With this 1971 film, writer Paddy Chayefsky developed his technique of twisting the slash-and-burn strategies of black comedy into conventional moral judgments—a style (
Network) that uses shock to reassure. George C. Scott is a senior surgeon who can't understand why all the patients in his hospital are dying; Diana Rigg is his public-relations director. Even with a few trenchant and grotesque episodes in the screenplay, the direction of Arthur Hiller (
Making Love) ensures that the comedy plays more like Archie Bunker than Joe Orton. With Barnard Hughes, Nancy Marchand, and Richard Dysart.
By
Dave Kehr
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