I had not noticed, previously, a certain detail in the film. The detail, linguistic, is
a small one, but I think it is not insignificant. It concerns the famous "Mad as
hell" scene, which featured television newscaster-turned-commentator
Howard Beale (played by Peter Finch).
I had always thought Beale had asked his viewers to go their
windows, open them, and yell out: "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take
this anymore!"
What Beale actually said is slightly different. There was an additional use of the word
"as," following the first word of the sentence.
His viewers, he said, should shout: "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna
take this anymore!"
I like the additional "as" very much. It provides, I think, a subtle oratorical elegance--a feeling,
perhaps (near-archaic), of formality. It offers
emphasis, force, a sense of exactitude: "I'm
as mad as hell..."
In the clamor that follows Beale's exhortation, incidentally,
most of--but not all of--the TV viewers who take to their windows do not follow
his precise usage; most, in fact, yell
what I had previously thought Beale himself had said: "I'm mad as hell..."
Here is the scene, and Peter Finch's sensational performance
in it, from YouTube:
Finch died in 1977, at age 60, two months before he was
given an Academy Award for his performance in the film.
Network was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and received
four--for Finch (Best Actor), Faye Dunaway (Best Actress), Beatrice Straight
(Best Supporting Actress), and Paddy Chayefsky (Best Original Screenplay).
