If you ask someone to name a great movie about television news, one that satirizes and examines the line between news and entertainment, they will most assuredly name Network first. If asked for a second choice, they may mention A Face in the Crowd, if they know their classic cinema and, indeed, A Face in the Crowd is the better movie and the one I’d hold above Network, as much as I love Paddy Chayesky’s 1976 television scorcher. But the movie that I think succeeds more than both, while not as a great a movie, if that makes sense, is the 1987 James L. Brooks’ movie, Broadcast News, airing today on TCM. It doesn’t wear its satire on its sleeve and, in the end, makes stronger, broader statements about journalism than either Network or A Face in the Crowd could hope to do.
Of course, Network and A Face in the Crowd are, admittedly, more about the power of personality, more about the demagoguery of the small screen prophet. Broadcast News is a love triangle, not just between the three lead characters played by William Hurt, Holly Hunter, and Albert Brooks, but between journalism, career, and entertainment. It’s about how three people approach the same profession in three different ways. Hurt sees it as something he has a natural instinct for, something his looks and personality will make for an easy transition into the anchor’s chair. Hunter sees it as a career, part journalism, part business, with personalities and news to be juggled in equal parts. Brooks sees it as a mission and a responsibility, to bring the news of what is happening to the people, honestly and sincerely.
In the article on Broadcast News for TCM’s main site (found here), I wrote:
The idea of news as entertainment, of reporters becoming a part of the story they’re only supposed to be reporting, and ambition, as people replace those more talented than themselves or try to insert themselves into jobs they can’t do, are all covered here. The issues at the center of Broadcast News may not seem as compelling today but the moral center of those issues is still as vital and necessary to understand now as it was then. It’s not the specific event as much as the general issue of honesty that’s important, and how much, or little, should be expected from a viewer when watching a broadcast. At what point does a reporter’s dishonesty help to illuminate a story, at what point does it become the story, and at what point does it distort the facts beyond their capacity to inform? All issues still at the forefront of journalistic debate today.
People get too caught up in how minor the issue is at the center of Broadcast News (Hurt uses the one camera he has for a story to film himself working up fake tears and then edit the footage into his interview later, as a part of his reaction shots, to make it look as if it happened spontaneously during the actual interview) and don’t focus on the broader issue, that of both journalistic dishonesty and journalistic ego, placing the reporter at the center of the story instead of letting the story stand on its own. Hurt has no problem placing himself in the news while Brooks finds the idea repugnant. Hunter does too, but only after goading from Brooks.
James L. Brooks worked in broadcast news himself before moving to sitcoms with shows like Room 222, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Taxi and then taking on the movies with the screenplay for Starting Over and the screenplay and direction of Terms of Endearment. He won three Oscars for that last one and got more nominations for Broadcast News but despite the attention it got at the time, Broadcast News now feels like the best James L. Brooks’ film everyone forgot. All the attention goes to Terms and As Good As it Gets but I think his best work can be found in the newsroom of this 1987 work.
It also produced some of the best work for all of the players involved. First, there’s William Hurt, playing a part that requires him to play someone instinctively smart but air-headed and dumb to the outside world. Were his character to come off as just plain stupid, we wouldn’t believe Holly Hunter’s character falling for him in the first place. And Hunter has to play both driven and emotionally vulnerable at once, a far more challenging role, I think, then her Oscar winning performance in The Piano, though that was a great one, too, don’t get me wrong.
And then there’s Albert Brooks, an actor long a favorite of mine, in his best supporting role to date. He’s done great work, from Out of Sight to The Driver, but his work here requires a delicate balance, as it does for Hurt and Hunter. His character must be understood to be very smart but emotionally stunted. A small, petty man who hangs onto to grudges and bad feelings, even if it’s clear to his smarter side that it’s sabotaging his own efforts. Even in the epilogue, where we see them gathered together years later, there’s a bitterness to him, an almost mean attitude towards Hurt. Brooks plays the role for laughs when he can but there’s a seriousness to the character as well, one that he plays perfectly.
Sometimes the best work of a writer/director comes from his own personal experiences and Brooks’ experience in broadcast journalism serves him well here. Broadcast News feels like his most confident movie and draws characters more complex than his previous or later efforts. The world of news has changed considerably since this movie came out but the core issues are the same ones faced today and romantic comedy has rarely been done better. It may not be his most popular film but I still say it’s his best.