Original artwork, not a still
I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!
— Network
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Beale gives angry people a sentence they can say out loud at their windows, and the film then shows the network turning that anger into a product. Fans still use it in earnest at protests and in jest at traffic, which is exactly the irony Chayefsky wrote: a rally cry that was always also a ratings gimmick. It is the one line from the film everybody knows, even without having seen it.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for NetworkShow the scene
In Sidney Lumet's Network (1976), written by Paddy Chayefsky, longtime UBS news anchor Howard Beale is told he has two weeks left on the air, announces he will kill himself on a live broadcast, and then turns his breakdown into a ratings hit. His producers keep him on as an angry prophet, and in one diatribe Beale tells viewers to go to their windows and shout this line. Many do, across the city. Peter Finch won the Best Actor Oscar for the role after his death, and the line is number 19 on the American Film Institute's list of movie quotes.
Sources (1)
- Network (1976 film), WikipediaPlot; Awards; American Film InstituteReference checked
Context reviewed
