"I'm a human being, god damn it! My life has value!"

Facing dismissal after declining ratings, veteran news anchor Howard Beale delivers an on-air outburst that unexpectedly captivates the public. As outrage becomes entertainment and authenticity becomes spectacle, television executives discover new ways to transform public anger into profit.

Network remains one of the most incisive satires of the modern media landscape. Sidney Lumet and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky expose a media culture that thrives on the very fears, frustrations, and desires it helps produce. Fifty years after its release, its critique of a media culture driven by spectacle, outrage, and the commodification of attention feels as relevant in the age of social media as it did in the era of network television, where individual lives and experiences are increasingly reduced to content in a desperate attempt to be seen, heard, and valued.

RIP Robert Duvall.

*This 4K digital restoration was undertaken by the Criterion Collection from a scan of the 35mm original camera negative. The monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm magnetic track. Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.