16:28,987 ...it was foundering with less than 7 percent of national television revenues... 279 00:16:29,155 --> 00:16:31,740 ...most network programs being sold at station rates. 280 00:16:31,908 --> 00:16:35,118 I am pleased to announce I am submitting to the board of directors... 281 00:16:35,286 --> 00:16:38,372 ...a plan for the coordination of the main profit centers. 282 00:16:38,539 --> 00:16:40,123 And with the specific intention... 283 00:16:40,291 --> 00:16:44,461 ...of making each division more responsive to management. 284 00:16:45,088 --> 00:16:46,797 Point one. 285 00:16:47,423 --> 00:16:51,426 The division producing the lowest rate of return has been the news division... 286 00:16:51,594 --> 00:16:57,224 ...with its $98 million budget and its average annual deficit of 32 million. 287 00:16:57,725 --> 00:17:00,936 I know that, historically, news divisions are expected to lose money. 288 00:17:01,104 --> 00:17:04,523 But to our minds, this philosophy is a wanton fiscal affront... 289 00:17:04,691 --> 00:17:07,317 ...to be resolutely resisted. 290 00:17:07,777 --> 00:17:12,447 The new plan calls for local news to be transferred to owned stations' divisions. 291 00:17:12,615 --> 00:17:16,827 News radio would be transferred to the UBS Radio Division and in effect... 292 00:17:17,995 --> 00:17:21,206 ...the news division would be reduced from an independent division... 293 00:17:21,374 --> 00:17:25,335 ...to a department accountable to network. 294 00:17:30,633 --> 00:17:33,760 - What was that all about, Ed? - This is not the time, Max. 295 00:17:33,928 --> 00:17:35,929 Why wasn't I told about this? 296 00:17:36,097 --> 00:17:38,849 Why was I led up onto that podium and publicly humiliated... 297 00:17:39,016 --> 00:17:40,642 ...in front of the stockholders? 298 00:17:40,810 --> 00:17:43,145 Goddamn it, I spoke to John Wheeler this morning... 299 00:17:43,312 --> 00:17:45,480 ...and he assured me the news division was safe. 300 00:17:45,648 --> 00:17:47,816 That's one hell of a way to get me to resign. 301 00:17:47,984 --> 00:17:51,737 We'll talk about this tomorrow at our regular morning meeting. 302 00:18:02,498 --> 00:18:04,374 Eleven, 10... Roll VTA. 303 00:18:04,542 --> 00:18:07,961 ...nine, eight, seven, six. 304 00:18:08,129 --> 00:18:12,007 In five, four, three, two... 305 00:18:12,341 --> 00:18:14,634 One. One, cue VTA. 306 00:18:19,182 --> 00:18:20,348 Cue announcer. 307 00:18:20,516 --> 00:18:25,520 The UBS evening news with Howard Beale. 308 00:18:25,772 --> 00:18:27,272 Ready, two? 309 00:18:27,857 --> 00:18:29,191 Two, cue Howard. 310 00:18:29,358 --> 00:18:33,320 Good evening. Today is Wednesday, September the 24th... 311 00:18:33,488 --> 00:18:35,363 ...and this is my last broadcast. 312 00:18:36,866 --> 00:18:41,745 Yesterday I announced on this program that I was going to commit public suicide. 313 00:18:41,913 --> 00:18:46,082 Admittedly an act of madness. Well, I'll tell you what happened. 314 00:18:46,250 --> 00:18:47,584 I just ran out of bullshit. 315 00:18:47,752 --> 00:18:50,504 - All right, cut him off. - Leave him on. 316 00:18:51,756 --> 00:18:52,798 Am I still on the air? 317 00:18:52,965 --> 00:18:55,175 If this is how he wants to go out, this is how he goes out. 318 00:18:56,594 --> 00:18:58,053 - except I just ran out of bullshit. 319 00:18:58,221 --> 00:19:00,138 Mr. Schumacher's right here. Wanna talk to him? 320 00:19:00,306 --> 00:19:02,682 Bullshit is all the reasons we give for living. 321 00:19:02,850 --> 00:19:06,061 If we can't think up any reasons of our own, we have the God bullshit. 322 00:19:06,229 --> 00:19:08,522 Holy Mary, Mother of Christ. - Tom, what is it? 323 00:19:08,731 --> 00:19:11,691 - through all this pointless pain, humiliation and decay... 324 00:19:11,859 --> 00:19:13,944 ...so there better be someone who does know. 325 00:19:14,111 --> 00:19:15,695 That's the God bullshit. 326 00:19:15,863 --> 00:19:19,366 He's saying that life is bullshit and it is. What are you screaming about? 327 00:19:19,534 --> 00:19:21,993 Man is a noble creature that can order his own world. Who needs God? 328 00:19:23,496 --> 00:19:24,955 If there's anybody out there... 329 00:19:25,122 --> 00:19:28,250 ...that can look around this slaughterhouse of a world we live in... 330 00:19:28,417 --> 00:19:30,752 ...and tell me that man is a noble creature... 331 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:33,255 ...believe me, that man is full of bullshit. 332 00:19:34,465 --> 00:19:37,968 - What's so goddamn funny? - I can't help it, Harry. It's funny. 333 00:19:38,594 --> 00:19:42,639 Max, this is going out live to 67 affiliates. 334 00:19:42,807 --> 00:19:44,182 Leave him on. 335 00:19:44,433 --> 00:19:48,770 And I was married for 33 years of shrill, shrieking fraud. 336 00:19:48,938 --> 00:19:52,941 - Mr. Hackett's trying to get through to you. - Tell Mr. Hackett to go fuck himself. 337 00:19:53,109 --> 00:19:55,777 So I don't have any bullshit left. 338 00:19:56,696 --> 00:19:59,114 I just ran out of it, you see. 339 00:20:05,121 --> 00:20:07,789 Mr. Ruddy, could we have just one statement from you? 340 00:20:07,957 --> 00:20:10,792 Sorry, I don't have all the information yet. 341 00:20:11,127 --> 00:20:12,669 One question. 342 00:20:13,629 --> 00:20:17,883 Could we-? If we could just have one statement about Mr. Beale. 343 00:20:27,351 --> 00:20:29,060 Max. 344 00:20:37,737 --> 00:20:39,571 I'll want to see Mr. Beale after this. 345 00:20:42,283 --> 00:20:44,910 The way I hear it, Max, you were primarily responsible... 346 00:20:45,077 --> 00:20:47,120 ...for this colossally stupid prank. 347 00:20:47,997 --> 00:20:50,165 - Is that the fact, Max? - That's the fact. 348 00:20:50,875 --> 00:20:52,792 It was unconscionable. 349 00:20:56,005 --> 00:20:58,089 There doesn't seem to be anything more to say. 350 00:20:58,257 --> 00:20:59,591 I have something to say, Ed. 351 00:21:00,676 --> 00:21:03,678 I want to know why that whole debasement of the news division... 352 00:21:03,846 --> 00:21:08,266 ...announced at the stockholders' meeting this afternoon was kept secret from me. 353 00:21:08,684 --> 00:21:10,894 You and I go back 20 years, Ed. 354 00:21:11,354 --> 00:21:13,521 I took this job with your personal assurance... 355 00:21:13,689 --> 00:21:17,317 ...that you'd back my autonomy against any encroachment. 356 00:21:17,485 --> 00:21:22,197 But ever since CCA acquired control of UBS Systems 10 months ago... 357 00:21:22,365 --> 00:21:24,491 ...Hackett's been taking over everything. 358 00:21:24,659 --> 00:21:28,787 Now who the hell is running this network? You or some conglomerate called CCA? 359 00:21:29,413 --> 00:21:31,665 I mean you're president of the Systems Group... 360 00:21:31,832 --> 00:21:34,876 ...and Hackett's nothing but a hatchet man for CCA. 361 00:21:35,044 --> 00:21:38,046 Nelson here, president of a network... 362 00:21:38,214 --> 00:21:40,882 ...and he hasn't a thing to say about anything anymore. 363 00:21:41,050 --> 00:21:43,510 I told you at the stockholders' meeting, Max... 364 00:21:43,678 --> 00:21:47,555 ...that we would discuss all that at our regular meeting tomorrow morning. 365 00:21:47,723 --> 00:21:48,890 If you had been patient... 366 00:21:49,058 --> 00:21:52,143 ...I would've explained that I thought Frank Hackett precipitate... 367 00:21:52,311 --> 00:21:54,562 ...and that the reorganization of the division... 368 00:21:54,730 --> 00:21:58,066 ...would not be executed until everyone, specifically you, Max... 369 00:21:58,567 --> 00:22:01,069 ...had been consulted and satisfied. 370 00:22:02,071 --> 00:22:05,031 Instead, you sulked off like a child and engaged this network... 371 00:22:05,199 --> 00:22:07,075 ...in a shocking and disgraceful episode. 372 00:22:07,576 --> 00:22:09,327 Your position is no longer tenable... 373 00:22:09,495 --> 00:22:12,372 ...regardless of how management is restructured. 374 00:22:13,499 --> 00:22:16,209 I will expect your resignation at 10:00 tomorrow morning... 375 00:22:16,377 --> 00:22:20,046 ...and we will coordinate our statements to the least detriment of everyone. 376 00:22:20,715 --> 00:22:22,966 Bob McDonough will take over the news division... 377 00:22:23,134 --> 00:22:25,093 ...until we can sort all this out. 378 00:22:27,596 --> 00:22:29,723 I'd like to see Mr. Beale now. 379 00:22:30,307 --> 00:22:33,518 They're looking for him, Ed. They don't know where he is. 380 00:22:35,563 --> 00:22:39,941 Every day, five days a week for 15 years, I've been sitting behind that desk. 381 00:22:40,109 --> 00:22:41,609 The dispassionate pundit... 382 00:22:42,445 --> 00:22:45,572 ...reporting with seemly detachment the daily parade... 383 00:22:45,740 --> 00:22:48,283 ...of lunacies that constitute the news. 384 00:22:48,868 --> 00:22:51,786 And just once I wanted to say what I really felt. 385 00:22:51,954 --> 00:22:53,830 Knock it off, Arthur. 386 00:22:53,998 --> 00:22:55,582 It was, after all, my last... 387 00:23:12,475 --> 00:23:15,351 - Did the overnight ratings come in yet? - They're on your desk. 388 00:23:15,519 --> 00:23:17,479 Have you still got yesterday's overnights? 389 00:23:17,646 --> 00:23:19,564 Shall I bring them in? Yeah. 390 00:23:25,404 --> 00:23:28,990 These are those four outlines submitted by Universal for an hour series. 391 00:23:29,158 --> 00:23:31,701 You needn't bother to read them. I'll tell them to you. 392 00:23:31,869 --> 00:23:36,331 The first one is set in a large Eastern law school, presumably Harvard. 393 00:23:36,499 --> 00:23:39,334 The series is irresistibly entitled The New Lawyers. 394 00:23:39,502 --> 00:23:42,921 The running characters are a crusty but benign ex-Supreme Court Justice... 395 00:23:43,089 --> 00:23:46,382 ...presumably Oliver Wendell Holmes by way of Dr. Zorba. 396 00:23:46,550 --> 00:23:48,635 There is a beautiful girl graduate student... 397 00:23:48,803 --> 00:23:52,180 ...and the district attorney who is brilliant and sometimes cuts corners. 398 00:23:52,348 --> 00:23:53,681 Next one. 399 00:23:53,849 --> 00:23:55,934 The second one is called The Amazon Squad. 400 00:23:56,102 --> 00:23:57,352 Lady cops? 401 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:00,438 The running characters include a crusty but benign lieutenant... 402 00:24:00,606 --> 00:24:03,024 ...who's always getting heat from the commissioner... 403 00:24:03,192 --> 00:24:06,444 ...a hard-drinking detective who thinks women belong in the kitchen... 404 00:24:06,612 --> 00:24:08,863 ...and a brilliant and beautiful young girl cop... 405 00:24:09,031 --> 00:24:12,534 - ... who's fighting the feminist battle. We're up to our ears in lady cops. 406 00:24:12,701 --> 00:24:15,745 The next is another one of those investigative reporter shows. 407 00:24:15,913 --> 00:24:18,331 A crusty but benign managing editor who's always- 408 00:24:18,499 --> 00:24:20,166 You know, Barbara... 409 00:24:20,835 --> 00:24:25,547 ...the Arabs have decided to jack up the price of oil another 20 percent. 410 00:24:25,714 --> 00:24:29,467 Uh, the CIA has been caught opening Senator Humphrey's mail. 411 00:24:29,635 --> 00:24:34,556 There's a civil war in Angola, another one in Beirut. 412 00:24:35,099 --> 00:24:37,725 The- New York City's still facing default. 413 00:24:37,893 --> 00:24:40,520 They finally caught up with Patricia Hearst. 414 00:24:40,688 --> 00:24:44,566 And the whole front page of the Daily News is Howard Beale. 415 00:24:45,609 --> 00:24:49,362 There's also a two-column story on Page 1 of the Times. 416 00:24:52,324 --> 00:24:54,951 Helen, call Mr. Hackett's office. 417 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:57,829 See if he can give me a few minutes this morning. 418 00:25:03,752 --> 00:25:07,964 KTNS, Kansas City, refuses to carry our Network News show anymore... 419 00:25:08,132 --> 00:25:09,883 ...unless Beale is taken off the air. 420 00:25:10,050 --> 00:25:12,260 Did you see the overnights on the Network News? 421 00:25:12,428 --> 00:25:17,056 It has an eight in New York, a nine in L.A. and a 27 share in both cities. 422 00:25:17,224 --> 00:25:20,935 Last night Howard Beale went on the air and yelled "bullshit" for two minutes... 423 00:25:21,103 --> 00:25:25,064 ...and I can tell you right now that tonight's show will get a 30 share, at least. 424 00:25:25,232 --> 00:25:26,941 I think we've lucked into something. 425 00:25:27,109 --> 00:25:29,986 For God's sakes. Are you suggesting that we put that lunatic... 426 00:25:30,154 --> 00:25:31,946 ...back on the air yelling "bullshit"? 427 00:25:32,114 --> 00:25:35,283 I think we should put Beale back on the air tonight and keep him on. 428 00:25:35,451 --> 00:25:38,119 Did you see the news this morning? Did you see the Times? 429 00:25:38,287 --> 00:25:41,831 We've got press on this you couldn't buy for a million dollars. Frank. 430 00:25:41,999 --> 00:25:45,293 That dumb show jumped five rating points in one night. 431 00:25:45,461 --> 00:25:47,337 Tonight's show has gotta be at least 15. 432 00:25:47,504 --> 00:25:51,341 We just increased our audience by 20 or 30 million people in one night. 433 00:25:51,508 --> 00:25:53,635 You're not gonna get this dumped in your lap... 434 00:25:53,802 --> 00:25:56,262 ...for the rest of your days. You can't piss it away. 435 00:25:56,430 --> 00:25:58,556 Howard Beale said what every American feels... 436 00:25:58,724 --> 00:26:03,645 ...that he's tired of all the bullshit. He's articulating the popular rage. 437 00:26:03,938 --> 00:26:07,982 I want that show, Frank. I can turn that show into the biggest smash on television. 438 00:26:08,150 --> 00:26:11,110 What do you mean? It's a news show. It's not your department. 439 00:26:11,278 --> 00:26:13,863 I see Howard Beale as a latter-day prophet. 440 00:26:14,323 --> 00:26:17,992 A magnificent, messianic figure inveighing against the hypocrisies of our times. 441 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,620 A strip Savonarola, Monday through Friday... 442 00:26:20,788 --> 00:26:23,790 ...that I tell you, Frank, could just go through the roof... 443 00:26:23,958 --> 00:26:27,001 ...and I'm talking about a $6 cost per thousand show. 444 00:26:27,378 --> 00:26:30,004 I'm talking about a hundred- A 130,000-dollar minutes. 445 00:26:30,172 --> 00:26:32,715 Do you wanna figure out the revenues of a strip show... 446 00:26:32,883 --> 00:26:34,801 ...that sells for 100,000 bucks a minute? 447 00:26:34,969 --> 00:26:37,804 One show like that could pull this network out of the hole. 448 00:26:37,972 --> 00:26:40,515 Frank, it's being handed to us on a plate. Let's not blow it. 449 00:26:42,685 --> 00:26:44,018 Yes? 450 00:26:44,937 --> 00:26:47,021 Tell him I'll be a few minutes. 451 00:26:49,358 --> 00:26:50,400 Let me think it over. 452 00:26:50,567 --> 00:26:53,361 Frank, let's not go to committee on this. It's 20 after 10. 453 00:26:53,529 --> 00:26:56,447 We want Beale in that studio. We don't wanna lose the momentum. 454 00:26:56,615 --> 00:26:57,824 For God's sake, Diana... 455 00:26:57,992 --> 00:27:03,413 ...we're talking about putting a manifestly irresponsible man on national television. 456 00:27:13,007 --> 00:27:15,925 I'd like to talk to Legal Affairs at least and Herb Thackeray... 457 00:27:16,093 --> 00:27:18,970 ...and certainly Joe Donnelly in Standards and Practices. 458 00:27:20,055 --> 00:27:23,391 And you know, I'm going to be eyeball to eyeball with Mr. Ruddy on this. 459 00:27:23,559 --> 00:27:27,020 If I'm going to the mat with Ruddy, I wanna make sure of some of my ground. 460 00:27:27,187 --> 00:27:29,689 I'm the one whose ass is going on the line. 461 00:27:32,484 --> 00:27:34,152 I'll get back to you, Diana. 462 00:27:38,073 --> 00:27:40,575 I don't believe this. I don't believe the top brass... 463 00:27:40,743 --> 00:27:43,911 ...of a national television network are sitting around their salads- 464 00:27:44,079 --> 00:27:46,831 The top brass of a bankrupt national television network... 465 00:27:46,999 --> 00:27:49,250 ...with projected losses of close to $150 million. 466 00:27:49,418 --> 00:27:50,668 I don't care how bankrupt. 467 00:27:52,171 --> 00:27:56,049 You can't be seriously proposing, and the rest of us seriously considering... 468 00:27:56,216 --> 00:27:59,093 ...putting on a pornographic Network News show. 469 00:27:59,261 --> 00:28:01,012 - The FCC'd kill us. - Sit down, Nelson. 470 00:28:01,180 --> 00:28:03,931 The FCC can't do anything except rap our knuckles. 471 00:28:04,099 --> 00:28:07,185 I don't even wanna think about the litigious possibilities, Frank. 472 00:28:07,353 --> 00:28:10,605 - Could be up to our ears in lawsuits. - The affiliates won't carry it. 473 00:28:10,773 --> 00:28:13,691 Affiliates will kiss your ass, if you can hand them a hit show. 474 00:28:13,859 --> 00:28:14,901 The popular reaction- 475 00:28:15,069 --> 00:28:18,112 We don't know the popular reaction. We have to find out. 476 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:19,322 The New York Times- 477 00:28:19,490 --> 00:28:22,825 The New York Times doesn't advertise on our network. 478 00:28:24,953 --> 00:28:29,082 All I know is this violates every canon of respectable broadcasting. 479 00:28:29,625 --> 00:28:32,377 We're not a respectable network. We're a whorehouse network. 480 00:28:32,544 --> 00:28:34,796 We have to take whatever we can get. 481 00:28:36,215 --> 00:28:37,799 Well, I don't want any part of it. 482 00:28:37,966 --> 00:28:40,551 I don't fancy myself the president of a whorehouse. 483 00:28:40,719 --> 00:28:43,429 That's very commendable of you, Nelson. Now, sit down. 484 00:28:44,848 --> 00:28:48,976 Your indignation has been duly recorded. You can always resign tomorrow. 485 00:28:50,938 --> 00:28:54,315 Now look, what in substance are we proposing? 486 00:28:54,858 --> 00:28:58,653 Merely to add editorial comment to our Network News show. 487 00:28:58,821 --> 00:29:02,490 Brinkley, Sevareid, Reasoner, all have their comments. 488 00:29:02,658 --> 00:29:04,617 Now Howard Beale will have his. 489 00:29:04,785 --> 00:29:08,329 I think we ought to give it a shot. Let's see what happens tonight. 490 00:29:08,497 --> 00:29:09,539 Telephone, please. 491 00:29:09,706 --> 00:29:12,625 I don't wanna be the messenger that has to tell Max Schumacher. 492 00:29:12,793 --> 00:29:14,710 Max doesn't work at this network anymore. 493 00:29:14,878 --> 00:29:16,379 Mr. Ruddy fired him last night. 494 00:29:16,547 --> 00:29:19,257 Bob McDonough's running the news division now. 495 00:29:20,801 --> 00:29:22,677 Bob McDonough in News, please. 496 00:29:24,263 --> 00:29:26,180 Oh, I don't know. 497 00:29:26,348 --> 00:29:28,766 I may teach or I may write a book... 498 00:29:28,934 --> 00:29:31,352 ...whatever the hell one does when one approaches... 499 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:33,896 ...the autumn of one's years. 500 00:29:35,899 --> 00:29:38,151 My God, is that me? 501 00:29:38,444 --> 00:29:40,528 - Was I ever that young? 502 00:29:41,196 --> 00:29:43,614 No. Howard just brought in a picture of Ed Murrow... 503 00:29:43,782 --> 00:29:46,117 ...and the whole CBS gang when we were there. 504 00:29:46,285 --> 00:29:47,618 You wouldn't believe it. 505 00:29:47,786 --> 00:29:51,998 Walter Cronkite, Harry Reasoner, Hollenbeck, Bob Trout. 506 00:29:52,166 --> 00:29:54,083 - Is that you, Howard? - Mm-hm. 507 00:29:55,127 --> 00:29:56,711 Yeah. 508 00:29:57,045 --> 00:29:59,881 - Okay, Dick, we'll be in touch. Right. - You remember this kid? 509 00:30:00,048 --> 00:30:03,384 He's the kid I think you once sent out to interview Cleveland Amory on vivisection. 510 00:30:07,181 --> 00:30:09,056 What's so funny? 511 00:30:11,977 --> 00:30:15,480 So I jump out of bed in my pajamas, I grab my raincoat, I run downstairs. 512 00:30:15,647 --> 00:30:18,065 I run out in the street and I hail a cab. 513 00:30:18,233 --> 00:30:20,234 And I jumped in and I yell at the driver: 514 00:30:20,402 --> 00:30:23,321 "Take me to the middle of the George Washington Bridge. " 515 00:30:25,449 --> 00:30:29,118 And the driver turns around and he says: "Don't do it, buddy, don't do it. 516 00:30:29,286 --> 00:30:31,704 You're young, you got your whole life ahead of you. " 517 00:30:31,872 --> 00:30:34,832 Wait a minute! Wait a minute! 518 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:36,667 If you think that's funny- 519 00:30:36,835 --> 00:30:39,378 No, if you think that's funny, wait till you hear this. 520 00:30:39,546 --> 00:30:41,797 I've just come back from Frank Hackett's office. 521 00:30:41,965 --> 00:30:43,716 He wants to put Howard on the air. 522 00:30:43,884 --> 00:30:45,301 - You're kidding. - Apparently... 523 00:30:45,469 --> 00:30:47,678 ...the ratings went up five points last night... 524 00:30:47,846 --> 00:30:50,973 ...and he wants Howard to go back on and do his angry-man thing. 525 00:30:51,642 --> 00:30:53,142 What are you talking about? 526 00:30:53,310 --> 00:30:56,270 I'm telling you. They want Howard to go back on and yell "bullshit. " 527 00:30:59,525 --> 00:31:02,860 They want Howard to go on spontaneously letting out his anger. 528 00:31:03,028 --> 00:31:05,905 A latter-day prophet denouncing the hypocrisies of our times. 529 00:31:06,073 --> 00:31:08,199 Hey, that sounds pretty good. 530 00:31:09,117 --> 00:31:10,535 Who's this "they"? 531 00:31:11,119 --> 00:31:14,747 Hackett. Chaney was there. The Legal Affairs guy. 532 00:31:14,915 --> 00:31:16,832 Oh, and that girl from Programming. 533 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,001 Christensen? What's she got to do with this? 534 00:31:19,169 --> 00:31:21,671 You're kidding, aren't you? - I'm not kidding. 535 00:31:21,838 --> 00:31:22,880 I told them. I said: 536 00:31:23,048 --> 00:31:25,633 "Look, we're running a news department, not a circus. 537 00:31:25,801 --> 00:31:28,135 And Howard Beale's not a bearded lady. 538 00:31:28,303 --> 00:31:30,972 If you think I'm gonna go along with this bastardization... 539 00:31:31,139 --> 00:31:34,350 ...you can have my resignation along with Max Schumacher's right now. 540 00:31:34,518 --> 00:31:37,311 I think I'm speaking for Howard Beale and everybody else-" 541 00:31:37,479 --> 00:31:40,523 That's my job you're turning down. 542 00:31:40,816 --> 00:31:43,276 I'd go nuts without some kind of work. 543 00:31:43,443 --> 00:31:47,738 What's wrong with being an angry prophet denouncing the hypocrisies of our times? 544 00:31:47,906 --> 00:31:49,699 What do you think, Max? 545 00:31:49,866 --> 00:31:53,452 Do you want to be an angry prophet denouncing the hypocrisies of our times? 546 00:31:53,620 --> 00:31:58,040 Yeah, I think I'd like to be an angry prophet denouncing the hypocrisies of our times. 547 00:31:59,418 --> 00:32:01,294 Then grab it. Grab it! 548 00:32:07,884 --> 00:32:09,677 - Afternoon, Mr. Ruddy. - Good afternoon. 549 00:32:09,845 --> 00:32:11,804 Good afternoon, Mr. Ruddy. 550 00:32:14,975 --> 00:32:17,768 - He's waiting for you, Mr. Ruddy. Thank you. 551 00:32:23,567 --> 00:32:27,862 Nelson Chaney tells me Beale may actually go on the air this evening. 552 00:32:29,072 --> 00:32:30,990 As far as I know, Howard's going to do it. 553 00:32:33,660 --> 00:32:35,369 You going to sit still for this, Ed? 554 00:32:35,537 --> 00:32:38,998 Yes. I think Hackett's overstepped himself. 555 00:32:39,166 --> 00:32:41,792 There's some kind of corporate maneuvering going on, Max. 556 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,170 Hackett is clearly forcing a confrontation. 557 00:32:44,338 --> 00:32:47,548 That would account for his behavior at the stockholders' meeting. 558 00:32:47,716 --> 00:32:51,302 However, I think he's making a serious mistake with this Beale business. 559 00:32:51,928 --> 00:32:56,599 I suspect CCA will be upset at Hackett's presumptuousness. 560 00:32:56,767 --> 00:32:58,851 Certainly Mr. Jensen will. 561 00:32:59,019 --> 00:33:02,063 So I'm going to let Hackett have his head for a while. 562 00:33:02,606 --> 00:33:05,149 He just might lose it over this Beale business. 563 00:33:09,488 --> 00:33:12,156 I'd like you to reconsider your resignation, Max. 564 00:33:12,699 --> 00:33:14,950 I assume that Hackett wouldn't take such steps... 565 00:33:15,118 --> 00:33:17,119 ...without some support on the CCA board. 566 00:33:17,829 --> 00:33:20,081 I'll have to go directly to Mr. Jensen. 567 00:33:20,248 --> 00:33:23,250 When that happens, I'm going to need every friend I've got. 568 00:33:23,418 --> 00:33:27,088 And I certainly don't want Hackett's people in all of the divisional positions. 569 00:33:27,255 --> 00:33:29,382 So I'd like you to stay on, Max. 570 00:33:34,262 --> 00:33:35,346 Of course, Ed. 571 00:33:37,140 --> 00:33:38,933 Thank you, Max. 572 00:33:39,976 --> 00:33:44,271 This has been the UBS evening news with Howard Beale. 573 00:33:44,940 --> 00:33:49,527 The initial response to the new Howard Beale Show was not auspicatory. 574 00:33:49,695 --> 00:33:53,948 The press was without exception hostile and the industry reaction negative. 575 00:33:54,116 --> 00:33:57,118 The ratings for the Thursday and Friday shows were both 14. 576 00:33:57,285 --> 00:33:59,245 But Monday's rating dropped a point... 577 00:33:59,413 --> 00:34:02,832 ...clearly suggesting the novelty was wearing off. 578 00:34:04,292 --> 00:34:06,502 Did you know there are a number of psychics... 579 00:34:06,670 --> 00:34:09,296 ...working as licensed brokers on Wall Street? 580 00:34:09,464 --> 00:34:12,133 Some of them counsel their clients by use of tarot cards. 581 00:34:12,300 --> 00:34:15,678 They're all pretty successful, even in a bear market and selling short. 582 00:34:15,846 --> 00:34:19,265 I met one of them last week and thought of doing a show around her. 583 00:34:19,433 --> 00:34:22,101 The Wayward Witch of Wall Street, something like that. 584 00:34:22,269 --> 00:34:24,770 If her tips were any good, she could wreck the market. 585 00:34:24,938 --> 00:34:30,317 So I called her this morning and asked her how she was on predicting the future. 586 00:34:30,485 --> 00:34:33,028 She said she was occasionally prescient. 587 00:34:33,196 --> 00:34:35,072 For example, she said: 588 00:34:35,240 --> 00:34:37,825 "I just had a fleeting vision of you... 589 00:34:37,993 --> 00:34:40,870 ...sitting in an office with a craggy middle-aged man... 590 00:34:41,037 --> 00:34:44,582 ...with whom you are, or will be, emotionally involved. " 591 00:34:44,750 --> 00:34:46,000 And here I am. 592 00:34:48,462 --> 00:34:50,337 And she does all this with tarot cards? 593 00:34:50,505 --> 00:34:53,966 No. This one operates on parapsychology. 594 00:34:54,134 --> 00:34:58,345 She has trance-like episodes and feels things in her energy field. 595 00:34:59,473 --> 00:35:01,974 I think this lady could be very useful to you, Max. 596 00:35:02,350 --> 00:35:04,018 - In what way? - Well... 597 00:35:04,186 --> 00:35:07,354 ...you put on a news show and here's somebody who can predict... 598 00:35:07,522 --> 00:35:09,106 ...tomorrow's news for you. 599 00:35:09,274 --> 00:35:11,901 Her name, aptly enough, is Sibyl. 600 00:35:12,068 --> 00:35:13,402 Sibyl the Soothsayer. 601 00:35:13,570 --> 00:35:17,156 You could give her two minutes of trance at the end of a Howard Beale Show... 602 00:35:17,324 --> 00:35:18,699 ...say, once a week, Friday... 603 00:35:18,867 --> 00:35:21,952 ...which is suggestively occult, and she could oraculate. 604 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:26,165 Then next week everyone tunes in to see how good her predictions were. 605 00:35:27,042 --> 00:35:28,584 Maybe she could do the weather. 606 00:35:30,712 --> 00:35:33,923 Your Network News is going to need some help, Max, if it's gonna hold. 607 00:35:34,090 --> 00:35:36,383 Beale doesn't do the angry-man thing well at all. 608 00:35:36,551 --> 00:35:40,221 He's too, uh, kvetchy. He's being irascible. We want a prophet, not a curmudgeon. 609 00:35:40,388 --> 00:35:42,014 He should do more apocalyptic doom. 610 00:35:42,182 --> 00:35:46,560 I think you should take on a couple of writers to write some jeremiads for him. 611 00:35:47,062 --> 00:35:49,063 I see you don't fancy my suggestions. 612 00:35:51,608 --> 00:35:53,317 Hell, you're not serious, are you? 613 00:35:54,152 --> 00:35:56,028 Oh, I'm serious. 614 00:35:57,030 --> 00:36:00,866 The fact is I could make your Beale Show the highest-rated news show... 615 00:36:01,034 --> 00:36:04,370 ...in television, if you'd let me have a crack at it. 616 00:36:04,621 --> 00:36:09,750 - What do you mean, "have a crack at it"? - I'd like to program it for you. Develop it. 617 00:36:09,918 --> 00:36:14,797 I wouldn't interfere with the actual news itself, but TV is showbiz, Max. 618 00:36:15,298 --> 00:36:18,592 And even the news has to have a little showmanship. 619 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,136 My God, you are serious. 620 00:36:21,304 --> 00:36:25,099 Oh. I watched your 6:00 news today. It's straight tabloid. 621 00:36:25,267 --> 00:36:28,811 You had a minute and a half of that lady riding a bike naked in Central Park. 622 00:36:28,979 --> 00:36:32,147 You had less than a minute of hard national and international news. 623 00:36:32,315 --> 00:36:34,900 It was all sex, scandal, brutal crimes, sports... 624 00:36:35,443 --> 00:36:38,112 ...children with incurable diseases and lost puppies. 625 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:42,032 I don't think I'll listen to any protestations of high standards of journalism... 626 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:44,785 ...when you're soliciting audiences like the rest of us. 627 00:36:44,953 --> 00:36:48,455 All I'm saying is, if you're gonna hustle, at least do it right. 628 00:36:48,623 --> 00:36:50,791 I'm gonna bring this up at tomorrow's meeting. 629 00:36:50,959 --> 00:36:54,336 I don't like network hassles. I was hoping you and I could work this out. 630 00:36:54,504 --> 00:36:56,171 Now that's why I'm here. 631 00:36:57,048 --> 00:37:00,426 And I was hoping that you were looking for an emotional involvement... 632 00:37:00,594 --> 00:37:02,595 ...with a craggy middle-aged man. 633 00:37:04,222 --> 00:37:06,181 Oh, I wouldn't rule that out entirely. 634 00:37:09,519 --> 00:37:11,687 All right, Diana. 635 00:37:11,855 --> 00:37:14,356 You bring up all your ideas at the meeting tomorrow... 636 00:37:14,524 --> 00:37:16,483 ...because if you don't, I will. 637 00:37:17,193 --> 00:37:19,820 I think Howard's making a goddamn fool of himself... 638 00:37:19,988 --> 00:37:23,657 ...and so does everybody that Howard and I know in this industry. 639 00:37:24,117 --> 00:37:27,161 It was a fluke. It didn't work. 640 00:37:27,621 --> 00:37:31,415 So tomorrow, Howard goes back to the old format... 641 00:37:31,583 --> 00:37:34,627 ...and all of this gutter depravity comes to an end. 642 00:37:37,255 --> 00:37:38,964 Okay. 643 00:37:46,431 --> 00:37:48,557 I don't get it, Diana. 644 00:37:49,517 --> 00:37:53,020 You hung around until 7:30 and then came all the way down here... 645 00:37:53,188 --> 00:37:55,689 ...just to pitch a couple of loony showbiz ideas... 646 00:37:55,857 --> 00:37:59,443 ...when you knew goddamn well I'd laugh you right out of the office. 647 00:37:59,611 --> 00:38:01,487 I don't get it. 648 00:38:02,155 --> 00:38:04,156 What's your scam in this? 649 00:38:04,324 --> 00:38:06,867 Max, my little visit here tonight... 650 00:38:07,035 --> 00:38:11,288 ...was a gesture made out of your stature in the industry... 651 00:38:11,665 --> 00:38:15,376 ...and because I personally admired you since I was a kid majoring in speech... 652 00:38:15,543 --> 00:38:17,086 ...at the University of Missouri. 653 00:38:18,338 --> 00:38:20,172 Sooner or later, with or without you... 654 00:38:20,340 --> 00:38:22,675 ...I'm going to take over your Network News show... 655 00:38:22,842 --> 00:38:25,094 ...and I figured I might as well start tonight. 656 00:38:25,261 --> 00:38:28,389 I, uh, think I once gave a lecture... 657 00:38:28,556 --> 00:38:31,976 ...at the University of Missouri. 658 00:38:32,143 --> 00:38:33,394 I was in the audience. 659 00:38:33,561 --> 00:38:37,606 I had a terrible schoolgirl crush on you for a couple of months. 660 00:38:38,483 --> 00:38:40,943 If we could get back for a moment to that gypsy... 661 00:38:41,111 --> 00:38:46,782 ...who predicted all that about, uh, emotional involvements and middle-aged men. 662 00:38:47,325 --> 00:38:49,576 What are you doing for dinner tonight? 663 00:38:59,129 --> 00:39:02,089 I can't make it tonight, love. Call me tomorrow. 664 00:39:04,300 --> 00:39:07,678 - Do you have a favorite restaurant? - I eat anything. 665 00:39:08,722 --> 00:39:10,848 Son of a bitch, I get a feeling I'm being made. 666 00:39:11,016 --> 00:39:12,558 You are. 667 00:39:13,268 --> 00:39:16,729 Ah, I've got to warn you, I don't do anything on my first date. 668 00:39:16,896 --> 00:39:18,605 We'll see. 669 00:39:24,237 --> 00:39:26,780 Schmuck, what are you getting into? 670 00:39:48,053 --> 00:39:52,097 I was married for four years and pretended to be happy... 671 00:39:52,265 --> 00:39:55,601 ...and had six years of analysis and pretended to be sane. 672 00:39:56,478 --> 00:39:59,188 My husband ran off with his boyfriend... 673 00:39:59,355 --> 00:40:01,231 ...and I had an affair with my analyst. 674 00:40:01,399 --> 00:40:04,610 He told me I was the worst lay he'd ever had. 675 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:08,906 I can't tell you how many men have told me what a lousy lay I am. 676 00:40:09,074 --> 00:40:11,408 I apparently have a masculine temperament. 677 00:40:11,993 --> 00:40:15,329 I arouse quickly, consummate prematurely... 678 00:40:15,497 --> 00:40:19,166 ...and can't wait to get my clothes back on and get out of that bedroom. 679 00:40:19,709 --> 00:40:24,379 I seem to be inept at everything except my work. 680 00:40:24,547 --> 00:40:29,343 I'm good at my work. So I confine myself to that. 681 00:40:29,636 --> 00:40:32,971 All I want out of life is a 30 share and a 20 rating. 682 00:40:34,724 --> 00:40:36,642 You're married, surely? 683 00:40:38,269 --> 00:40:40,145 Twenty-five years. 684 00:40:40,855 --> 00:40:44,024 I have a married daughter in Seattle who's six months pregnant... 685 00:40:44,776 --> 00:40:49,988 ...a younger girl who's starting at Northwestern in January. 686 00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:54,243 Well, Max, here we are. 687 00:40:56,204 --> 00:40:58,872 Middle-aged man reaffirming his middle-aged manhood... 688 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:02,084 ...and a terrified young woman with a father complex. 689 00:41:02,252 --> 00:41:05,212 What sort of script do you think we can make out of this? 690 00:41:06,631 --> 00:41:10,968 Corridor gossip, uh, says that you are Frank Hackett's backstage girl. 691 00:41:11,136 --> 00:41:14,179 I'm not. 692 00:41:15,223 --> 00:41:18,475 Frank is a corporation man, body and soul. 693 00:41:18,643 --> 00:41:22,187 He has no loves, lusts or allegiances that are not consummately directed... 694 00:41:22,355 --> 00:41:24,106 ...toward becoming a CCA board member. 695 00:41:24,274 --> 00:41:27,818 So why should he bother with me? I'm not even a stockholder. 696 00:41:28,987 --> 00:41:33,073 What about your loves, lusts and allegiances? 697 00:41:33,241 --> 00:41:35,284 Is your wife in town? 698 00:41:36,077 --> 00:41:37,578 Yes. 699 00:41:38,246 --> 00:41:40,581 Well, then, we better go to my place. 700 00:41:42,083 --> 00:41:44,918 I can't hear you. You will have to talk a little louder. 701 00:41:51,759 --> 00:41:55,554 Yes. I hear you. 702 00:41:58,349 --> 00:41:59,766 Yes. 703 00:42:02,604 --> 00:42:03,979 Yes. 704 00:42:10,028 --> 00:42:12,029 Why me? 705 00:42:13,448 --> 00:42:15,532 I said, "Why me?" 706 00:42:22,790 --> 00:42:24,208 Okay. 707 00:42:35,929 --> 00:42:37,763 Howard in his office? 708 00:42:39,265 --> 00:42:43,894 Oh, Harry, I'm killing this whole screwball, angry-prophet thing. 709 00:42:44,062 --> 00:42:47,898 - Tonight we go back to straight news. - Okay. 710 00:42:49,442 --> 00:42:52,986 Fifteen seconds, 14, 13... 711 00:42:53,154 --> 00:42:54,571 Yeah? What? 712 00:42:54,739 --> 00:42:58,450 Max, I'm telling you, he's fine. He's been sharp all day. 713 00:42:58,618 --> 00:43:02,246 He's been funny as hell. Had everybody cracking up at the rundown meeting. 714 00:43:02,413 --> 00:43:04,248 I told him. I told him. 715 00:43:04,415 --> 00:43:06,792 Up. Cue VTA. 716 00:43:07,335 --> 00:43:09,336 Ready, two. 717 00:43:11,089 --> 00:43:12,172 Cue announcer. 718 00:43:12,340 --> 00:43:15,342 The UBS Evening News with Howard Beale. 719 00:43:15,510 --> 00:43:17,177 Take 2, cue Howard. 720 00:43:17,512 --> 00:43:21,306 Last night, I was awakened from a fitful sleep... 721 00:43:21,474 --> 00:43:24,017 ...shortly after 2:00 in the morning... 722 00:43:24,185 --> 00:43:27,145 ...by a shrill, sibilant, faceless voice. 723 00:43:27,897 --> 00:43:30,857 I couldn't make it out at first in the dark bedroom... 724 00:43:32,318 --> 00:43:35,529 ...and I said, "I'm sorry, you will have to talk a little louder. " 725 00:43:35,697 --> 00:43:38,782 - What do you want me to do? - Nothing. 726 00:43:38,950 --> 00:43:42,160 And the voice said to me, "I want you to tell the people the truth. 727 00:43:42,328 --> 00:43:45,205 Not an easy thing to do because the people don't want to know. " 728 00:43:45,373 --> 00:43:47,833 And I said, "You're kidding. 729 00:43:48,001 --> 00:43:50,419 What the hell should I know about the truth?" 730 00:43:50,586 --> 00:43:54,923 But the voice said to me, "Don't worry about the truth. 731 00:43:55,091 --> 00:43:57,384 I will put the words in your mouth. " 732 00:43:57,552 --> 00:44:00,887 I said, "What's this, the Burning Bush? For God's sake, I'm not Moses. " 733 00:44:01,055 --> 00:44:04,391 The voice said to me, "And I'm not God. What has that got to do with it?" 734 00:44:04,559 --> 00:44:05,642 The voice said to me: 735 00:44:05,810 --> 00:44:08,854 "We're not talking about eternal or absolute or ultimate truth. 736 00:44:09,022 --> 00:44:12,065 We're talking about impermanent, transient, human truth. 737 00:44:12,233 --> 00:44:14,568 I don't expect you people to be capable of truth... 738 00:44:14,736 --> 00:44:17,237 ...but at least you're capable of self-preservation. " 739 00:44:18,406 --> 00:44:21,616 And I said, "Why me?" 740 00:44:22,243 --> 00:44:24,870 And the voice said, "Because you're on television, dummy. 741 00:44:25,079 --> 00:44:26,121 Beautiful. 742 00:44:26,289 --> 00:44:28,540 You have 40 million Americans listening to you. 743 00:44:28,708 --> 00:44:30,375 After this show, you could have 50. 744 00:44:30,543 --> 00:44:34,921 I'm not asking you to walk the land in sackcloth, preaching the Armageddon. 745 00:44:35,089 --> 00:44:36,840 You're on TV, man. " 746 00:44:37,008 --> 00:44:39,176 So I thought about it for a moment... 747 00:44:41,054 --> 00:44:43,972 ...and then I said, "Okay. " 748 00:45:03,785 --> 00:45:05,786 Close the door, Harry. 749 00:45:09,165 --> 00:45:12,042 Howard, I'm taking you off the air. 750 00:45:13,294 --> 00:45:16,505 I think you're having a breakdown. Require treatment. 751 00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:21,802 This is not a psychotic episode. 752 00:45:22,178 --> 00:45:24,888 This is a cleansing moment of clarity. 753 00:45:29,352 --> 00:45:31,311 I'm imbued, Max. 754 00:45:32,146 --> 00:45:36,191 I'm imbued with some special spirit. It's not a religious feeling at all. 755 00:45:36,359 --> 00:45:39,653 It's a shocking eruption of great electrical energy. 756 00:45:39,821 --> 00:45:42,989 I feel vivid and flashing, as if suddenly... 757 00:45:43,157 --> 00:45:48,078 ...I'd been plugged into some great electromagnetic field. 758 00:45:49,414 --> 00:45:51,998 I feel connected to all living things. 759 00:45:52,166 --> 00:45:53,917 To flowers... 760 00:45:54,419 --> 00:45:58,463 ...birds, all the animals of the world... 761 00:46:00,341 --> 00:46:05,887 ...and even to some great unseen living force. 762 00:46:06,055 --> 00:46:09,099 What I think the Hindus call prana. 763 00:46:09,976 --> 00:46:12,018 It is not a breakdown. 764 00:46:12,687 --> 00:46:14,813 I've never felt more orderly in my life. 765 00:46:15,273 --> 00:46:19,609 It is a shattering and beautiful sensation. 766 00:46:20,111 --> 00:46:23,822 It is the exalted flow of the space-time continuum... 767 00:46:23,990 --> 00:46:27,909 ...save that it is spaceless and timeless and... 768 00:46:28,536 --> 00:46:30,787 ...of such loveliness. 769 00:46:32,123 --> 00:46:37,419 I feel on the verge of some great ultimate truth. 770 00:46:42,383 --> 00:46:48,138 And you will not take me off the air for now, or for any other spaceless time. 771 00:46:51,517 --> 00:46:53,143 Oh, boy. 772 00:46:55,062 --> 00:46:56,980 Is he okay? He's just fainted. 773 00:46:57,315 --> 00:47:00,150 I'd better get him back to my house again tonight. 774 00:47:00,318 --> 00:47:02,319 Help me get him up. 775 00:47:23,090 --> 00:47:24,883 Everyone's going crazy. 776 00:47:26,385 --> 00:47:28,053 The whole place has gone crazy. 777 00:47:28,221 --> 00:47:31,264 Sitting in their house and they don't do anything about it. 778 00:48:50,094 --> 00:48:53,597 Wake up, Max, because Howard's gone. 779 00:48:54,307 --> 00:48:56,224 I'll make you some coffee. 780 00:48:57,518 --> 00:48:58,810 You don't know where he is? 781 00:48:58,978 --> 00:49:02,105 The son of a bitch is a hit, goddamn it! Over 2000 phone calls. 782 00:49:02,273 --> 00:49:05,358 Go down to the mail room. As of this minute, over 14,000 telegrams! 783 00:49:05,526 --> 00:49:09,112 The response is sensational! Tell him. Herb's phone hasn't stopped ringing. 784 00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:11,364 Every goddamned affiliate from Albuquerque to Sandusky. 785 00:49:12,700 --> 00:49:14,409 The response is sensational! 786 00:49:14,577 --> 00:49:18,955 Yes. All right. For you, Herb. Get back to your office. 787 00:49:19,123 --> 00:49:21,124 Moldanian called me. Joe Donnelly called me. 788 00:49:21,292 --> 00:49:24,127 We got a goddamn hit, goddamn it. Diana, show him the Times. 789 00:49:24,295 --> 00:49:26,921 We got an editorial in the holy goddamn New York Times. 790 00:49:27,089 --> 00:49:29,382 - "A call to morality. " - I don't know where he is. 791 00:49:29,550 --> 00:49:31,384 That son of a bitch Beale has caught on. 792 00:49:31,552 --> 00:49:35,013 - Don't tell me you don't know. - Could be jumping off a roof for all I know. 793 00:49:35,181 --> 00:49:38,516 The man is insane. He's not responsible for himself. 794 00:49:38,684 --> 00:49:40,393 He needs care and treatment. 795 00:49:40,561 --> 00:49:44,064 And all you grave robbers think about is that he's a hit. 796 00:49:44,231 --> 00:49:47,400 You know, Max, it's just possible that he isn't insane. 797 00:49:47,568 --> 00:49:50,278 That he is, in fact, imbued with some special spirit. 798 00:49:50,446 --> 00:49:52,405 My God, I'm supposed to be the romantic... 799 00:49:52,573 --> 00:49:54,366 ...you're the hard-bitten realist. 800 00:49:54,533 --> 00:49:57,285 All right. Howard Beale obviously fills a void. 801 00:49:57,453 --> 00:50:00,622 The audience out there wants a prophet, even a manufactured one... 802 00:50:00,790 --> 00:50:02,415 ...even if he's as mad as Moses. 803 00:50:02,583 --> 00:50:05,168 By tomorrow he'll have a 50 share, maybe even a 60. 804 00:50:05,336 --> 00:50:07,295 Howard Beale is processed, instant God. 805 00:50:07,463 --> 00:50:10,256 It looks like he may just go bigger than Mary Tyler Moore. 806 00:50:10,424 --> 00:50:12,926 I am not putting Howard back on the air. 807 00:50:13,094 --> 00:50:15,887 It's not your show anymore, Max, it's mine. 808 00:50:18,099 --> 00:50:19,599 I gave her the show, Schumacher. 809 00:50:20,226 --> 00:50:22,936 I'm putting the Network News show under programming. 810 00:50:23,104 --> 00:50:26,022 Mr. Ruddy has had a mild heart attack and is not taking calls. 811 00:50:26,190 --> 00:50:29,067 In his absence, I'm making all network decisions... 812 00:50:29,235 --> 00:50:31,778 ...including one I've been wanting to make a long time. 813 00:50:31,946 --> 00:50:35,281 You're fired. I want you out of this building by noon. 814 00:50:35,449 --> 00:50:39,285 I'll call the security guards and have you thrown out, if you're still here. 815 00:50:42,289 --> 00:50:44,124 Well, let's say, "Fuck you, Hackett. " 816 00:50:44,458 --> 00:50:47,877 You want me out, you're gonna have to drag me out kicking and screaming... 817 00:50:48,045 --> 00:50:50,213 ...and the whole division kicking with me! 818 00:50:50,381 --> 00:50:52,966 Gonna quit their jobs for you? Not in this recession. 819 00:50:53,134 --> 00:50:54,968 When Ruddy gets back he'll have your ass. 820 00:50:55,136 --> 00:50:58,471 I got a hit, Schumacher, and Ruddy doesn't count anymore. 821 00:50:58,639 --> 00:51:01,808 He was hoping I'd fall on my face with this Beale Show, but I didn't. 822 00:51:01,976 --> 00:51:06,479 It's a big, fat, big-titted hit and I don't have to waffle around with Ruddy anymore. 823 00:51:06,647 --> 00:51:09,399 If he wants to take me up before the CCA Board, let him. 824 00:51:09,567 --> 00:51:12,318 Think Ruddy is stupid enough to go to the CCA Board and say: 825 00:51:12,486 --> 00:51:14,487 "I'm taking our one hit show off the air"? 826 00:51:14,655 --> 00:51:17,365 And comes November 14, I'm going to be standing up there... 827 00:51:17,533 --> 00:51:19,492 ...at the annual CCA management meeting. 828 00:51:19,660 --> 00:51:22,287 I'm gonna announce projected earnings for this network... 829 00:51:22,455 --> 00:51:24,164 ...for the first time in five years. 830 00:51:24,331 --> 00:51:28,209 And believe me, Mr. Jensen's going to be sitting there rocking back and forth... 831 00:51:28,377 --> 00:51:32,714 ...in his little chair and he's going to say: "That's very good, Frank, keep it up. " 832 00:51:32,882 --> 00:51:36,468 Don't have any illusions about who's running this network. You're fired! 833 00:51:36,635 --> 00:51:40,138 I want you out of your office before noon or I'll have you thrown out. 834 00:51:44,727 --> 00:51:46,728 You go along with this? 835 00:51:47,354 --> 00:51:50,148 Max, I told you I didn't want a network hassle on this. 836 00:51:50,316 --> 00:51:54,319 I told you I'd much rather work the Beale Show out just between the two of us. 837 00:51:55,488 --> 00:51:57,739 Well, let's just say, "Fuck you too, honey. " 838 00:51:58,866 --> 00:52:01,618 Howard Beale may be my best friend. I'll go to court. 839 00:52:01,786 --> 00:52:05,121 I'll put him in a hospital before I'll let you exploit him like a freak. 840 00:52:05,289 --> 00:52:07,499 You get your psychiatrists, I'll get mine. 841 00:52:07,666 --> 00:52:10,710 I'm gonna spread this whole reeking business in every newspaper... 842 00:52:10,878 --> 00:52:13,546 ...on every network, group and affiliate in this country. 843 00:52:13,714 --> 00:52:18,384 - I'm gonna make a lot of noise about this. - Great. We need all the press we can get. 844 00:52:21,096 --> 00:52:23,765 Something going on between you and Schumacher? 845 00:52:24,558 --> 00:52:26,226 Not anymore. 846 00:52:44,703 --> 00:52:47,080 - How do you do, Mr. Beale? - I must make my witness. 847 00:52:47,248 --> 00:52:49,123 Sure thing, Mr. Beale. 848 00:52:52,753 --> 00:52:55,922 Oil ministers of the OPEC nations meeting in Vienna still haven't decided... 849 00:52:56,090 --> 00:52:57,882 ...how much more to increase the price of oil. 850 00:52:59,385 --> 00:53:00,593 - Ready, VTA? - Yeah. Okay. 851 00:53:00,761 --> 00:53:03,221 He came in the building about five minutes ago. 852 00:53:03,389 --> 00:53:05,849 Tell Snowden when he comes in to let him go on. 853 00:53:06,016 --> 00:53:07,141 Did you get that, Paul? 854 00:53:07,309 --> 00:53:12,188 Six, five, four, three, two... 855 00:53:12,356 --> 00:53:13,481 - ... one. VTA? 856 00:53:13,649 --> 00:53:17,277 This has been the most divisive meeting the oil states have ever had. 857 00:53:20,406 --> 00:53:24,158 The 13 nations of OPEC have still not been able to decide by how much... 858 00:53:24,326 --> 00:53:26,619 ...to increase the price of oil. Saudi Arabian... 859 00:53:27,746 --> 00:53:29,497 How much time we got? 860 00:53:29,665 --> 00:53:32,417 - yesterday for further consultations with his government. 861 00:53:32,585 --> 00:53:33,918 He returned to the Vienna... 862 00:53:35,963 --> 00:53:39,132 - This is Ed Fletcher in Vienna. - Take two, cue Howard. 863 00:53:39,300 --> 00:53:42,802 I don't have to tell you things are bad, everybody knows things are bad. 864 00:53:42,970 --> 00:53:44,804 It's a depression. 865 00:53:44,972 --> 00:53:48,808 Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. 866 00:53:49,310 --> 00:53:51,144 The dollar buys a nickel's worth. 867 00:53:51,312 --> 00:53:54,480 Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. 868 00:53:54,648 --> 00:53:56,399 Punks are running wild in the streets. 869 00:53:56,567 --> 00:54:00,236 There's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. 870 00:54:00,821 --> 00:54:05,325 We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. 871 00:54:05,492 --> 00:54:08,661 We sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us... 872 00:54:08,829 --> 00:54:12,332 ...that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes... 873 00:54:12,499 --> 00:54:15,627 ...as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad. 874 00:54:15,794 --> 00:54:17,670 Worse than bad, they're crazy. 875 00:54:17,838 --> 00:54:21,132 Everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. 876 00:54:21,300 --> 00:54:24,594 We sit in the house and the world we're living in is getting smaller... 877 00:54:24,762 --> 00:54:28,264 ...and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. 878 00:54:28,432 --> 00:54:31,392 Let me have my toaster and my TV, and my steel-belted radials... 879 00:54:31,560 --> 00:54:33,853 ...and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone!" 880 00:54:34,021 --> 00:54:37,440 Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! 881 00:54:38,525 --> 00:54:40,360 I don't want you to protest, to riot. 882 00:54:40,527 --> 00:54:43,571 Don't write to your congressmen. I wouldn't know what to tell you. 883 00:54:43,739 --> 00:54:46,074 I don't know what to do about the depression... 884 00:54:46,241 --> 00:54:48,534 ...and the Russians, and the crime in the street. 885 00:54:48,702 --> 00:54:51,371 All I know is that first, you've got to get mad. 886 00:54:51,538 --> 00:54:56,626 You've got to say, "I'm a human being, goddamn it. My life has value. " 887 00:54:59,421 --> 00:55:03,675 So I want you to get up now. 888 00:55:03,842 --> 00:55:07,095 I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. 889 00:55:07,262 --> 00:55:10,515 I want you to get up right now and go to the window... 890 00:55:10,683 --> 00:55:13,935 ...open it and stick your head out and yell: 891 00:55:14,103 --> 00:55:18,648 "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore!" 892 00:55:18,816 --> 00:55:21,943 - I want you to get up right now, get up... - Stay with him. 893 00:55:22,111 --> 00:55:25,571 ...go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell: 894 00:55:25,739 --> 00:55:28,783 "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" 895 00:55:28,951 --> 00:55:32,036 - Things have got to change... - How many stations does this go to? 896 00:55:32,204 --> 00:55:34,455 Sixty-seven. It goes to Louisville and Atlanta. 897 00:55:34,623 --> 00:55:36,082 "We're not going to take this!" 898 00:55:36,250 --> 00:55:38,918 Then we'll figure out the depression and the inflation... 899 00:55:39,086 --> 00:55:42,213 ...and the oil crisis, but first get up out of your chairs... 900 00:55:42,381 --> 00:55:45,842 ...open the window, stick your head out and yell and say it! 901 00:55:46,010 --> 00:55:50,471 "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore!" 902 00:55:50,639 --> 00:55:52,765 - Who are you talking to, Herb? WCGG, Atlanta. 903 00:55:52,933 --> 00:55:55,560 - They yelling in Atlanta? - Are they yelling in Atlanta? 904 00:55:55,728 --> 00:55:58,521 But first you've got to get mad. You've gotta say: 905 00:55:58,689 --> 00:56:02,233 "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" 906 00:56:02,401 --> 00:56:05,445 They're yelling in Baton Rouge. Goddamn it. 907 00:56:05,612 --> 00:56:07,405 Get up, get up out of your chairs. 908 00:56:07,573 --> 00:56:10,658 Son of a bitch, we struck the mother lode! 909 00:56:10,826 --> 00:56:13,453 Stick your head out of the window, stick your head out. 910 00:56:13,620 --> 00:56:15,204 And keep yelling and yell: 911 00:56:15,372 --> 00:56:18,875 "I'm as mad as hell. I'm not gonna take this anymore!" 912 00:56:19,126 --> 00:56:21,919 Just get up from your chairs, right now, go to the window! 913 00:56:22,087 --> 00:56:24,505 - Where you going? - I wanna see if anybody's yelling. 914 00:56:24,673 --> 00:56:28,134 Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, and keep yelling- 915 00:56:29,636 --> 00:56:34,432 I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore! 916 00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:38,811 I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore! 917 00:56:38,979 --> 00:56:41,689 I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore! 918 00:56:41,857 --> 00:56:44,484 I'm as mad as hell. I'm not gonna take it anymore! 919 00:56:44,651 --> 00:56:47,070 I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore. 920 00:56:47,237 --> 00:56:49,489 I'm not gonna take it anymore. I'm mad as hell! 921 00:56:49,656 --> 00:56:51,157 I'm mad as hell! 922 00:56:54,161 --> 00:56:55,995 I'm mad as hell! 923 00:56:56,163 --> 00:56:57,205 I'm mad as hell! 924 00:56:57,372 --> 00:56:59,290 I'm mad as hell! 925 00:56:59,917 --> 00:57:01,584 I'm mad as hell! 926 00:57:01,752 --> 00:57:06,339 I'm mad as hell! I'm not gonna take this anymore. 927 00:57:06,507 --> 00:57:09,383 I'm mad as hell! I'm not gonna take this anymore. 928 00:57:41,291 --> 00:57:42,667 By mid-October... 929 00:57:42,835 --> 00:57:45,211 ...the Howard Beale Show had settled in on a 42 share... 930 00:57:45,379 --> 00:57:49,006 ...more than equaling all the other network news shows combined. 931 00:57:49,174 --> 00:57:51,384 In the Nielsen ratings, the Howard Beale Show... 932 00:57:51,552 --> 00:57:54,387 ...was listed as the fourth highest rated show of the month... 933 00:57:54,555 --> 00:57:56,889 ...surpassed only by The Six Million Dollar Man... 934 00:57:57,057 --> 00:57:58,850 ...All in the Family and Phyllis. 935 00:57:59,017 --> 00:58:01,811 A phenomenal state of affairs for a news show. 936 00:58:01,979 --> 00:58:05,481 And on October 15, Diana Christensen flew to Los Angeles... 937 00:58:05,649 --> 00:58:08,025 ...for what the trade calls powwows and confabs... 938 00:58:08,193 --> 00:58:10,153 ...with our West Coast programming execs... 939 00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:13,531 ...and to get production rolling on the shows for the coming season. 940 00:58:13,699 --> 00:58:15,283 Christ. 941 00:58:15,450 --> 00:58:18,744 You brought half the William Morris West Coast office along with you. 942 00:58:18,912 --> 00:58:23,749 Hi, I'm Diana Christensen, a racist lackey of the imperialist ruling circles. 943 00:58:23,917 --> 00:58:26,502 I'm Laureen Hobbs, a bad-ass commie nigger. 944 00:58:26,670 --> 00:58:30,256 Sounds like the basis of a firm friendship. We're gonna need more chairs. 945 00:58:30,424 --> 00:58:32,133 - Anybody want coffee? I'd love some. 946 00:58:32,301 --> 00:58:33,342 You changed your tailor. 947 00:58:33,510 --> 00:58:35,178 Coffee? Okay. 948 00:58:35,345 --> 00:58:37,930 Want to come take some coffee orders? 949 00:58:39,766 --> 00:58:43,769 This is my lawyer, Sam Haywood, and his associate, Merrill Grant. 950 00:58:46,106 --> 00:58:50,234 Ms. Christensen, just what the hell's this all about? 951 00:58:50,402 --> 00:58:53,529 Because when a national television network... 952 00:58:53,697 --> 00:58:57,283 ...in the person of booby here, comes to me... 953 00:58:57,492 --> 00:59:01,120 ...and says they want to put the ongoing struggle of the oppressed masses... 954 00:59:01,288 --> 00:59:05,416 ...on prime-time television, I have to regard this askance. 955 00:59:05,584 --> 00:59:08,961 What Mr. Haywood was saying, Ms. Christensen, was that our client... 956 00:59:09,129 --> 00:59:14,800 ...Ms. Hobbs, wants it up-front that the political content of the show... 957 00:59:14,968 --> 00:59:16,802 ...has to be entirely in her control. 958 00:59:17,095 --> 00:59:20,431 She can have it. I don't give a damn about the political content. 959 00:59:21,516 --> 00:59:25,811 - What kind of show did you have in mind? - I'm interested in a weekly dramatic series... 960 00:59:25,979 --> 00:59:29,440 ...based on the Ecumenical Liberation Army. And I'll tell you right now... 961 00:59:29,608 --> 00:59:32,526 ...what the first show has to be: a special on Mary Ann Gifford. 962 00:59:32,694 --> 00:59:34,028 Let me tell you what I want. 963 00:59:34,196 --> 00:59:37,740 I want a lot more film like the bank rip-off the Ecumenical sent in. 964 00:59:37,908 --> 00:59:40,534 The way I see the series is... 965 00:59:40,702 --> 00:59:45,831 ...each week we open with an authentic act of political terrorism... 966 00:59:45,999 --> 00:59:48,000 ...taken on the spot, in the actual moment. 967 00:59:48,168 --> 00:59:50,836 Then we go to the drama behind the opening film footage. 968 00:59:51,004 --> 00:59:53,256 That's your job, Ms. Hobbs. 969 00:59:53,674 --> 00:59:57,301 You gotta get the Ecumenicals to bring in that film footage for us. 970 00:59:57,469 --> 01:00:01,264 The network can't deal with them directly. They are, after all, wanted criminals. 971 01:00:02,307 --> 01:00:05,184 The Ecumenical Liberation Army is an ultra-left sect... 972 01:00:05,352 --> 01:00:10,106 ...creating political confusion with wildcat violence and pseudo-insurrectionary acts... 973 01:00:10,274 --> 01:00:12,400 ...which the Communist Party does not endorse. 974 01:00:12,859 --> 01:00:15,695 The American masses are not yet ready for open revolt. 975 01:00:16,196 --> 01:00:18,698 We would not want to produce a television show... 976 01:00:18,865 --> 01:00:22,118 ...celebrating historically deviational terrorism. 977 01:00:22,286 --> 01:00:24,996 I'm offering an hour of prime-time television every week... 978 01:00:25,163 --> 01:00:27,581 ...into which you can stick whatever propaganda. 979 01:00:27,749 --> 01:00:30,376 The Ecumenicals are an undisciplined ultra-left gang... 980 01:00:30,544 --> 01:00:33,087 ...whose leader is an eccentric, to say the least. 981 01:00:33,255 --> 01:00:36,924 He calls himself the Great Ahmed Kahn and wears a hussar's shako. 982 01:00:37,092 --> 01:00:41,429 Ms. Hobbs, we're talking about 30 to 50 million people a shot. 983 01:00:41,596 --> 01:00:43,389 It's a lot better than handing out... 984 01:00:43,557 --> 01:00:46,058 ...mimeographed pamphlets on ghetto street corners. 985 01:00:52,357 --> 01:00:55,359 I'll have to take this matter to the central Committee... 986 01:00:56,528 --> 01:00:59,155 ...and I'd better check it out with the Great Ahmed Kahn. 987 01:01:00,782 --> 01:01:05,244 I'll be in L.A. until Saturday, and I'd like to get it rolling. 988 01:01:24,806 --> 01:01:26,390 Okay? 989 01:01:39,321 --> 01:01:43,741 Well, Ahmed, you ain't gonna believe this. 990 01:01:44,117 --> 01:01:46,744 But I'm gonna make a TV star out of you. 991 01:01:46,912 --> 01:01:50,748 Just like Archie Bunker. 992 01:01:50,916 --> 01:01:53,542 You gonna be a household word. 993 01:01:55,295 --> 01:01:57,588 What the fuck are you talking about? 994 01:01:58,131 --> 01:02:00,341 Thirty seconds. All right, ready VTA. 995 01:02:00,509 --> 01:02:02,635 One, you have the audience to pan. 996 01:02:02,803 --> 01:02:05,388 - Two, you have the window to pull. Twenty-five. 997 01:02:05,555 --> 01:02:07,473 Three, you're on the announcer. 998 01:02:07,641 --> 01:02:09,266 Twenty. 999 01:02:11,478 --> 01:02:12,603 Stand by, VTA. 1000 01:02:12,771 --> 01:02:16,649 Fifteen, 14, 13, 12... 1001 01:02:16,817 --> 01:02:21,487 - ... eleven, 10, nine, eight, seven... Roll VTA. 1002 01:02:21,655 --> 01:02:25,324 ...six, five, four, three... 1003 01:02:25,492 --> 01:02:28,160 - ... two, one. Three, cue announcer. 1004 01:02:28,453 --> 01:02:31,747 Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it. How do you feel? 1005 01:02:31,915 --> 01:02:36,585 We're mad as hell and we're not going to take this anymore! 1006 01:02:36,753 --> 01:02:40,548 Ladies and gentlemen, the Network News Hour with Sibyl the Soothsayer! 1007 01:02:44,845 --> 01:02:48,305 Jim Webbing and his It's-the-Emes Truth Department. 1008 01:02:52,018 --> 01:02:54,562 Ms. Mata Hari and her Skeletons in the Closet. 1009 01:02:58,525 --> 01:03:02,027 And tonight, another segment of Vox Populi. 1010 01:03:05,574 --> 01:03:10,119 And starring the Mad Prophet of the Airways, Howard Beale! 1011 01:03:24,634 --> 01:03:26,886 Edward George Ruddy died today. 1012 01:03:27,053 --> 01:03:29,763 Edward George Ruddy was the chairman of the board... 1013 01:03:29,931 --> 01:03:34,727 ...of the Union Broadcasting Systems and he died at 11:00 this morning... 1014 01:03:34,895 --> 01:03:39,440 ...of a heart condition, and woe is us, we're in a lot of trouble. 1015 01:03:43,028 --> 01:03:48,741 So a rich little man with white hair died. 1016 01:03:48,909 --> 01:03:51,494 What has that got to do with the price of rice, right? 1017 01:03:51,661 --> 01:03:53,579 And why is that woe to us? 1018 01:03:55,457 --> 01:03:57,416 Because you people... 1019 01:03:57,584 --> 01:04:01,545 ...and 62 million other Americans are listening to me right now. 1020 01:04:01,713 --> 01:04:05,883 Because less than 3 percent of you people read books. 1021 01:04:07,010 --> 01:04:10,429 Because less than 15 percent of you read newspapers. 1022 01:04:10,597 --> 01:04:14,266 Because the only truth you know is what you get over this tube. 1023 01:04:14,434 --> 01:04:17,937 Right now, there is a whole and entire generation... 1024 01:04:18,104 --> 01:04:21,732 ...that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube. 1025 01:04:22,526 --> 01:04:26,779 This tube is the Gospel. The ultimate revelation. 1026 01:04:26,947 --> 01:04:31,659 This tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers! 1027 01:04:31,826 --> 01:04:35,412 This tube is the most awesome goddamn force... 1028 01:04:35,580 --> 01:04:37,081 ...in the whole godless world! 1029 01:04:37,249 --> 01:04:40,292 And woe is us if it ever falls into the hands of the wrong people. 1030 01:04:40,460 --> 01:04:44,004 And that's why woe is us that Edward George Ruddy died. 1031 01:04:44,172 --> 01:04:47,299 Because this company is now in the hands of CCA... 1032 01:04:47,467 --> 01:04:49,969 ...the Communication Corporation of America. 1033 01:04:50,136 --> 01:04:53,097 There's a new chairman. A man called Frank Hackett... 1034 01:04:53,265 --> 01:04:55,599 ...sitting in Mr. Ruddy's office on the 20th floor! 1035 01:04:55,767 --> 01:04:58,811 And when the 12th largest company in the world... 1036 01:04:58,979 --> 01:05:03,482 ...controls the most awesome, goddamn propaganda force... 1037 01:05:03,650 --> 01:05:05,442 ...in the whole godless world... 1038 01:05:05,610 --> 01:05:09,488 ...who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this network. 1039 01:05:09,656 --> 01:05:15,327 So you listen to me. Listen to me! Television is not the truth. 1040 01:05:15,495 --> 01:05:17,871 Television's a goddamned amusement park. 1041 01:05:18,039 --> 01:05:22,376 Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats... 1042 01:05:22,544 --> 01:05:26,964 ...storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion-tamers... 1043 01:05:27,132 --> 01:05:31,510 ...and football players. We're in the boredom-killing business. 1044 01:05:33,513 --> 01:05:37,516 So if you want the truth, go to God. 1045 01:05:37,684 --> 01:05:39,602 Go to your gurus. 1046 01:05:40,186 --> 01:05:41,937 Go to yourselves. 1047 01:05:42,105 --> 01:05:45,858 Because that's the only place you're ever gonna find any real truth. 1048 01:05:47,861 --> 01:05:51,572 But, man, you're never gonna get any truth from us. 1049 01:05:51,865 --> 01:05:54,700 We'll tell you anything you want to hear. We lie like hell. 1050 01:05:54,868 --> 01:05:57,786 We'll tell you that, uh, Kojak always gets the killer... 1051 01:05:57,954 --> 01:06:00,873 ...and that nobody ever gets cancer in Archie Bunker's house. 1052 01:06:01,041 --> 01:06:03,667 No matter how much trouble the hero is in, don't worry... 1053 01:06:03,835 --> 01:06:06,879 ...just look at your watch, at the end of the hour he's gonna win! 1054 01:06:07,047 --> 01:06:09,673 We'll tell you any shit you want to hear. 1055 01:06:10,258 --> 01:06:13,302 We deal in illusions, man. None of it is true. 1056 01:06:13,470 --> 01:06:17,806 But you people sit there, day after day, night after night... 1057 01:06:17,974 --> 01:06:20,559 ...all ages, colors, creeds. 1058 01:06:20,727 --> 01:06:22,061 We're all you know. 1059 01:06:22,228 --> 01:06:25,064 You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here. 1060 01:06:25,231 --> 01:06:28,984 You're beginning to think the tube is reality and that your own lives are unreal. 1061 01:06:29,152 --> 01:06:31,111 You do whatever the tube tells you. 1062 01:06:31,279 --> 01:06:33,364 Dress like the tube, you eat like the tube... 1063 01:06:33,531 --> 01:06:36,533 ...raise your children like the tube, you think like the tube. 1064 01:06:36,743 --> 01:06:39,912 This is mass madness, you maniacs. 1065 01:06:40,080 --> 01:06:42,790 In God's name, you people are the real thing. 1066 01:06:42,957 --> 01:06:45,042 We are the illusion. 1067 01:06:45,210 --> 01:06:48,545 So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now. 1068 01:06:48,713 --> 01:06:52,049 Turn them off right now. Turn them off and leave them off. 1069 01:06:52,217 --> 01:06:56,011 Turn them off right in the middle of the sentence I'm speaking to you now. 1070 01:06:56,179 --> 01:06:58,097 Turn them off! 1071 01:07:12,195 --> 01:07:14,738 UBS was running at a cash flow break-even point... 1072 01:07:14,906 --> 01:07:17,241 ...after taking into account $110 million... 1073 01:07:17,409 --> 01:07:19,410 ...of negative cash flow from the network. 1074 01:07:19,577 --> 01:07:23,038 It was clear the fat on the network had to be flitched off. 1075 01:07:23,331 --> 01:07:26,458 Please note an increase in projected initial programming revenues... 1076 01:07:26,626 --> 01:07:28,585 ...in the amount of $21 million... 1077 01:07:28,753 --> 01:07:33,257 ...due to the phenomenal success of the Howard Beale Show. 1078 01:07:33,842 --> 01:07:38,345 I expect a positive cash flow for the entire complex of 45 million... 1079 01:07:38,513 --> 01:07:43,767 ...achievable in this fiscal year, a year, in short, ahead of schedule. 1080 01:07:44,144 --> 01:07:45,978 I go beyond that. 1081 01:07:46,396 --> 01:07:49,273 This network may well be the most significant profit center... 1082 01:07:49,441 --> 01:07:51,567 ...of the communications complex. 1083 01:07:51,735 --> 01:07:55,738 And based upon the projected rate of return on invested capital... 1084 01:07:55,905 --> 01:07:58,657 ...and if merger is eventually accomplished... 1085 01:07:58,825 --> 01:08:00,993 ...the communications complex may well become... 1086 01:08:01,161 --> 01:08:03,787 ...the towering and most profitable center... 1087 01:08:04,372 --> 01:08:07,374 ...in the entire CCA empire. 1088 01:08:08,918 --> 01:08:11,837 I await your questions and comments. 1089 01:08:12,464 --> 01:08:14,214 Mr. Jensen? 1090 01:08:14,716 --> 01:08:17,760 Very good, Frank. Exemplary. Keep it up. 1091 01:08:43,536 --> 01:08:45,496 Buy you a cup of coffee? 1092 01:08:47,582 --> 01:08:49,291 Hell, yes. 1093 01:08:50,210 --> 01:08:54,671 - Do you have to get back to the office? - Nothing that can't wait. 1094 01:09:07,393 --> 01:09:08,769 I... 1095 01:09:08,937 --> 01:09:11,688 I drop down to the news studios every now and then... 1096 01:09:11,856 --> 01:09:15,275 ...and ask Howard Beale about you, and he says you're doing fine. Are you? 1097 01:09:15,443 --> 01:09:16,777 No. 1098 01:09:17,237 --> 01:09:20,948 - Are you keeping busy? - Oh, in a fashion. 1099 01:09:21,115 --> 01:09:25,118 This is the, uh, third funeral I've been to in two weeks. 1100 01:09:25,286 --> 01:09:30,207 I have two other friends in the hospital whom I visit regularly... 1101 01:09:30,375 --> 01:09:33,502 ...and, uh, been to a couple of christenings. 1102 01:09:33,670 --> 01:09:37,923 All my friends seem to be dying or having grandchildren. 1103 01:09:38,591 --> 01:09:40,801 You should be a grandfather yourself about now. 1104 01:09:40,969 --> 01:09:43,595 You have a pregnant daughter in Seattle, don't you? 1105 01:09:43,763 --> 01:09:48,600 Any day now. My wife's out there for the occasion. 1106 01:09:52,814 --> 01:09:56,775 I've thought many times of calling you. 1107 01:09:58,111 --> 01:10:00,112 I wish you had. 1108 01:10:03,449 --> 01:10:07,411 You know, I bumped into Sibyl the Soothsayer in the elevator last week. 1109 01:10:07,579 --> 01:10:11,123 I said, "You know, Sibyl, about four months ago you predicted... 1110 01:10:11,291 --> 01:10:14,918 ...I would get involved with a craggy, middle-aged man... 1111 01:10:15,086 --> 01:10:18,630 ...and so far, all that's happened has been one many-splendored night. 1112 01:10:18,798 --> 01:10:21,717 I don't call that 'getting involved. "' 1113 01:10:22,343 --> 01:10:26,221 And she said, "Don't worry, you will. " 1114 01:10:28,641 --> 01:10:32,477 It was a many-splendored night, wasn't it, Max? 1115 01:10:34,230 --> 01:10:36,189 Yes, it was. 1116 01:10:38,484 --> 01:10:40,986 Are we going to get involved, Max? 1117 01:10:43,531 --> 01:10:44,907 Yes. 1118 01:10:45,617 --> 01:10:50,746 I need to become involved very much. How about you? 1119 01:10:52,498 --> 01:10:55,167 I've reached for the phone to call you a hundred times. 1120 01:10:55,335 --> 01:10:58,545 I was sure you hated me for my part in taking your news show away. 1121 01:11:00,340 --> 01:11:03,342 I probably did. I don't know anymore. 1122 01:11:03,927 --> 01:11:08,680 All I know is, I can't get you out of my mind. 1123 01:11:13,227 --> 01:11:15,395 Marty. Marty, I know what NBC offered them... 1124 01:11:15,563 --> 01:11:18,023 ...so I'm saying go to 3.5... 1125 01:11:18,191 --> 01:11:21,109 ...and I want an option for a third run on all of them. 1126 01:11:21,277 --> 01:11:25,155 Marty, I'm in a big hurry and you and Charlie are supposed to be negotiating this... 1127 01:11:25,323 --> 01:11:27,950 ...so goodbye, good luck, I'll see you Monday. 1128 01:11:30,370 --> 01:11:32,955 Jimmy Caan's agent just called and says absolutely nix. 1129 01:11:33,122 --> 01:11:35,540 Can't win them all. - Where can I reach you later? 1130 01:11:35,708 --> 01:11:37,542 You can't. I'll be gone all weekend. 1131 01:11:42,632 --> 01:11:44,883 NBC's offering $3.25 mil... 1132 01:11:45,051 --> 01:11:47,260 ...per package of five James Bond movies... 1133 01:11:47,428 --> 01:11:52,641 ...and I think I'm gonna steal them for $3.5 million with a third run. 1134 01:12:01,067 --> 01:12:03,485 And I'm gonna stick The Mao Tse-Tung Hour in at 8... 1135 01:12:03,653 --> 01:12:06,947 ...because we're having a lot of trouble selling The Mao Tse-Tung Hour. 1136 01:12:07,115 --> 01:12:08,699 This way... 1137 01:12:16,749 --> 01:12:21,795 That Mao Tse-Tung Hour's turning into one big pain in the ass. 1138 01:12:22,922 --> 01:12:27,175 We're having heavy legal problems with the federal government right now. 1139 01:12:28,261 --> 01:12:31,054 Two FBI guys turned up in Hackett's office last week... 1140 01:12:31,222 --> 01:12:33,724 ...and served us with a subpoena. 1141 01:12:34,851 --> 01:12:39,438 They heard about our Flagstaff bank rip-off film and they want it. 1142 01:12:40,523 --> 01:12:43,316 Hackett told the FBI to fuck off. 1143 01:12:48,531 --> 01:12:50,365 No, but we're getting around the FBI... 1144 01:12:50,533 --> 01:12:54,036 ...by doing the show in collaboration with the news division. 1145 01:12:54,203 --> 01:12:57,080 We're standing on the First Amendment, Freedom of the Press... 1146 01:12:57,248 --> 01:12:59,124 ...and the right to protect our sources. 1147 01:12:59,292 --> 01:13:02,586 Walter thinks we can knock out the misprision of felony charge. 1148 01:13:10,470 --> 01:13:13,555 But he says absolutely nix on going to series. 1149 01:13:13,723 --> 01:13:18,685 They'll hit us with conspiracy and inducement to commit a crime. 1150 01:13:18,853 --> 01:13:21,188 Christ, it's cold in here. 1151 01:13:21,355 --> 01:13:24,524 See, we're paying these nuts from the Ecumenical Liberation Army... 1152 01:13:24,692 --> 01:13:27,778 ...$10,000 a week in order to turn in authentic film footage... 1153 01:13:27,945 --> 01:13:29,946 ...of their revolutionary activities... 1154 01:13:30,114 --> 01:13:33,325 ...and that can constitute inducement to commit a crime. 1155 01:13:33,493 --> 01:13:37,788 And Walter says we'll all wind up in federal prison. 1156 01:13:38,164 --> 01:13:41,208 I said, "Walter, let the government sue us. 1157 01:13:41,375 --> 01:13:45,378 Let the federal government sue us. We'll take them to the Supreme Court. 1158 01:13:45,546 --> 01:13:49,007 We'll be front page, mm, for months. 1159 01:13:49,258 --> 01:13:52,052 The New York Times and The Washington Post... 1160 01:13:52,220 --> 01:13:55,180 ...will be writing two editorials a week about us. 1161 01:13:55,348 --> 01:13:58,600 We'll be front page for months. We'll have more press than Watergate. " 1162 01:13:58,768 --> 01:14:03,313 All I need is six weeks' federal litigation... 1163 01:14:03,481 --> 01:14:07,025 ...and The Mao Tse-Tung Hour can start carrying its own time slot. 1164 01:14:23,626 --> 01:14:27,587 What's really bugging me now is my daytime programming. 1165 01:14:28,589 --> 01:14:31,174 NBC's got a lock on daytime... 1166 01:14:31,342 --> 01:14:33,468 ...with their lousy game shows... 1167 01:14:34,011 --> 01:14:36,388 ...and I'd like to bust them. 1168 01:14:36,806 --> 01:14:40,058 I'm thinking of doing a homosexual soap opera. 1169 01:14:40,226 --> 01:14:41,935 The Dykes. 1170 01:14:42,728 --> 01:14:46,231 The heart-rendering saga about a woman hopelessly in love... 1171 01:14:46,399 --> 01:14:50,694 ...with her husband's mistress. What do you think? 1172 01:15:02,748 --> 01:15:04,207 How long has it been going on? 1173 01:15:06,669 --> 01:15:08,253 A month. 1174 01:15:10,256 --> 01:15:13,466 I thought it was a transient thing, blow over in a week. 1175 01:15:14,886 --> 01:15:20,473 And I still pray to God it's just a menopausal infatuation. 1176 01:15:21,392 --> 01:15:24,769 But it is an infatuation, Louise. 1177 01:15:26,355 --> 01:15:30,150 There's no sense in my saying I won't see her again, because I will. 1178 01:15:34,238 --> 01:15:38,533 Do you want me to leave? Check into a hotel? 1179 01:15:41,287 --> 01:15:42,954 Do you love her? 1180 01:15:46,626 --> 01:15:48,585 I don't know how I feel. 1181 01:15:50,963 --> 01:15:52,547 I'm grateful I can feel anything. 1182 01:15:57,303 --> 01:15:59,095 I know I'm obsessed with her. 1183 01:16:01,390 --> 01:16:03,183 Then say it. 1184 01:16:04,143 --> 01:16:07,896 Don't keep telling me that you're obsessed, that you're infatuated. 1185 01:16:08,064 --> 01:16:10,315 Say that you're in love with her. 1186 01:16:12,860 --> 01:16:14,236 I'm in love with her. 1187 01:16:15,404 --> 01:16:17,197 Then get out! 1188 01:16:17,365 --> 01:16:20,992 Go anywhere you want. Go to a hotel, go live with her, but don't come back. 1189 01:16:21,160 --> 01:16:22,827 Because after 25 years... 1190 01:16:22,995 --> 01:16:26,748 ...of building a home and raising a family and all the senseless pain... 1191 01:16:26,916 --> 01:16:30,669 ...that we have inflicted on each other, I'm damned if I'm gonna stand here... 1192 01:16:30,836 --> 01:16:33,505 ...and have you tell me you're in love with somebody else. 1193 01:16:34,090 --> 01:16:38,718 Because this isn't a convention weekend with your secretary, is it? 1194 01:16:38,886 --> 01:16:43,181 Or some broad that you picked up after three belts of booze. 1195 01:16:43,349 --> 01:16:46,101 This is your great winter romance, isn't it? 1196 01:16:46,269 --> 01:16:50,188 Your last roar of passion before you settle into your emeritus years. 1197 01:16:50,356 --> 01:16:52,065 Is that what's left for me? 1198 01:16:52,233 --> 01:16:56,278 Is that my share? She gets the winter passion and I get the dotage. 1199 01:16:56,445 --> 01:16:57,696 What am I supposed to do? 1200 01:16:57,863 --> 01:17:01,574 Am I supposed to sit home knitting and purling while you slink back... 1201 01:17:01,742 --> 01:17:03,868 ...like some penitent drunk? 1202 01:17:04,328 --> 01:17:06,079 I'm your wife, damn it. 1203 01:17:06,247 --> 01:17:08,373 If you can't work up a winter passion for me... 1204 01:17:08,541 --> 01:17:11,543 ...the least I require is respect and allegiance. 1205 01:17:24,056 --> 01:17:27,434 I hurt, don't you understand that? 1206 01:17:29,562 --> 01:17:32,105 I hurt badly. 1207 01:17:40,740 --> 01:17:42,824 Oh, say something, for God's sake. 1208 01:17:52,585 --> 01:17:54,794 I've got nothing to say. 1209 01:18:05,598 --> 01:18:08,099 I won't give you up easily, Max. 1210 01:18:14,273 --> 01:18:17,108 I think perhaps it is better if you move out. 1211 01:18:22,990 --> 01:18:25,200 Does she love you, Max? 1212 01:18:29,163 --> 01:18:32,832 I'm not sure she's capable of any real feelings. 1213 01:18:33,000 --> 01:18:37,087 She's television generation. She learned life from Bugs Bunny. 1214 01:18:37,254 --> 01:18:41,257 The only reality she knows comes to her over the TV set. 1215 01:18:42,635 --> 01:18:45,428 She's very carefully devised a number of scenarios... 1216 01:18:45,596 --> 01:18:49,349 ...for all of us to play, like the Movie of the Week. 1217 01:18:52,311 --> 01:18:54,646 My God, look at us, Louise. 1218 01:18:55,022 --> 01:18:58,441 Here we are going through the obligatory middle of Act 2... 1219 01:18:58,609 --> 01:19:02,445 ...scorned-wife-throws peccant-husband-out scene. 1220 01:19:02,613 --> 01:19:05,824 But don't worry, I'll come back to you in the end. 1221 01:19:05,991 --> 01:19:08,284 All of her plot outlines have me leaving her... 1222 01:19:08,452 --> 01:19:11,204 ...and coming back to you, because the audience won't buy... 1223 01:19:11,372 --> 01:19:14,082 ...a rejection of the happy American family. 1224 01:19:16,919 --> 01:19:20,171 She does have one script in which I kill myself. 1225 01:19:20,464 --> 01:19:25,218 An adapted for television version of Anna Karenina... 1226 01:19:26,554 --> 01:19:29,055 ...where she's Count Vronsky and I'm Anna. 1227 01:19:34,228 --> 01:19:36,438 You're in for some dreadful grief, Max. 1228 01:19:39,275 --> 01:19:40,817 I know. 1229 01:19:41,277 --> 01:19:44,112 The Mao Tse-Tung Hour went on the air March 14. 1230 01:19:44,280 --> 01:19:46,531 It received a 47 share. 1231 01:19:46,699 --> 01:19:50,618 The network promptly committed to 15 shows with an option for 10 more. 1232 01:19:50,786 --> 01:19:53,037 There were the usual contractual difficulties. 1233 01:19:53,205 --> 01:19:57,000 "Equal to 20 percent, 20, except that such percentages shall be 30 percent, 30... 1234 01:19:57,168 --> 01:19:59,669 ...for 90-minute or longer television programs. " 1235 01:19:59,879 --> 01:20:01,754 Have we settled that sublicensing thing? 1236 01:20:01,922 --> 01:20:05,175 - No. - We want a clear definition here. 1237 01:20:06,302 --> 01:20:10,680 "Gross proceeds should consist of all funds the sublicensee receives... 1238 01:20:10,848 --> 01:20:15,643 ...not merely the net amount remitted after payment to the sublicensee or distributor. " 1239 01:20:15,811 --> 01:20:19,481 We're not sitting still for overhead charges as a cost prior to distribution. 1240 01:20:19,648 --> 01:20:22,942 Don't fuck with my distribution costs. 1241 01:20:23,110 --> 01:20:24,944 I'm making a lousy 215 per segment. 1242 01:20:25,112 --> 01:20:27,530 I'm already deficiting $25,000 a week with Metro! 1243 01:20:27,698 --> 01:20:29,949 I'm paying William Morris 10 percent off the top! 1244 01:20:30,117 --> 01:20:33,244 I'm giving this turkey $10,000 and another five to this fruitcake. 1245 01:20:33,412 --> 01:20:35,371 Don't start no shit with me about a piece. 1246 01:20:35,539 --> 01:20:39,626 I'm paying Metro 20 percent for all foreign and Canadian distribution after recoupment. 1247 01:20:39,793 --> 01:20:43,463 The Communist Party's not gonna see a nickel until we go into syndication! 1248 01:20:43,631 --> 01:20:47,050 Come on, Laureen. The Party's in for 7500 a week production expenses. 1249 01:20:47,218 --> 01:20:50,637 I'm not giving this pseudo-insurrectionary sectarian a piece of my show. 1250 01:20:50,804 --> 01:20:54,849 I'm not giving him script approval. I'm not cutting him in on my distribution charges. 1251 01:20:55,017 --> 01:20:56,851 You fucking fascist! 1252 01:20:57,019 --> 01:20:59,771 Did you see the film we made of San Marino jail breakout... 1253 01:20:59,939 --> 01:21:03,441 ...demonstrating the rising up of the seminal prisoner-class infrastructure? 1254 01:21:03,609 --> 01:21:06,736 You can blow the seminal prisoner-class infrastructure out your ass! 1255 01:21:06,904 --> 01:21:09,489 I'm not knocking down my goddamn distribution charges. 1256 01:21:10,783 --> 01:21:15,245 Man, give her the fucking overhead clause. 1257 01:21:15,412 --> 01:21:17,997 How did I get here? Who's gonna believe this? 1258 01:21:18,165 --> 01:21:20,625 I'm sitting here in a goddamn farmhouse in Encino... 1259 01:21:20,793 --> 01:21:26,339 Let's get back to Page 22, 5, small "A", Subsidiary Rights. 1260 01:21:26,840 --> 01:21:27,882 Where are we now? 1261 01:21:28,050 --> 01:21:30,301 Page 22, middle of the page. Subsidiary Rights. 1262 01:21:30,469 --> 01:21:34,097 "'Subsidiary rights' means without limitation any and all rights... " 1263 01:21:45,317 --> 01:21:49,821 Over the past two days, you've all had opportunity to meet Diana Christensen... 1264 01:21:49,989 --> 01:21:53,074 ...our vice president in charge of programming. 1265 01:21:53,242 --> 01:21:57,787 This afternoon, you all saw some of the stuff she's set up for the new season. 1266 01:22:07,172 --> 01:22:10,967 You all know that she is the woman behind the Howard Beale Show. 1267 01:22:19,768 --> 01:22:21,477 We all know she's beautiful. 1268 01:22:22,563 --> 01:22:24,772 We all know she's brainy. 1269 01:22:25,357 --> 01:22:30,987 I was thinking, before we start digging into our Chateaubriands... 1270 01:22:32,197 --> 01:22:34,907 ...let's show her how we feel about her. 1271 01:22:50,299 --> 01:22:52,884 We have the number-one show in television! 1272 01:22:56,305 --> 01:22:58,056 At next year's affiliates' meeting... 1273 01:22:58,223 --> 01:23:00,975 ...I'll be standing here telling you we've got the top five. 1274 01:23:07,232 --> 01:23:10,068 Last year, we were the number-four network... 1275 01:23:10,569 --> 01:23:12,570 ...next year we're number one! 1276 01:23:13,322 --> 01:23:17,408 We're number one! We're number one! 1277 01:23:17,576 --> 01:23:19,202 We're number one! 1278 01:23:19,370 --> 01:23:21,162 We're number one! 1279 01:23:21,330 --> 01:23:23,122 We're number one! 1280 01:23:23,290 --> 01:23:25,416 We're number one! 1281 01:23:28,420 --> 01:23:31,714 It is exactly 7:00 here in Los Angeles. 1282 01:23:31,924 --> 01:23:35,927 And right now, over a million homes using television in this city... 1283 01:23:36,095 --> 01:23:40,598 ...are turning their dials to Channel 3 and that's our channel! 1284 01:23:47,898 --> 01:23:49,524 Howard Beale! 1285 01:23:52,611 --> 01:23:54,487 Stop it, stop it! 1286 01:23:55,322 --> 01:23:56,447 Now you listen to me. 1287 01:23:56,615 --> 01:24:02,286 And listen carefully because this is your goddamn life I'm talking about today. 1288 01:24:03,205 --> 01:24:06,499 In this country, when one company wants to take over another company... 1289 01:24:06,667 --> 01:24:08,960 ...they buy up a controlling share of the stock... 1290 01:24:09,128 --> 01:24:11,796 ...but first they have to file notice with the government. 1291 01:24:11,964 --> 01:24:14,716 That's how CCA took over the company that owns this network. 1292 01:24:14,883 --> 01:24:17,885 But now, somebody's buying up CCA. 1293 01:24:18,053 --> 01:24:21,597 Somebody called the Western World Funding Corporation. 1294 01:24:21,765 --> 01:24:23,391 They filed the notice this morning. 1295 01:24:23,559 --> 01:24:28,187 Well, just who in the hell is the Western World Funding Corporation? 1296 01:24:28,397 --> 01:24:31,733 It is a consortium of banks and insurance companies... 1297 01:24:31,900 --> 01:24:35,361 ...who are not buying CCA for themselves, but as agents for somebody else. 1298 01:24:35,529 --> 01:24:37,739 Who is this somebody else? They won't tell you. 1299 01:24:37,906 --> 01:24:40,199 They won't tell you, they won't tell the Senate... 1300 01:24:40,367 --> 01:24:44,370 ...they won't tell the SEC, the FTC, they won't tell the Justice Department... 1301 01:24:44,538 --> 01:24:47,248 This is Mr. Hackett. Do you have a New York call for me? 1302 01:24:47,416 --> 01:24:50,168 The hell it ain't! - Do you wanna turn that down, please? 1303 01:24:50,335 --> 01:24:52,712 I will tell you who they're buying CCA for. 1304 01:24:54,339 --> 01:24:58,050 They're buying it for the Saudi Arabian Investment Corporation. 1305 01:24:58,218 --> 01:25:00,219 They're buying it for the Arabs! 1306 01:25:00,512 --> 01:25:01,846 Clarence? Frank Hackett here. 1307 01:25:02,014 --> 01:25:05,308 How's everything back in New York? How's the good lady? 1308 01:25:08,353 --> 01:25:12,356 All right, Clarence, take it easy. I don't know what you're talking about. 1309 01:25:12,524 --> 01:25:18,362 When? Tonight's show? Clarence, take it easy. 1310 01:25:19,531 --> 01:25:21,699 The Howard Beale Show is just going on out here. 1311 01:25:21,867 --> 01:25:25,203 You guys get it three hours earlier in New York. Clarence, take it easy. 1312 01:25:25,370 --> 01:25:28,372 How the hell could I see it? It's just going on now! 1313 01:25:28,540 --> 01:25:32,210 And there's not a single law in the books to stop them. 1314 01:25:33,545 --> 01:25:36,005 When did Mr. Jensen call? 1315 01:25:36,673 --> 01:25:42,887 We all know that the Arabs control $16 billion in this country. 1316 01:25:43,055 --> 01:25:44,931 They own a chunk of 5th Avenue... 1317 01:25:45,098 --> 01:25:49,393 ...twenty downtown pieces of Boston. A part of the port of New Orleans. 1318 01:25:49,561 --> 01:25:52,021 An industrial park in Salt Lake City. 1319 01:25:52,189 --> 01:25:57,318 They own big hunks of the Atlanta Hilton, the Arizona Land and Cattle Company... 1320 01:25:57,486 --> 01:25:59,237 ...part of a bank in California... 1321 01:25:59,404 --> 01:26:01,364 ...the Bank of the Commonwealth in Detroit. 1322 01:26:01,532 --> 01:26:05,910 They control Aramco, so that puts them into Exxon, Texaco and Mobil Oil. 1323 01:26:06,078 --> 01:26:10,289 They're all over! New Jersey, Louisville, St. Louis, Missouri... 1324 01:26:10,457 --> 01:26:12,375 ...and that's only what we know about. 1325 01:26:12,543 --> 01:26:15,127 There's a hell of a lot more we don't know about. 1326 01:26:15,295 --> 01:26:17,755 Because all of those Arab petrol dollars... 1327 01:26:17,923 --> 01:26:20,258 ...are washed through Switzerland and Canada... 1328 01:26:20,425 --> 01:26:22,343 ...and the biggest banks in this country. 1329 01:26:22,511 --> 01:26:26,222 For example, what we don't know about is this CCA deal... 1330 01:26:26,890 --> 01:26:29,392 ...and all the other CCA deals. 1331 01:26:29,852 --> 01:26:33,688 Right now the Arabs have screwed us out of enough American dollars... 1332 01:26:33,856 --> 01:26:37,233 ...to come right back and, with our own money, buy General Motors... 1333 01:26:37,401 --> 01:26:41,612 ...IBM, ITT, AT&T, Dupont, U.S. Steel... 1334 01:26:41,780 --> 01:26:44,073 ...and 20 other American companies. 1335 01:26:44,241 --> 01:26:49,537 Hell, they already own half of England. So listen to me. 1336 01:26:49,705 --> 01:26:53,958 Listen to me, goddamn it. The Arabs are simply buying us. 1337 01:26:54,793 --> 01:26:57,628 There's only one thing that can stop them. You! 1338 01:26:58,589 --> 01:27:00,339 You! 1339 01:27:00,591 --> 01:27:03,384 So I want you to get up now. 1340 01:27:03,594 --> 01:27:06,304 I want you to get up out of your chairs. 1341 01:27:06,471 --> 01:27:09,265 I want you to get up right now and go to the phone. 1342 01:27:09,433 --> 01:27:13,311 I want you to get up from your chairs, go to the phone, get in your cars... 1343 01:27:13,478 --> 01:27:15,980 ...drive into the Western Union offices in town. 1344 01:27:16,148 --> 01:27:19,483 I want you to send a telegram to the White House. 1345 01:27:19,651 --> 01:27:22,028 - Oh, my God. - By midnight tonight... 1346 01:27:22,195 --> 01:27:24,989 ...I want a million telegrams in the White House. 1347 01:27:25,157 --> 01:27:29,118 I want them wading knee-deep in telegrams at the White House. 1348 01:27:29,369 --> 01:27:34,415 I want you to get up right now and write a telegram to President Ford saying: 1349 01:27:34,583 --> 01:27:38,461 "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore. 1350 01:27:38,629 --> 01:27:41,672 I don't want the banks selling my country to the Arabs. 1351 01:27:41,840 --> 01:27:45,009 I want the CCA deal stopped now. 1352 01:27:45,177 --> 01:27:48,429 I want the CCA deal stopped now. Come on. 1353 01:27:48,597 --> 01:27:51,849 I want the CCA deal stopped now! 1354 01:27:52,017 --> 01:27:55,061 I want the CCA deal stopped now! 1355 01:27:55,228 --> 01:27:58,314 I want the CCA deal stopped now! 1356 01:27:58,482 --> 01:28:00,524 I want the CCA deal stopped now! 1357 01:28:14,873 --> 01:28:17,708 - Look, could we have the room? Sure. 1358 01:28:26,134 --> 01:28:30,221 Well, I'd like to see a typescript and run through a couple more times. 1359 01:28:30,806 --> 01:28:33,891 But as for this whole CCA deal with the Saudis... 1360 01:28:34,059 --> 01:28:36,727 ...you'd know a lot more about that, Frank, than I would. 1361 01:28:36,895 --> 01:28:38,646 Is it true? 1362 01:28:42,234 --> 01:28:46,070 The CCA has 2 billion in loans with the Saudis... 1363 01:28:46,279 --> 01:28:49,240 ...and they hold every pledge we've got. 1364 01:28:50,492 --> 01:28:53,244 We need that Saudi money bad. 1365 01:28:55,414 --> 01:28:58,332 Disaster. The show is a disaster. 1366 01:28:59,751 --> 01:29:02,920 Unmitigated disaster. The death knell. 1367 01:29:04,423 --> 01:29:08,259 I'm ruined. I'm dead. Finished. 1368 01:29:08,927 --> 01:29:12,847 Maybe we're overstating Beale's clout with the public. 1369 01:29:14,016 --> 01:29:16,600 An hour ago, Clarence McElheny called me from New York. 1370 01:29:16,768 --> 01:29:19,979 It was 10:00 in the east and our people in the White House report... 1371 01:29:20,147 --> 01:29:22,982 ...they were already knee-deep in telegrams. 1372 01:29:23,150 --> 01:29:28,029 By tomorrow morning, they'll be suffocating in telegrams. 1373 01:29:28,196 --> 01:29:30,823 - Can the government stop the deal? - They can hold it up. 1374 01:29:30,991 --> 01:29:34,410 The SEC could hold this deal up for 20 years, if they wanted to. 1375 01:29:34,661 --> 01:29:36,037 I'm finished. 1376 01:29:36,204 --> 01:29:39,707 Any second that phone's gonna ring and Clarence McElheny is gonna tell me... 1377 01:29:39,875 --> 01:29:42,710 ...Mr. Jensen wants me in his office tomorrow morning... 1378 01:29:42,878 --> 01:29:46,338 ...so he can personally chop my head off. 1379 01:29:47,007 --> 01:29:49,383 Four hours ago, I was the sun god at CCA. 1380 01:29:49,551 --> 01:29:53,637 Mr. Jensen's hand-picked golden boy, the heir apparent. 1381 01:29:53,805 --> 01:29:58,392 Now, .... I'm a man without a corporation. 1382 01:29:59,478 --> 01:30:01,645 Let's get back to Howard Beale. 1383 01:30:02,981 --> 01:30:06,150 You're not seriously gonna pull Beale off the air? 1384 01:30:10,447 --> 01:30:14,450 Mr. Jensen's unhappy with Howard Beale and wants him discontinued. 1385 01:30:14,618 --> 01:30:16,994 But he may be unhappy, but he isn't stupid enough... 1386 01:30:17,162 --> 01:30:20,039 ...to withdraw the number-one show on television out of pique. 1387 01:30:20,207 --> 01:30:23,084 Two billion dollars isn't pique! That's the wrath of God! 1388 01:30:23,251 --> 01:30:25,586 And the wrath of God wants Howard Beale fired! 1389 01:30:25,754 --> 01:30:28,255 Every other network will grab him the minute he walks. 1390 01:30:28,423 --> 01:30:31,133 He'll be back on the air for ABC and we'll lose 20 points- 1391 01:30:31,301 --> 01:30:33,844 I'm gonna impale the son of a bitch with a sharp stick! 1392 01:30:34,012 --> 01:30:36,680 Forty million loss in revenues. - I'll take out a contract. 1393 01:30:36,848 --> 01:30:40,142 - Let's not discount federal action... - I'll hire professional killers. 1394 01:30:40,310 --> 01:30:45,481 No, I'll do it myself. I'll strangle him with a sash cord! 1395 01:30:45,816 --> 01:30:48,984 - and a breach of the consent decree. I don't think Jensen's gonna fire anybody. 1396 01:30:54,783 --> 01:30:56,200 Hackett. 1397 01:30:58,411 --> 01:31:01,872 Yes, Clarence. I've already booked my flight. 1398 01:31:03,583 --> 01:31:05,918 Uh, well, can you give me a little more time than that? 1399 01:31:06,086 --> 01:31:08,796 I've got the red-eye flight, I won't be back in New York... 1400 01:31:08,964 --> 01:31:11,132 ...till 6 tomorrow morning. 1401 01:31:13,093 --> 01:31:15,136 That'll be just fine. 1402 01:31:15,387 --> 01:31:17,054 I'll see you then. 1403 01:31:25,689 --> 01:31:28,983 Mr. Jensen wants to meet Howard Beale personally. 1404 01:31:29,526 --> 01:31:33,279 He wants Mr. Beale in his office at 10:00 tomorrow morning. 1405 01:31:39,786 --> 01:31:42,496 The final revelation is at hand. 1406 01:31:42,664 --> 01:31:46,750 I have seen the shattering fulgurations of ultimate clarity. 1407 01:31:46,918 --> 01:31:51,755 The light is impending. I bear witness to the light! 1408 01:32:12,569 --> 01:32:14,153 Good morning, Mr. Beale. 1409 01:32:14,321 --> 01:32:17,031 - They tell me you're a madman. - Only desultorily. 1410 01:32:17,199 --> 01:32:19,533 - How are you now? - I'm as mad as a hatter. 1411 01:32:19,701 --> 01:32:21,368 Who isn't? 1412 01:32:21,953 --> 01:32:24,121 I'm going to take you into our conference room. 1413 01:32:24,289 --> 01:32:27,625 Seems more seemly a setting for what I have to say to you. 1414 01:32:28,960 --> 01:32:31,378 I started as a salesman, Mr. Beale. 1415 01:32:31,546 --> 01:32:34,423 I sold sewing machines and automobile parts... 1416 01:32:34,591 --> 01:32:37,509 ...hairbrushes and electronic equipment. 1417 01:32:37,677 --> 01:32:40,012 They say I can sell anything. 1418 01:32:40,847 --> 01:32:44,099 I'd like to try to sell something to you. 1419 01:32:47,687 --> 01:32:51,315 Valhalla, Mr. Beale. Please, sit down. 1420 01:33:20,804 --> 01:33:25,599 You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale. 1421 01:33:25,767 --> 01:33:30,104 And I won't have it! Is that clear? 1422 01:33:30,397 --> 01:33:32,856 You think you've merely stopped a business deal. 1423 01:33:33,024 --> 01:33:34,566 That is not the case. 1424 01:33:34,734 --> 01:33:37,653 The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country... 1425 01:33:37,821 --> 01:33:39,697 ...and now they must put it back! 1426 01:33:39,864 --> 01:33:45,035 It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity, it is ecological balance. 1427 01:33:46,621 --> 01:33:48,372 You are an old man... 1428 01:33:48,540 --> 01:33:52,376 ...who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. 1429 01:33:52,544 --> 01:33:55,921 There are no nations, there are no peoples. There are no Russians. 1430 01:33:56,089 --> 01:33:58,549 There are no Arabs. There are no Third Worlds. 1431 01:33:58,717 --> 01:33:59,883 There is no West! 1432 01:34:00,051 --> 01:34:05,014 There is only one holistic system of systems. 1433 01:34:05,181 --> 01:34:07,391 One vast and immane... 1434 01:34:07,559 --> 01:34:10,394 ...interwoven, interacting, multi-variate... 1435 01:34:10,562 --> 01:34:13,731 ...multinational dominion of dollars. 1436 01:34:13,898 --> 01:34:17,026 Petrol dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars. 1437 01:34:17,193 --> 01:34:22,948 Reichsmarks, rins, rubles, pounds and shekels. 1438 01:34:24,284 --> 01:34:28,746 It is the international system of currency which determines... 1439 01:34:28,913 --> 01:34:32,291 ...the totality of life on this planet. 1440 01:34:33,251 --> 01:34:37,755 That is the natural order of things today. 1441 01:34:38,882 --> 01:34:42,634 That is the atomic... 1442 01:34:42,802 --> 01:34:44,928 ...and subatomic... 1443 01:34:45,096 --> 01:34:50,434 ...and galactic structure of things today. 1444 01:34:51,186 --> 01:34:53,270 And you have meddled... 1445 01:34:53,438 --> 01:34:57,983 ...with the primal forces of nature! 1446 01:34:58,276 --> 01:35:03,781 And you will atone. 1447 01:35:04,407 --> 01:35:06,784 Am I getting it through to you, Mr. Beale? 1448 01:35:10,246 --> 01:35:14,792 You get up on your little 21-inch screen... 1449 01:35:15,502 --> 01:35:20,381 ...and howl about America and democracy. 1450 01:35:20,965 --> 01:35:25,302 There is no America. There is no democracy. 1451 01:35:25,470 --> 01:35:30,974 There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T... 1452 01:35:31,142 --> 01:35:36,730 ...and Dupont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. 1453 01:35:36,898 --> 01:35:40,484 Those are the nations of the world today. 1454 01:35:40,860 --> 01:35:44,988 What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state? Karl Marx? 1455 01:35:45,156 --> 01:35:47,491 They get out their linear programming charts... 1456 01:35:47,659 --> 01:35:50,160 ...statistical decision theories, minimax solutions... 1457 01:35:50,328 --> 01:35:53,789 ...and compute price-cost probabilities of transactions and investments... 1458 01:35:53,957 --> 01:35:54,998 ...just like we do. 1459 01:35:55,500 --> 01:35:59,753 We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. 1460 01:35:59,921 --> 01:36:04,591 The world is a college of corporations... 1461 01:36:05,260 --> 01:36:12,141 ...inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. 1462 01:36:14,227 --> 01:36:17,187 The world is a business, Mr. Beale. 1463 01:36:19,107 --> 01:36:23,068 It has been since man crawled out of the slime. 1464 01:36:25,864 --> 01:36:30,784 And our children will live, Mr. Beale... 1465 01:36:32,162 --> 01:36:33,745 ...to see that... 1466 01:36:36,040 --> 01:36:38,792 ...perfect world... 1467 01:36:39,794 --> 01:36:43,005 ...in which there's no war or famine... 1468 01:36:43,173 --> 01:36:46,508 ...oppression or brutality. 1469 01:36:47,552 --> 01:36:51,513 One vast and ecumenical holding company... 1470 01:36:51,681 --> 01:36:55,976 ...for whom all men will work to serve a common profit... 1471 01:36:56,144 --> 01:37:00,397 ...in which all men will hold a share of stock... 1472 01:37:01,649 --> 01:37:04,568 ...all necessities provided... 1473 01:37:05,278 --> 01:37:09,114 ...all anxieties tranquillized... 1474 01:37:10,074 --> 01:37:13,994 ...all boredom amused. 1475 01:37:19,959 --> 01:37:24,546 And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale... 1476 01:37:24,714 --> 01:37:27,216 ...to preach this evangel. 1477 01:37:27,884 --> 01:37:29,510 Why me? 1478 01:37:30,762 --> 01:37:33,597 Because you're on television, dummy. 1479 01:37:34,474 --> 01:37:39,937 Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday. 1480 01:37:40,813 --> 01:37:43,106 I have seen the face of God. 1481 01:37:45,652 --> 01:37:48,237 You just might be right, Mr. Beale. 1482 01:37:49,781 --> 01:37:52,115 That evening, Howard Beale went on the air... 1483 01:37:52,283 --> 01:37:54,952 ...to preach the corporate cosmology of Arthur Jensen. 1484 01:37:55,119 --> 01:37:57,996 Last night I got up here and asked you people... 1485 01:37:58,164 --> 01:38:02,459 ...to stand up and fight for your heritage, and you did, and it was beautiful. 1486 01:38:02,627 --> 01:38:05,629 Six million telegrams were received at the White House. 1487 01:38:05,797 --> 01:38:08,966 The Arab takeover of CCA has been stopped. 1488 01:38:09,133 --> 01:38:14,805 The people spoke, the people won. It was a radiant eruption of democracy. 1489 01:38:14,973 --> 01:38:19,017 But I think that was it, fellas. 1490 01:38:19,185 --> 01:38:21,895 That sort of thing is not likely to happen again. 1491 01:38:22,105 --> 01:38:25,065 Because at the bottom of all our terrified souls... 1492 01:38:25,233 --> 01:38:28,277 ...we know that democracy is a dying giant... 1493 01:38:28,444 --> 01:38:33,240 ...a sick, sick, dying, decaying, political concept writhing in its final pain. 1494 01:38:33,408 --> 01:38:36,994 I don't mean that the United States is finished as a world power. 1495 01:38:37,161 --> 01:38:39,329 The States is the richest and most powerful... 1496 01:38:39,497 --> 01:38:42,457 ...the most advanced country, light years ahead of any country. 1497 01:38:42,625 --> 01:38:45,335 I don't mean the communists are gonna take over the world. 1498 01:38:45,503 --> 01:38:48,839 The communists are deader than we are. What is finished... 1499 01:38:50,466 --> 01:38:53,927 ...is the idea that this great country is dedicated to the freedom... 1500 01:38:54,095 --> 01:38:57,806 ...and flourishing of every individual in it. 1501 01:38:58,891 --> 01:39:01,852 It's the individual that's finished. 1502 01:39:02,270 --> 01:39:06,189 It's the single, solitary, human being that's finished. 1503 01:39:07,066 --> 01:39:11,111 It's every single one of you out there that's finished. 1504 01:39:11,654 --> 01:39:13,864 Because this is no longer... 1505 01:39:14,032 --> 01:39:17,743 ...a nation of independent individuals. 1506 01:39:18,036 --> 01:39:20,829 It's a nation of some 200-odd million... 1507 01:39:20,997 --> 01:39:23,540 ...transistorized, deodorized... 1508 01:39:23,708 --> 01:39:29,212 ...whiter than white steel-belted bodies, totally unnecessary as human beings... 1509 01:39:29,380 --> 01:39:32,758 ...and as replaceable as piston rods. 1510 01:39:43,394 --> 01:39:46,605 Well, the time has come to say... 1511 01:39:46,773 --> 01:39:49,941 ...is "dehumanization" such a bad word? 1512 01:39:50,318 --> 01:39:53,403 Whether it's good or bad, that's what is so. 1513 01:39:53,571 --> 01:39:58,742 The whole world is becoming humanoid, creatures that look human but aren't. 1514 01:39:59,202 --> 01:40:00,577 The whole world, not just us. 1515 01:40:00,745 --> 01:40:04,915 We're just the most advanced country, so we're getting there first. 1516 01:40:05,583 --> 01:40:10,545 The whole world's people are becoming mass-produced, programmed... 1517 01:40:10,713 --> 01:40:12,464 ...numbered insensate things. 1518 01:40:12,882 --> 01:40:14,925 It was a perfectly admissible argument... 1519 01:40:15,093 --> 01:40:17,678 ...that Howard Beale advanced in the days that followed. 1520 01:40:17,845 --> 01:40:20,722 It was, however, also a very depressing one. 1521 01:40:20,890 --> 01:40:24,226 Nobody particularly cared to hear his life was utterly valueless. 1522 01:40:24,394 --> 01:40:26,228 By the end of the first week in June... 1523 01:40:26,396 --> 01:40:29,147 ...the Howard Beale Show dropped one point in the ratings... 1524 01:40:29,315 --> 01:40:33,944 ...and its trend of shares dipped under 48 for the first time since last November. 1525 01:40:34,112 --> 01:40:38,115 You're his goddamn agent. I'm counting on you to talk some sense into the lunatic. 1526 01:40:38,282 --> 01:40:41,785 Nobody wants to hear about dying democracy and dehumanization. 1527 01:40:42,412 --> 01:40:43,495 I'm sorry I'm late. 1528 01:40:43,663 --> 01:40:45,872 We're starting to get rumbles from the agencies. 1529 01:40:46,040 --> 01:40:48,834 Another couple of weeks and the sponsors will be bailing out! 1530 01:40:49,001 --> 01:40:52,129 This is a breach of contract. This isn't the Howard Beale we signed. 1531 01:40:52,296 --> 01:40:56,591 Get him off that corporate universe kick, or so help me, I'll pull it off the air! 1532 01:40:56,759 --> 01:40:59,886 I told him, Lou! I've been telling him every day for a week! 1533 01:41:00,054 --> 01:41:03,140 I'm sick of telling him. Now you tell him! 1534 01:41:11,023 --> 01:41:12,399 Jesus Christ. 1535 01:41:15,903 --> 01:41:18,238 You could help me out with Howard if you wanted to. 1536 01:41:18,406 --> 01:41:20,657 He listens to you. You're his best friend. 1537 01:41:20,825 --> 01:41:23,285 I'm tired of all this hysteria about Howard Beale. 1538 01:41:23,453 --> 01:41:26,121 Every time you come from seeing somebody in your family... 1539 01:41:26,289 --> 01:41:28,623 ...you come back in one of these middle-aged moods. 1540 01:41:28,791 --> 01:41:31,835 I'm tired of finding you on the telephone every time I turn around. 1541 01:41:32,003 --> 01:41:34,838 I'm tired of being an accessory in your life. 1542 01:41:35,298 --> 01:41:37,841 And I'm tired of pretending to write this dumb book... 1543 01:41:38,009 --> 01:41:41,178 ...about my maverick days in the great early years of television. 1544 01:41:41,345 --> 01:41:45,015 Every goddamned executive fired from a network in the last 20 years... 1545 01:41:45,183 --> 01:41:49,186 ...has written this dumb book about the great early years of television. 1546 01:41:49,353 --> 01:41:52,647 And nobody wants a dumb, damn, goddamn book... 1547 01:41:52,815 --> 01:41:55,025 ...about the early days of television. 1548 01:41:55,193 --> 01:41:58,236 Terrific, Max! Maybe you can start a whole new career as an actor. 1549 01:41:58,404 --> 01:42:00,113 It's the truth. 1550 01:42:00,865 --> 01:42:05,619 After living with you for six months, I'm turning into one of your scripts. 1551 01:42:06,412 --> 01:42:08,872 Well, this is not a script, Diana. 1552 01:42:09,207 --> 01:42:12,834 There's some real, actual life going on here. 1553 01:42:13,628 --> 01:42:17,214 I went to visit my wife today because she's in a state of depression... 1554 01:42:17,423 --> 01:42:21,051 ...so depressed that my daughter flew all the way from Seattle to be with her. 1555 01:42:21,219 --> 01:42:23,220 And I feel lousy about that. 1556 01:42:23,387 --> 01:42:27,516 I feel lousy about the pain that I've caused my wife and my kids. 1557 01:42:27,683 --> 01:42:29,601 I feel guilty and conscience-stricken... 1558 01:42:29,769 --> 01:42:32,395 ...and all of those things that you think sentimental... 1559 01:42:32,563 --> 01:42:36,525 ...but which my generation calls simple, human decency. 1560 01:42:40,530 --> 01:42:42,572 And I miss my home... 1561 01:42:43,282 --> 01:42:46,117 ...because I'm beginning to get scared shitless. 1562 01:42:46,285 --> 01:42:49,746 Because all of a sudden it's closer to the end than it is to the beginning. 1563 01:42:49,914 --> 01:42:52,874 And death is suddenly a perceptible thing to me... 1564 01:42:53,042 --> 01:42:55,544 ...with definable features. 1565 01:42:59,590 --> 01:43:03,969 You're dealing with a man that has primal doubts, Diana... 1566 01:43:04,303 --> 01:43:06,763 ...and you've got to cope with it. 1567 01:43:07,348 --> 01:43:11,434 I'm not some guy discussing male menopause on the Barbara Walters Show. 1568 01:43:12,103 --> 01:43:15,438 I'm the man that you presumably love. 1569 01:43:16,524 --> 01:43:19,442 I'm part of your life. 1570 01:43:19,610 --> 01:43:23,280 I live here. I'm real. 1571 01:43:24,448 --> 01:43:27,325 You can't switch to another station. 1572 01:43:34,792 --> 01:43:37,627 What exactly is it you want me to do? 1573 01:43:41,632 --> 01:43:44,676 I just want you to love me. 1574 01:43:45,928 --> 01:43:49,389 I just want you to love me, primal doubts and all. 1575 01:43:51,726 --> 01:43:54,144 You understand that, don't you? 1576 01:43:59,150 --> 01:44:01,443 I don't know how to do that. 1577 01:44:13,164 --> 01:44:15,790 I'll be with you in a minute, Max. 1578 01:44:20,922 --> 01:44:22,422 By the first week in July... 1579 01:44:22,590 --> 01:44:24,716 ...the Howard Beale Show was down 11 points. 1580 01:44:24,884 --> 01:44:26,718 Hysteria swept through the network. 1581 01:44:26,886 --> 01:44:28,553 He's a plague. He's smallpox. 1582 01:44:28,721 --> 01:44:31,222 He's typhoid. I don't wanna follow his goddamn show. 1583 01:44:31,390 --> 01:44:32,724 I want out of that 8:00 spot. 1584 01:44:32,892 --> 01:44:35,602 I've got enough troubles without Howard Beale as a lead-in! 1585 01:44:35,770 --> 01:44:37,854 Scheduled me against Tony Orlando and Dawn. 1586 01:44:38,022 --> 01:44:41,274 NBC's got Little House on the Prairie. ABC's got The Bionic Woman. 1587 01:44:41,442 --> 01:44:44,027 Do something! You gotta do something about Howard Beale! 1588 01:44:44,195 --> 01:44:46,363 Get him off the air! Get him off! 1589 01:44:46,530 --> 01:44:48,156 Do something! Do anything! 1590 01:44:48,324 --> 01:44:50,325 We're trying to find a replacement for him! 1591 01:44:50,493 --> 01:44:52,535 I'm going to look at audition footage now! 1592 01:44:52,787 --> 01:44:56,247 And how when the sicks heal... 1593 01:44:56,415 --> 01:44:59,376 ...man, I tell you I saw it! 1594 01:45:00,211 --> 01:45:05,298 It was heavy, baby. I saw the earth quake. 1595 01:45:05,466 --> 01:45:09,219 And I saw the moon became like blood. 1596 01:45:09,387 --> 01:45:13,264 And every mountain and island was moved from its place. 1597 01:45:13,432 --> 01:45:15,684 No, no, no. Damn it. 1598 01:45:15,851 --> 01:45:17,852 If we wanted hellfire we'd get Billy Graham! 1599 01:45:18,020 --> 01:45:21,398 Don't want faith healers, evangelists or Oberammergau passion players! 1600 01:45:21,565 --> 01:45:24,609 What about that messiah that ABC was supposed to have signed up... 1601 01:45:24,777 --> 01:45:27,445 - ... as our competition for next year? That's him. 1602 01:45:27,613 --> 01:45:31,908 - The bottomless pit is here. That's him? 1603 01:45:32,076 --> 01:45:33,952 His ass ending. 1604 01:45:34,120 --> 01:45:36,162 Jesus. Turn him off! 1605 01:45:37,289 --> 01:45:41,084 I've got three more, but you've already seen the best ones. 1606 01:45:41,252 --> 01:45:44,087 I've got a guru from Spokane and two more hellfires... 1607 01:45:44,255 --> 01:45:46,047 ...who see visions of the Virgin Mary. 1608 01:45:46,215 --> 01:45:50,010 We're not gonna find a replacement for Howard Beale. Let's stop kidding ourselves. 1609 01:45:50,177 --> 01:45:53,013 Fully fledged messiahs don't come in bunches. 1610 01:45:53,180 --> 01:45:56,349 We either go with Howard Beale or we go without him. 1611 01:45:56,517 --> 01:45:59,394 My reports say we'll do better without him. 1612 01:45:59,562 --> 01:46:02,439 It would be disaster to let this situation go on another week. 1613 01:46:02,606 --> 01:46:05,233 By then, he'll be down 16 points... 1614 01:46:05,401 --> 01:46:08,778 ...and the trend irreversible, if it isn't already. 1615 01:46:09,989 --> 01:46:13,074 I think we should fire Howard. 1616 01:46:15,870 --> 01:46:21,624 Arthur Jensen has taken a strong personal interest in the Howard Beale Show. 1617 01:46:23,627 --> 01:46:27,088 I'm having dinner with him tonight. Let me have another crack at Jensen... 1618 01:46:27,256 --> 01:46:29,674 ...and then let's meet in my office at 10:00 tonight. 1619 01:46:29,842 --> 01:46:32,635 Diana, give me copies of all your audience research reports. 1620 01:46:32,803 --> 01:46:36,931 I may need them for Jensen. Is 10:00 convenient for everyone? 1621 01:47:08,964 --> 01:47:13,218 I think the time has come to re-evaluate our relationship, Max. 1622 01:47:13,844 --> 01:47:15,512 So I see. 1623 01:47:17,098 --> 01:47:20,475 I don't like the way this script of ours is turning out. 1624 01:47:20,643 --> 01:47:23,436 It's turning into a seedy little drama. 1625 01:47:23,604 --> 01:47:27,941 Middle-aged man leaves wife and family for young heartless woman, goes to pot. 1626 01:47:28,109 --> 01:47:31,861 The Blue Angel with Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings. I don't like it. 1627 01:47:32,029 --> 01:47:34,114 - So you're gonna cancel the show. - Right. 1628 01:47:34,281 --> 01:47:36,199 Here, let me do that. 1629 01:47:37,785 --> 01:47:42,914 The simple fact is, Max, that you're a family man. 1630 01:47:43,082 --> 01:47:46,835 You like a home and kids. That's beautiful. I'm incapable of any such commitment. 1631 01:47:47,002 --> 01:47:49,921 All you'll get from me is a couple months of intermittent sex... 1632 01:47:50,089 --> 01:47:53,466 ...and recriminate and ugly little scenes like the one we had last night. 1633 01:47:53,634 --> 01:47:57,220 I'm sorry for all those things I said to you last night. 1634 01:47:57,388 --> 01:48:01,724 You're not the worst fuck I've ever had. Believe me, I've had worse. 1635 01:48:02,226 --> 01:48:05,603 You don't puff or snorkle... 1636 01:48:05,771 --> 01:48:07,480 ...and make death-like rattles. 1637 01:48:07,648 --> 01:48:10,441 As a matter of fact, you're rather serene in the sack. 1638 01:48:11,777 --> 01:48:13,653 Why is it that a woman always thinks... 1639 01:48:13,821 --> 01:48:19,033 ...that the most savage thing she can say to a man is to impugn his cocksmanship? 1640 01:48:20,244 --> 01:48:23,580 Well, I'm sorry I impugned your cocksmanship. 1641 01:48:24,248 --> 01:48:28,042 I gave up comparing genitals back in the schoolyard. 1642 01:48:37,678 --> 01:48:40,430 You're being docile as hell about this. 1643 01:48:41,473 --> 01:48:44,976 Oh, hell, Diana, I knew it was over with us weeks ago. 1644 01:48:45,311 --> 01:48:47,979 Will you go back to your wife? 1645 01:48:49,982 --> 01:48:52,775 I'll give it a try, but I don't think she'll jump at it. 1646 01:48:52,943 --> 01:48:55,195 But don't worry about me. I'll manage. 1647 01:48:55,362 --> 01:48:59,699 I always have, I always will. I'm more concerned about you. 1648 01:49:00,534 --> 01:49:02,285 You're not the boozer type. 1649 01:49:02,453 --> 01:49:05,997 So I figure a year, maybe two, before you crack up. 1650 01:49:06,165 --> 01:49:08,833 Or jump out of your 14th floor office window. 1651 01:49:09,001 --> 01:49:12,212 Stop selling, Max. I don't need you. 1652 01:49:23,599 --> 01:49:27,477 I don't want your pain. I don't want your menopausal decay and death! 1653 01:49:27,645 --> 01:49:28,728 I don't need you, Max. 1654 01:49:28,896 --> 01:49:32,649 - Now get out of here! - You need me! You need me badly. 1655 01:49:32,816 --> 01:49:35,610 Because I'm your last contact with human reality. 1656 01:49:35,778 --> 01:49:37,779 I love you. 1657 01:49:37,947 --> 01:49:41,950 And that painful, decaying love is the only thing between you... 1658 01:49:42,117 --> 01:49:45,036 ...and the shrieking nothingness you live the rest of the day. 1659 01:49:45,204 --> 01:49:46,829 Then don't leave me. 1660 01:49:49,959 --> 01:49:52,168 It's too late, Diana. 1661 01:49:53,295 --> 01:49:56,172 There's nothing left in you that I can live with. 1662 01:49:58,884 --> 01:50:01,427 You're one of Howard's humanoids... 1663 01:50:01,595 --> 01:50:04,264 ...and if I stay with you, I'll be destroyed. 1664 01:50:04,932 --> 01:50:07,517 Like Howard Beale was destroyed. 1665 01:50:08,018 --> 01:50:10,645 Like Laureen Hobbs was destroyed. 1666 01:50:11,188 --> 01:50:15,024 Like everything that you and the institution of television touch... 1667 01:50:15,192 --> 01:50:17,235 ...is destroyed. 1668 01:50:23,033 --> 01:50:25,034 You're television incarnate, Diana. 1669 01:50:26,453 --> 01:50:31,833 Indifferent to suffering, insensitive to joy. 1670 01:50:33,127 --> 01:50:37,171 All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality. 1671 01:50:40,884 --> 01:50:43,803 War, murder, death... 1672 01:50:44,555 --> 01:50:47,724 ...all the same to you as bottles of beer. 1673 01:50:48,267 --> 01:50:52,937 And the daily business of life is a corrupt comedy. 1674 01:50:54,106 --> 01:50:57,483 You even shatter the sensations of time and space... 1675 01:50:57,651 --> 01:51:02,405 ...into split seconds and instant replays. 1676 01:51:06,160 --> 01:51:07,869 You're madness, Diana. 1677 01:51:09,705 --> 01:51:12,040 Virulent madness. 1678 01:51:13,751 --> 01:51:16,878 And everything you touch dies with you. 1679 01:51:21,717 --> 01:51:23,509 But not me. 1680 01:51:24,470 --> 01:51:30,141 Not as long as I can feel pleasure and pain... 1681 01:51:33,937 --> 01:51:35,646 ...and love. 1682 01:51:47,076 --> 01:51:48,159 And it's a happy ending. 1683 01:51:50,454 --> 01:51:54,123 Wayward husband comes to his senses... 1684 01:51:54,750 --> 01:51:56,334 ...returns to his wife... 1685 01:51:56,543 --> 01:51:59,545 ...with whom he's established a long and sustaining love. 1686 01:52:00,756 --> 01:52:04,801 Heartless young woman left alone in her arctic desolation. 1687 01:52:07,846 --> 01:52:10,139 Music up with a swell. 1688 01:52:13,060 --> 01:52:14,852 Final commercial. 1689 01:52:17,481 --> 01:52:21,067 And here are a few scenes from next week's show. 1690 01:52:32,996 --> 01:52:34,872 How did it go? 1691 01:52:51,515 --> 01:52:56,686 Mr. Jensen was unhappy at the idea of taking Howard Beale off the air. 1692 01:52:57,938 --> 01:53:01,858 Mr. Jensen thinks Howard Beale is bringing a very important message... 1693 01:53:02,025 --> 01:53:04,444 ...to the American people. 1694 01:53:05,779 --> 01:53:09,365 So he wants Howard Beale on the air and he wants him kept on. 1695 01:53:11,618 --> 01:53:14,620 Mr. Jensen feels we're too catastrophic in our thinking. 1696 01:53:14,788 --> 01:53:18,958 I argued that television was a volatile industry in which success and failure... 1697 01:53:19,126 --> 01:53:21,711 ...were determined week by week. 1698 01:53:22,379 --> 01:53:25,882 Mr. Jensen said he did not like volatile industries and suggested... 1699 01:53:26,049 --> 01:53:29,552 ...with a certain sinister silkiness... 1700 01:53:30,429 --> 01:53:34,056 ...that volatility in business usually reflected bad management. 1701 01:53:35,058 --> 01:53:38,311 He didn't care if Howard Beale was the number-one show or the 50th. 1702 01:53:38,479 --> 01:53:40,938 He didn't really care if the Beale Show lost money. 1703 01:53:42,149 --> 01:53:46,611 He wants Howard Beale on the air and he wants him kept on. 1704 01:53:47,321 --> 01:53:51,991 I would describe his position on this as inflexible. 1705 01:53:52,743 --> 01:53:55,119 Where does that put us, Diana? 1706 01:53:55,996 --> 01:53:59,916 That puts us in the shithouse, that's where that puts us. 1707 01:54:02,544 --> 01:54:05,379 - Do you want me to go through this? Yes. 1708 01:54:06,465 --> 01:54:10,760 The Beale Show Q score's down to 33. 1709 01:54:11,428 --> 01:54:14,889 Most of this loss occurred in the child and teen and 18-34 categories... 1710 01:54:15,057 --> 01:54:18,309 ...which were our key core markets. 1711 01:54:18,519 --> 01:54:21,646 And as the AR department's carefully considered judgment and mine... 1712 01:54:21,813 --> 01:54:25,191 ...that if we get rid of Beale, we should maintain a respectable share... 1713 01:54:25,359 --> 01:54:28,236 ...in the high 20s, possibly 30, with a comparable Q level. 1714 01:54:28,403 --> 01:54:30,947 The other segments of the show, Sibyl the Soothsayer... 1715 01:54:31,114 --> 01:54:35,284 ...Jim Webbing, the Vox Populi, have all developed their own audiences. 1716 01:54:35,452 --> 01:54:37,620 Our AR reports show that it is Howard Beale... 1717 01:54:37,788 --> 01:54:40,623 ...that is the destructive force here. 1718 01:54:41,208 --> 01:54:46,003 Minimally, we're talking about a 10-point differential in shares. 1719 01:54:46,964 --> 01:54:49,966 I think Joe ought to spell it out for us. Joe? 1720 01:54:50,467 --> 01:54:53,594 A 28 share is 80,000-dollar minutes. 1721 01:54:53,762 --> 01:54:56,389 I think we can sell complete positions on the whole. 1722 01:54:56,557 --> 01:54:59,183 We're just getting into the pre-Christmas gift sellers... 1723 01:54:59,351 --> 01:55:02,895 ...and I'll tell you the agencies are coming back to me with $4 CPM's. 1724 01:55:03,063 --> 01:55:07,316 If that's any indication, we're talking 40-, 45 million-dollar loss in annual revenues. 1725 01:55:07,484 --> 01:55:09,485 Wanna hear the flak from the affiliates? 1726 01:55:09,653 --> 01:55:11,153 We know all about it, Herb. 1727 01:55:11,321 --> 01:55:15,116 And you would describe Mr. Jensen's position on Beale as inflexible? 1728 01:55:15,617 --> 01:55:18,119 Intractable and adamantine. 1729 01:55:19,997 --> 01:55:23,165 So, what do we do about this Beale son of a bitch? 1730 01:55:25,335 --> 01:55:27,420 I suppose we'll have to kill him. 1731 01:55:30,340 --> 01:55:33,426 I don't suppose you have any ideas on that, Diana? 1732 01:55:40,142 --> 01:55:43,185 Well, what would you fellows say to an assassination? 1733 01:55:44,688 --> 01:55:48,691 I think I can get the Mao Tse-Tung people to kill Beale for us... 1734 01:55:48,859 --> 01:55:50,026 ...as one of their shows. 1735 01:55:51,236 --> 01:55:55,698 In fact, it'll make a hell of a kickoff show for the season. 1736 01:55:55,866 --> 01:55:59,368 We're facing heavy opposition on the other networks for Wednesday nights... 1737 01:55:59,536 --> 01:56:02,955 ...and The Mao Tse-Tung Hour could use a sensational opener. 1738 01:56:04,416 --> 01:56:08,210 It could be done right on camera in the studio. 1739 01:56:09,880 --> 01:56:12,048 We ought to get a fantastic look-in audience... 1740 01:56:12,215 --> 01:56:16,177 ...for the assassination of Howard Beale as our opening show. 1741 01:56:16,345 --> 01:56:21,057 Well, if Beale dies, what would our continuing obligation... 1742 01:56:21,224 --> 01:56:23,267 ...to the Beale corporation be? 1743 01:56:23,560 --> 01:56:26,395 I know our contract with Beale contains a buy-out clause... 1744 01:56:26,563 --> 01:56:28,689 ...triggered by his death or incapacity. 1745 01:56:28,857 --> 01:56:32,151 There must be a formula for the computation of the purchase price. 1746 01:56:32,319 --> 01:56:36,280 Offhand, I think it was based on a multiple 1975 earnings... 1747 01:56:36,490 --> 01:56:38,574 ...with the base period in 1975. 1748 01:56:38,992 --> 01:56:43,037 I think it was 50 percent of salary plus 25 percent of the first year's profit... 1749 01:56:43,205 --> 01:56:46,499 ...multiplied by the unexpired portion of the contract. 1750 01:56:46,667 --> 01:56:49,627 I don't think the show has any substantial syndication value... 1751 01:56:49,795 --> 01:56:50,961 ...would you say, Diana? 1752 01:56:51,129 --> 01:56:52,838 Syndication profits are minimal. 1753 01:56:54,174 --> 01:56:56,842 We're talking about a capital crime here. 1754 01:56:57,969 --> 01:57:00,513 The network can't be implicated. 1755 01:57:11,024 --> 01:57:15,236 I hope you don't have any hidden tape machines in this office, Frank. 1756 01:57:17,364 --> 01:57:20,241 Well, the issue is, shall we kill Howard Beale or not? 1757 01:57:20,409 --> 01:57:22,868 I'd like to hear some more opinions on that. 1758 01:57:23,036 --> 01:57:26,455 I don't see we have any option, Frank. Let's kill the son of a bitch. 1759 01:57:26,707 --> 01:57:30,084 Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it. How do you feel? 1760 01:57:30,252 --> 01:57:34,630 We're mad as hell and we're not going to take this anymore! 1761 01:57:34,798 --> 01:57:36,882 Ladies and gentlemen, the Network News Hour... 1762 01:57:37,050 --> 01:57:39,301 ...with Sibyl the Soothsayer. 1763 01:57:42,139 --> 01:57:45,808 Jim Webbing and his It's-the-Emes Truth Department. 1764 01:57:48,562 --> 01:57:52,440 Ms. Mata Hari and her Skeletons in the Closet. 1765 01:57:55,152 --> 01:57:57,486 And tonight, another segment of Vox Populi. 1766 01:58:02,033 --> 01:58:06,662 And starring the Mad Prophet of the Airways, Howard Beale! 1767 01:58:26,141 --> 01:58:30,519 The Network News anchorman on the UBS Network News show... 1768 01:58:30,687 --> 01:58:34,565 ...known to millions as the Mad Prophet of the Airways... 1769 01:58:34,733 --> 01:58:38,569 ...was shot to death tonight in a fusillade of automatic-rifle fire... 1770 01:58:38,737 --> 01:58:41,530 ...just as he began this evening's broadcast. 1771 01:58:41,698 --> 01:58:43,783 We never compromise, so why should you? 1772 01:58:43,950 --> 01:58:46,327 Canada Dry mixers, why compromise? 1773 01:58:46,495 --> 01:58:49,538 - identified themselves as the group responsible for the killing. 1774 01:58:49,706 --> 01:58:53,209 Ahmed Kahn, a massive man of well over 6 feet, carrying an automatic weapon. 1775 01:58:53,376 --> 01:58:55,044 - supposed to be good for you. 1776 01:58:55,212 --> 01:58:58,756 - Did you try it? I'm not gonna try it, you try it. 1777 01:58:58,924 --> 01:59:02,009 - I'm not gonna try it. - Let's get Mikey. 1778 01:59:02,219 --> 01:59:05,054 Yeah. He won't eat it. He hates everything. 1779 01:59:05,222 --> 01:59:06,722 The extraordinary incident... 1780 01:59:06,890 --> 01:59:09,141 ...occurred in full view of his millions of viewers. 1781 01:59:09,309 --> 01:59:11,560 The assassins were members of a terrorist group... 1782 01:59:11,728 --> 01:59:15,815 ...called the Ecumenical Liberation Army, two of whom were apprehended. 1783 01:59:15,982 --> 01:59:19,401 The leader of the group, known as the Great Ahmed Kahn, escaped. 1784 01:59:19,820 --> 01:59:22,112 This was the story of Howard Beale... 1785 01:59:22,280 --> 01:59:24,824 ...the first known instance of a man who was killed... 1786 01:59:24,991 --> 01:59:26,617 ...because he had lousy ratings.