Quiz Show

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Paul Attanasio
Richard N. Goodwin (book)

Directed by: Robert Redford

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 14, 1994
DVD: January 29, 2002

Running Time: 133 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13

Starring John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Ralph Fiennes, Paul Scofield, David Paymer, Hank Azaria, Christopher McDonald, and Mira Sorvino

This fact-based film tells the story behind the quiz show scandal of the 1950s, focusing on "Twenty-One" champion Charles Van Doren (Fiennes).

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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database

What The Critics Said

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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jack L. gave it an8:
A very intelligent and thoughtful film. Also very entertaining of course. It makes us ponder on the morally complex issues of fame, money, reputation, free choice, temptation, justice, and truth. Good film!!!

Christopher J. gave it a9:
A fascinating inspection of behind-the-scenes integrity of Western entertainment. Entertaining rising action, a gut-wrenching climax and reasonably satisfying resolution.

Nathan T. gave it a10:
"Quiz Show" can proudly take its place as the most underrated of all great 90s films. Taken from a brief passage in Richard Goodwin's excellent "Remembering America: A Voice From the Sixties," it tells the story of corruption in a game show circa 1957. Howard Stempel, the Jewish working class intellectual played by John Turturro to perfection, is made to take a dive so that the good looking affluent Charles Van Doren can improve the show's waning ratings. Ralph Fiennes gives an incredible performance as a good decent WASP thinker; a man who has seen people do manual labor---as he was walking to his class on astrophysics or Germanic literature. Rob Morrow plays Dick Goodwin, the bright-eyed attorney who smells something totally afoul with the show and follows every lead he can with only nominal support from the government office where he works. Why does any of this matter now? The point is that the specifics of the quiz show scandal don't matter really, but there ramifications have been felt more than ever in the age of Enron and corporate malfeasance. This is Robert Redfiord's meditation on the slow death of everything America once stood for, yet he never indicts us as viewers. The ethical conflicts seen in the main characters, especially Van Doren, rise to the level of Shakespearian drama in parts. Also enjoy phenomenal supporting work from Mira Sorvino as Goodwin's wife ("You are like the Uncle Tom of the Jews," she says to him near the climax) and English actor Paul Scofield as Van Doren's father in a performance that was nominated for an Academy Award. All of these performances could have been nominated. They're that good. Above all though, "Quiz Show" succeeds on the most important level a film can: it's ridiculously entertaining.

J. Ryan G. gave it a7:
A very entertaining and beautiful, though painfully average, movie. It looks great, and I am thrilled every time by John Turturro's blazing performance, but what is Robert Redford trying to say? It is an audacious choice to make a large Hollywood movie about a decades-old game show controversy. Sounds like something Showtime might do, after HBO passes on the project. I think that it made its way into theaters thanks to Redford's name and his ability to polish otherwise unremarkable material (see "A River Runs Through It" and "The Horse Whisperer"). It's a nicely crafted, entertaining, and stunningly gorgeous movie, but it does not enlighten me to any aspect of human nature or show business that I didn't already know well or suspect. Give me something I can work with, not just look at.

Pat C. gave it an 8:
Tells a story without gloss or glory. So he lied. When will people learn there isn't something for nothing. The premise of quiz shows in general is a lie. Like gambling. Like Global Thermonuclear War. The only winning move is not to play. If TV was so dishonest when it was so unsophisticated, how honest is it now? This movie forces that question.

Yoon C. gave it a 7:
Smart, engaging, and well-acted but a moralistic instructional than compelling drama. Robert Redford's good intentions and earnestness have always been too much though this is probably his best--and most restrained--since Ordinary People. Essentially, a key film in the recently trendy 50s bashing genre: a critique of the WASP rigged as the American ideal. But, are we in the 90s any more honest and virtuous? Someone should investigate the likes of American Idol, talk shows, and endless sewage of reality shows.

Alberto F. gave it an 8:
Robert Redford's Quiz show is a very intelligent film that explores important issues concerning media and society, while at the same time remaining extremely engaging and entertaining.

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