Quiz Show (film)
| Quiz Show | |
|---|---|
| File:Http--i.imdb.com-mptv1.jpg|frameless|upright=1]] Quiz Show Theatrical Poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Redford |
| Written by | Novel: Richard Goodwin Screenplay: Paul Attanasio |
| Produced by | Michael Jacobs Julian Krainin Michael Nozik |
| Starring | John Turturro Rob Morrow Ralph Fiennes |
| Cinematography | Michael Ballhaus |
| Edited by | Stu Linder |
| Music by | Mark Isham |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
Release dates | Sept. 14, 1994 |
Running time | 133 minutes |
| Language | English |
Quiz Show is a 1994 film which tells the true story of the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s. It stars John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Ralph Fiennes, Paul Scofield, David Paymer, Hank Azaria, and Christopher McDonald. The film chronicles the rise and fall of the popular contestant Charles Van Doren (played by Fiennes), and Congressional investigator Richard N. (Dick) Goodwin's probe of Twenty-One's rigging. Morrow portrays Goodwin, who is also one of the co-producers of the film. Mira Sorvino also appears in the film, as Goodwin's wife Sandra.
The movie was adapted by Paul Attanasio from Goodwin's book Remembering America. It was produced and directed by Robert Redford (who now works for The Weinstein Company).
Quiz Show was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Paul Scofield), Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
The film is the first major picture based on the 1950s controversy that rocked American television and nearly led to the ruination of quiz-show producers Jack Barry (who was also Twenty-One host and here played by McDonald) and Dan Enright (Paymer). Its attention to period detail include using New York exteriors to re-create 1950s scenes, and using many New York and New Jersey indoor spaces to replicate the NBC studios and Washington governmental facilities of the 1950s. Fordham University was used to replicate the 1950s Columbia University, where Van Doren taught English.
While the movie purports to portray real events, it has been widely critized for taking liberties to create its own heroes and villains. The movie has investigator Goodwin starting his pursuit of Van Doren during the contestant's 1957 run on Twenty-One, when in fact the Congressional investigation led by Goodwin came in the summer of 1959.
Others have complained that it inflates Goodwin's role in the probe and underplays the initial investigation, led by prosecutor Joseph Stone from the office of New York County District Attorney Frank Hogan. It was after a judge sealed from public release the New York Grand Jury presentment of findings in the probe (in June 1959) that Congress launched its investigation.
The movie implies that NBC filtered to Enright Twenty-One sponsor Geritol's desire that Stempel be replaced, with network president Bob Kintner (played by Allan Rich) telling Enright "You're a producer, Dan. Produce." Neither Kintner nor NBC have yet been implicated in the scandal, but Enright has said that Geritol's complaints about the unattractiveness of the Twenty-One premiere prompted his company to rig the show.
Journalist Ken Auletta, in a 1994 article in The New Yorker, noted that at a screening of the film that summer, Redford admitted "dramatic license" was taken in making Quiz Show. But Auletta also reported that Redford made no apologies for the liberties, saying he had tried "to elevate something so that people can see it...otherwise, you might as well have a documentary." Redford noted there had already been a documentary on the scandal, referring to the Julian Krainin-produced work for a 1991 installment of the PBS series The American Experience. (Krainin, like Goodwin, is a co-producer of Quiz Show.)
Quotes
- "If you look around the table and you can't tell who the sucker is ... it's you."
- "Anyone who thinks money is 'just' money can't have much of it."
- "Cheating on a quiz show? That's like plagiarizing a comic strip!"
- "It's not like we're hardened criminals; we're in show business."
- "I'm just trying to think of what Kant would make of this."
- "I think he'd be fine with it?"
- "This is a quiz show."
