Quiz Show (1994)

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Directed by Robert Redford.

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Rob Morrow, David Paymer, Paul Scofield, John Turturro.

It's 1958, and the producers of the quiz show 21 have a problem. Their current champ, Herbert Stempel (John Turturro), has a phenomenal memory and a broad range of knowledge. He's also a pudgy loudmouth with a grating personality, so Herbert is encouraged to "take a dive" and allow Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), a handsome and charming college professor, to become the show's new champion. Audiences like Van Doren, and he's certainly not averse to the money he's winning, but the ethics of the situation begin to trouble him, especially when the show's producers begin to give him the questions in advance. Director Robert Redford and writer Paul Attanasio paint a telling portrait of how the network heads and advertising men who manipulated the quiz shows were also able to manipulate the responsibility for the scandal away from themselves. While on the surface a story about the scandal itself, Quiz Show is just as importantly about a turning point in the 1950s when TV and advertising began to change American character and culture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Re:Top 5 movies directed by an ...
by Risselada in Top 5

loved it.

"I'm having some difficulty actually deciding if some people qualify or not.Certainly Orson Welles, if he was not already often in contention for the greatest director of all time would have been well known as one of the greatest actors.Roman Polanski is surely more well known as a director, but has done just as much acting, and was an actor before being a director. The same with Vittorio De Sica.Many comedians are just as recognizable as actors, writers, and directors. Often doing all roles in the same film. Think of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Or Jaques Tati. Today think of Mel Brooks, Harold Ramis, Christopher Guest. Terry Jones??Also many kung fu stars. Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Sammo Hung.And what about classical actors where, acting is clearly where they are most recognized, but they are also renown in directing of theatre and film. A production directed by Lawrence Olivier or Kenneth Branagh is surely not an anomaly.I'm actually most interested in a po ... " [More]

Re:Top 5 movies directed by an ...
by leeroy711 in Top 5

loved it.

"[/quote]As far as Eastwood and Redford go, I think they are both thought of first as directors and not actors. I like some of Redford, especially Quiz Show, and I loved Unforgiven but I don't really think they fit into this catagory because the y both have directed more in the past 10 or 15 years than they have acted. Mel Gibson is the next to make that transition. " [More]

Quiz Show
by JimBell in JimBell Blog

liked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Quiz Show (1994), produced and directed by Robert Redford, is superb. Set in 1959, it asks whether TV executives will control morality or whether the general population will control TV, the new medium speaking to millions of folks. It is also about several personal stories of the complex moral struggle against cheating. This combination of the national and the personal is powerful. The acting is excellent. John Turturro plays a firey quiz champ pressured to take a dive and driven to get revenge. Ralph Fiennes holds centre stage as Charles Van Doren, a university lecturer who flatly refuses to be fed the answers but then slowly succumbs, much to the anguish of his famous father Mark Van Doren, whom Paul Scofield plays perfectly. David Paymer embodies Dan Enright, the manipulative producer—not over-the-top slimey but rather relentlessly shrewd and matter-of-factly after the big ratings, the big money, and the big career, without a moral qualm. Among such good acting ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

A neatly executed look at the nature of scandal in the early days of television, and a rich portrait of America in the 1950s, Quiz Show is as sleek and deceptively complicated as the era it portrays. The quiz show scandal becomes a microcosm of attitudes and values in 1950s America, from deep-seated ethnic prejudices to the preoccupation with class and appearance. Dense, ferociously intelligent, and never condescending, the film is also terrifically entertaining, as director Robert Redford and writer Paul Attanasio weave together multiple stories of ambition, cowardice, and disappointment. The film is also notable for its performances, especially John Turturro's self-deprecating yet self-righteous Stempel, and Ralph Fiennes' charming but tragically flawed WASP prince Charles Van Doren. Both actors perfectly convey the kind of ambition that was simultaneously encouraged and manipulated by game show politics, as well as the resulting desperation. Through their performances we see the tensions of an era, the struggle between appearance and reality, success and artifice. Quiz Show was nominated for 4 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Paul Scofield's unforgettable scenes as Van Doren's pained patrician father. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Tags: truth , gameshow , father , at , filmed
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