Quiz Show (1994)reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
"Quiz Show" is about the true life occurences during NBC television's fledgling years, when game shows were just getting started. Congressional investigator Dick Goodwin, played by Rob Morrow (TV's Northern Exposure), discovers one of these game shows, called "21," is actually fixed and destroys the reputation of contestant Herb Stempel, played by John Turturro (Secret Window), and replaces him with the more audience receptive WASP Charles Van Doren, played by Ralph Fiennes (Schindler's List). I think this is Robert Redford's best directorial work to date, including pictures like "A River Runs Through It" and "Ordinary People." He did a wonderful job of capturing suspense in what simply boils down to a movie about a TV hoax. I love how the movie examines the moral ethics regarding truth in entertainment, even though I've been known to bend such ethics myself in hopes to deliver a better product. Morrow and Turturro were flat out awesome. Both had solid "character" roles they each had to pull off believably and did so with triumph. Fiennes performance was far more subtle, especially when he knew Goodwin was onto what the game show was pulling. Fiennes didn't have to stretch as much as Morrow and Turturro, but he was just as perfect in his role. Redford's ability to cast a movie shined with "Quiz Show." The picture is a little long for what it's trying to say, but some of the tense dialogue scenes sprinkled throughout it make it worth sitting through. What I most like about the picture is that it not only takes you behind the scenes on TV production, game show production, but it shows the history of the development of TV, when SPONSORS rules all major executive decisions. Overall, this movie is awesome and important. If you like game shows at all, this movie will peak your interest and keep you wrapped up in its storyline. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
This is a very educational and exciting picture, which falls into that catagory of "behind the scenes" narratives I fall for every time.