Quiz Show

It's not like we're hardened criminals here.  We're in show business.

So went the attitude of guys like Albert Freedman and Dan Enright.  They saw nothing immoral about supplying the contestants of their network quiz shows with the questions and answers beforehand, before airtime when millions of Americans would be hypnotized not by how knowledgeable the players were about Greek mythology or physics, but how much they could win week after week.  Martin Rittenhome, the cold blooded executive of Geritol, sponsor of Twenty One, rightly states that viewers are just watching the money.

Enright and Twenty One host Jack Barry, among many others, would be subjected to a hearing before the House Committee for Legislative Oversight.  They, after a wealth of damning evidence proving that Twenty One was fixed (provided by hungry young Congressional attorney Richard Goodwin), would come clean on their practices.  Unlike some of the others on trial, their reputations would not suffer.  In fact, as the epilogue of 1994's QUIZ SHOW informs us, they would go on to further, greater success with new game shows like Joker's Wild years later. 

But people like Herb Stempel (John Turturro), a Queens ne'er do well, and Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), a professor at Columbia University and son of a famous author, would not emerge unscathed from the scandal.  Both men enjoy long winning streaks on Twenty One.  Stempel, who hands the torch to Van Doren when he is asked to throw the game, takes a dive, intentionally missing an insultingly easy question.  The ratings had plateaued.  America was weary of a geeky know it all and ready for a clean cut patrician with matinee idol looks.  Herb was out; he plays ball, but then realizes the promises from the producers for a spot on a new program were empty words.  Herb Stempel, a neurotic, possibly insane irk of a human being, would not go quietly.

Van Doren at first balks at Freedman (Hank Azaria) and Enright's (David Paymer) feeding him the answers.  Ego? He is an author and intellectual, after all.  But soon the fame proves to be intoxicating, impossible to resist.  When he becomes America's golden boy he reconciles his conscience.  For awhile.  As Goodwin (Rob Morrow and his Boston accent) befriends then later closes in on him, Van Doren begins to feel a kinship with this fellow Ivy Leaguer, making the inevitable day of reckoning that much more painful.

QUIZ SHOW is a beautifully crafted bit of remembrance, nicely steered by director Robert Redford.   The film is slick and professional, well sheened with an impressive, attractive cast and camerawork by Michael Ballhaus.  Details look authentic.  The film is endlessly entertaining and involving, never arch.  Paul Attanasio's script, based on a book by Goodwin, is serious but finds humor in every major character.  The tone is not exactly light, but far from ominous or morose.  Redford finds the correct timbre for a well known tale, one that will bring smiles of recognition for those who lived through the era (1950s) and fascination for those who've studied it.  Props also to Redford for casting film directors Martin Scorsese as Rittenhome and Barry Levinson as Today show host Dave Garroway.

For me, the scene that really gives QUIZ SHOW its heart and is a late exchange between Charles and his father, Mark Van Doren (Paul Scofield, who's marvelous).  The sharp, witty banter they've always shared opens the scene but some genuine soul baring and harsh realizations continue and close it.  The elder Van Doren's summary perhaps more sobering and damning than anything the House Commitee could bring down.