Here is a movie with a scene that happens today - June 13. I hope you enjoy the film and watch it tonight.
QUIZ SHOW
QUIZ SHOW
Gawky Queens resident Herb Stempel is the reigning champ on Twenty-One, a TV game show, but the ratings have “plateaued”, so the producers
want a change to shake things up. Charles Van Doren a handsome, Columbia
literature professor applies to be a contestant on the show. The producers try
to talk him into agreeing to cheat in order to beat Stempel, but he refuses.
Richard Goodwin is an attorney for a Congressional committee, but sees the job
as a dead end. The producers tell
Stempel he must “take a dive” and he agrees if he can stay on TV in some
fashion. Stempel loses, missing an easy question, while Van Doren wins with a
question that he had already knew the answer to. Ratings soar as Van Doren is
fed the questions and answers. When Herb’s calls to the producers are ignored
he goes to the state attorney general and a grand jury convened. Goodwin sees
this and thinks investigating the quiz shows could lead to advancement. Goodwin meet Stempel and Van Doren, even attending the birthday
party of Mark Van Doren , Charles’s father on June 13, 1957 [58:49 to
1:06:21].Van Doren finally loses on Twenty-One, but is hired for the Today
show. Goodwin finally gets sold evidence that contestants were given the
answers on Twenty-One from a contestant who sent himself a registered letter
with the answers to the questions he was asked two days before he was on the
show. When Stempel testifies in front of the Congressional committee, he
implicates Van Doreen, which no one professes to believe. NBC wants Van Doreen
to issue a statement that he’s innocent. Goodwin had told Van Doreen that as
long as he made no statement about the show he would not be called by the
committee. The president of NBC and
Genital, the show’s sponsor deny knowing anything about a ‘fix”. Van Doren
issues a statement that says he’s innocent, but finally tells his dad he is
guilty. When he testifies before Congress, Van Doreen confesses he was given
the answers and loses his jobs at the Today show and Columbia. The shows
producer Enright takes the fall for NBC and Geritol.
A slow-paced and thoughtful
movie. It tries to explain why the characters acted the way they did. It does
take major liberties with the course and scope of how the investigation played
out.
Current Biography ed. By Maxine Block (The W. H.
Wilson Company, New York, 1940) at page 824 gives Mark Van Doren’s birthday.
Producer - Robert Redford,
Michael Jacobs, Julian Krainin and Michael Nozik
Director - Robert Redford
Awards – The film was nominated for the Best Picture, Best
Director, Best Supporting
Actor(Scofield)
and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars at the 67th Academy
Awards.
Screenplay - Paul Attanasio
Runtime - 2
hours 13 minutes
Released - September
14, 1994
Staring -
John Turturro as Herb Stempel, a Twenty-One champion
Rob Morrow as Richard N. "Dick" Goodwin, a
Congressional investigator
Ralph Fiennes as Charles Van Doren, a Twenty-One
champion and Columbia professor
David Paymer as Dan Enright, producer of Twenty-One
Paul Scofield as Mark Van Doren, Charles’ father and
Columbia professor
Hank Azaria as
Albert Freedman, co-producer of Twenty-One
Christopher McDonald as Jack Barry, host of Twenty-One
Adam Kilgour as Thomas Merton, friend of the Van Doren
family and monk
Johann Carlo as Toby Stempel, Herb’s son
Elizabeth Wilson as Dorothy Van Doren, Charles’ mother
Allan Rich as Robert Kintner, president of NBC
Mira Sorvino as Sandra Goodwin, Richard’s wife
George N. Martin as Chairman of Congressional Committee
Martin Scorsese as Martin Rittenhome, President of Geritol
Neil Ross as Twenty-One Announcer
Barry Levinson as Dave Garroway, Today show host
Paul Guilfoyle as Lishman
Griffin Dunne as Account Guy
Michael Mantell as Pennebaker
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