Quiz ShowThere's no straddling the fence when it comes to integrity. Quiz Show is a drama set in the 1950s and about the congressional subcommittee investigation into the rigging of the popular quiz show, "Twenty One". Herb Stempel (John Turturro), the once flourishing contestant of the show, is asked by the producer, Dan Enright (David Paymer), to take a "dive" due to his declining popularity--making way for his replacement, the charming and erudite professor, Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes). When an up and coming Congressional lawyer named Richard "Dick" Goodwin (Rob Morrow) observes this quizzical concealment of Herb's case to a grand jury, he begins an investigation into NBC, peeling away layers of a conspiracy.
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A key motif in Quiz Show is integrity, and how the cost of a lie is disproportionate for those with integrity versus those without it. This is especially true with Charles, whose initial interest in interviewing for a quiz show comes from pure curiosity. Charles is intelligent and well-educated; despite this, Dan's co-producer and co-conspirator, Albert Freedman (Hank Azaria), sees him only as a handsome and well-dressed figure who could replace Herb--his intellect is superfluous. Charles is offered the opportunity to cheat instead of actually competing for the prize money from his first meeting with Dan and Albert. Naturally, Charles refuses the temptation--and yet he agrees to participate in spite of their presumption that he lacks integrity. When Charles finds himself on live television, with the bright studio lights beaming down on him through the soundproof booth, he is like an ant under a magnifying glass. Asked the same questions he answered in his interview and faced with the opportunity to reach out and grab stardom, he buckles under the pressure and shakes the devil's hand. Charles is immediately angered at himself for playing along with the deception--and yet he continues to participate. Charles becomes like an addict; he relishes the money and fame that comes with recognition. Charles has heretofore been living in the amicable shadow of his family name, which includes his father, Mark Van Doren (Paul Scofield), who is a poet and professor alongside his son at Columbia University. Charles convinces himself that what he's doing isn't disingenuous--that it is all a part of the show. When Dick begins investigating NBC and interviews Charles, he is initially uncomfortable and makes awkward excuses to evade the gifted lawyer. Yet the more they spend time together, the more comfortable Charles becomes with his lies--and Dick becomes more acutely aware of his deception. Quiz Show is a movie about very smart men who get snookered by less intelligent men because they are unencumbered by integrity. It is precisely because Charles tries to convince himself that he is the latter that Dick sees through him. Charles's dilemma is reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"; words like "truth" and "honest" are like the tolling of a death knell for Charles, and one could almost hear his heart skip a beat when confronted. Because he is a decent person, Charles subconsciously leaves subtle clues for Dick to out him, playing a kind of "game" with the lawyer because he respects his intellect. Charles even invites Dick to join him at his family's country estate in Connecticut for his father's birthday party, where he and his dad exchange quotes from Shakespeare plays that hint at Charles concealing some truth. He knows that Herb was told to intentionally answer a question incorrectly that he easily knew, and Charles exploits Dick's knowledge of this to feed the lawyer an essential clue. Charles tells Dick that he's not sure whether he thinks too much of him or too little; the better question is how much Charles thinks of himself.
After Dick's hearings begin, the president of NBC, Robert Kintner (Allan Rich), approaches Charles and slyly insinuates that he deliver a public statement to protect the network from any implication of coaching the contestants of "Twenty One" before showtime. As he tries to coerce Charles, he says that "in our society, speculation has a way of becoming fact". It is a chillingly prescient statement regarding the power of the media today--doubly so when dramatized as coming from the mouth of a network executive. One has only to look at what passes as "news" today to see how the ripples of corruption--like the quiz show scandals--have become tidal waves of trending topics served up as "journalism". But the Fifties-era television-watching audience was not yet jaded with this cynicism; it would be unfair to call them naive, but innocent to the notion of the little black-and-white screens being false in any way. Yet almost the entirety of "Twenty One" was a sham; even though the Supreme Court ruled a few years prior to the events in the film that quiz shows did not qualify as gambling, it sure looks like it. A contestant comes on the show and has to "gamble" their earnings to keep winning, and the audience at home doesn't know that the show is rigged--even the show's name has connotations with casino games. The excitement of the audiences at home, crowding around screens across the United States, is palpable--an event like the World Series. Viewers are on the edge of their seats, embracing the drama and the tension of seeing who will win. As Dick's hearings reach their climax, he approaches Martin Rittenhome (Martin Scorsese), the Geritol executive officer that sponsors "Twenty One", hoping to pressure him into confessing his complicity in the conspiracy. Cool as ice, Rittenhome elucidates that show business calls the shots--not the law--and that people would rather have a choreographed event than one that might run the risk of disappointing their expectations.
Dick is a highly moral and logical attorney, and goes out of his way to keep Charles from being incriminated in his investigation. But Dick is surrounded by people who all too quickly allow popular consensus to take the place of honor and integrity. After Dick approaches the judge from Herb's grand jury lawsuit, it's clear that the judge shielded NBC from scandal by concealing the findings, abusing his authority to do so. Even Dick's fiancée, Sandra (Mira Sorvino), believes that he should subpoena Charles, simply because he represents the public's perception of the show, and it would make his case more high-profile. Herb is another tragic victim of the network's seemingly effortless way of corrupting someone's moral fiber. He is initially presented as a hopeful (if arrogant) underdog, which is exactly what an account executive for Geritol (Griffin Dunne) wants as the ambassador for their show. After he "plateaus", he is filled with hatred and resentment, blaming not just the producers for dumping him, but even Charles for some perceived slight. Herb appears increasingly unhinged and self-aggrandizing to the point that he becomes more of a hazard to Dick's case than a benefit. The world of television in Quiz Show is layered in superficiality; the host of "Twenty One", Jack Barry (Christopher McDonald), is the quintessential vapid quizmaster, who rehearses by repeating his own name over and over to get it just right when he goes on the air. The soundproof booths and the act of transporting the nightly questions to NBC's headquarters via armored car is a publicity stunt--made all the more absurd since the answers are shared with select contestants in advance anyway. Quiz Show closes with a voice-over by Dan to the congressional committee; it includes a weaselly statement implying that they (TV producers) are not gangsters or hardened criminals--made to downplay their deceit. Despite having broken no laws, they represent a culture of lies, peddling delusion to the masses--even their sponsor sells a "tonic" that might as well be snake oil. Though Quiz Show depicts the conspiracy by NBC as the exception rather than the rule, the same cannot be said for TV today, where honesty is a liability, and "slick" and "smart" are indistinguishable from one another...except to those who know better.
Recommended for: Fans of a dramatization of a significant moment in television history, challenging the audience to reconsider the images we uphold of TV icons and personalities and how they represent integrity. Quiz Show is based on real events and about real people, but it avoids playing out like a mere archive of the past, and instead approaches the content as a morality play.
After Dick's hearings begin, the president of NBC, Robert Kintner (Allan Rich), approaches Charles and slyly insinuates that he deliver a public statement to protect the network from any implication of coaching the contestants of "Twenty One" before showtime. As he tries to coerce Charles, he says that "in our society, speculation has a way of becoming fact". It is a chillingly prescient statement regarding the power of the media today--doubly so when dramatized as coming from the mouth of a network executive. One has only to look at what passes as "news" today to see how the ripples of corruption--like the quiz show scandals--have become tidal waves of trending topics served up as "journalism". But the Fifties-era television-watching audience was not yet jaded with this cynicism; it would be unfair to call them naive, but innocent to the notion of the little black-and-white screens being false in any way. Yet almost the entirety of "Twenty One" was a sham; even though the Supreme Court ruled a few years prior to the events in the film that quiz shows did not qualify as gambling, it sure looks like it. A contestant comes on the show and has to "gamble" their earnings to keep winning, and the audience at home doesn't know that the show is rigged--even the show's name has connotations with casino games. The excitement of the audiences at home, crowding around screens across the United States, is palpable--an event like the World Series. Viewers are on the edge of their seats, embracing the drama and the tension of seeing who will win. As Dick's hearings reach their climax, he approaches Martin Rittenhome (Martin Scorsese), the Geritol executive officer that sponsors "Twenty One", hoping to pressure him into confessing his complicity in the conspiracy. Cool as ice, Rittenhome elucidates that show business calls the shots--not the law--and that people would rather have a choreographed event than one that might run the risk of disappointing their expectations.
Dick is a highly moral and logical attorney, and goes out of his way to keep Charles from being incriminated in his investigation. But Dick is surrounded by people who all too quickly allow popular consensus to take the place of honor and integrity. After Dick approaches the judge from Herb's grand jury lawsuit, it's clear that the judge shielded NBC from scandal by concealing the findings, abusing his authority to do so. Even Dick's fiancée, Sandra (Mira Sorvino), believes that he should subpoena Charles, simply because he represents the public's perception of the show, and it would make his case more high-profile. Herb is another tragic victim of the network's seemingly effortless way of corrupting someone's moral fiber. He is initially presented as a hopeful (if arrogant) underdog, which is exactly what an account executive for Geritol (Griffin Dunne) wants as the ambassador for their show. After he "plateaus", he is filled with hatred and resentment, blaming not just the producers for dumping him, but even Charles for some perceived slight. Herb appears increasingly unhinged and self-aggrandizing to the point that he becomes more of a hazard to Dick's case than a benefit. The world of television in Quiz Show is layered in superficiality; the host of "Twenty One", Jack Barry (Christopher McDonald), is the quintessential vapid quizmaster, who rehearses by repeating his own name over and over to get it just right when he goes on the air. The soundproof booths and the act of transporting the nightly questions to NBC's headquarters via armored car is a publicity stunt--made all the more absurd since the answers are shared with select contestants in advance anyway. Quiz Show closes with a voice-over by Dan to the congressional committee; it includes a weaselly statement implying that they (TV producers) are not gangsters or hardened criminals--made to downplay their deceit. Despite having broken no laws, they represent a culture of lies, peddling delusion to the masses--even their sponsor sells a "tonic" that might as well be snake oil. Though Quiz Show depicts the conspiracy by NBC as the exception rather than the rule, the same cannot be said for TV today, where honesty is a liability, and "slick" and "smart" are indistinguishable from one another...except to those who know better.
Recommended for: Fans of a dramatization of a significant moment in television history, challenging the audience to reconsider the images we uphold of TV icons and personalities and how they represent integrity. Quiz Show is based on real events and about real people, but it avoids playing out like a mere archive of the past, and instead approaches the content as a morality play.