Mad as Hell: The Making of Network

With Dave Itzkoff and Keith Olbermann in person

Followed by a book signing in the Moving Image Store



Dir. Sidney Lumet. 1976, 121 mins. 35mm. With Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch. “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” Those words, spoken by an unhinged anchorman named Howard Beale, “the mad prophet of the airwaves,” took America by storm in 1976 when the movie Network became a sensation. With a superb cast including Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, and Robert Duvall, and directed by Sidney Lumet, the film won four Academy Awards and indelibly shaped how we think about corporate and media power.

In his new book Mad as Hell (2014, Times Books), Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times recounts the surprising and dramatic story of how Network made it to the screen. The film was the work of Paddy Chayefsky, the tough, driven, Oscar-winning screenwriter whose vision—outlandish for its time—is all too real today. The screening will be followed by a conversation with Itzkoff moderated by Keith Olbermann. The host of Olbermann on ESPN2, Keith Olbermann began his career as a sportscaster, who became an incisive and outspoken journalist and political commentator on his show Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. Dave Itzkoff is a culture reporter at The New York Times.

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. Tickets: $15 public / $9 Museum members / free for Silver Screen members and above. Ticket includes admission to the Museum galleries.