Title: BROADCAST NEWS
Date: 6/15/1995; Publication: Magill's
Survey of Cinema;
Magill's Survey of Cinema
06-15-1995
BROADCAST NEWS
Abstract:
Written, directed, and produced by Academy Award-winner James L. Brooks (TERMS
OF ENDEARMENT), BROADCAST NEWS offers an engaging and perceptive glance into
the difficulties faced in life and work by individuals immersed in the
profession of network journalism.
Summary:
As the creative force behind such television projects as ``Room 222,'' ``Mary
Tyler Moore'' (and its spin-off ``Lou Grant''), and ``Taxi,'' James L. Brooks
both emulated and heightened everyday life. These series were popular because
viewers found it easy to empathize with characters whose lives, at home and at
work, were as unpredictable as their own. Brooks endowed his dramas with
endearing humor and palpable moral and emotional virtue; his characters are
memorable because of the care invested in making their lives both flawed and
eloquent.
Such qualities were amply evident in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983), which marked Brooks's debut as a feature-film director and garnered five
Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Director). In BROADCAST NEWS (also
nominated by the Academy for Best Picture), Brooks goes back to the office.
After getting to know several network journalists at the 1984 Democratic
Convention, revisiting the territory he experienced in the early 1960's as a newswriter, Brooks realized that changes in the profession
had created a fertile environment for his brand of storytelling. In BROADCAST
NEWS, Brooks parlays elements from TERMS OF ENDEARMENT and his television
projects into a parable of work and love for the urban-professional 1980's.
BROADCAST NEWS bills itself as biographical and begins with sketches of the
three protagonists as precocious children and later as high school students.
Little Jane Craig (Gennie James), future network-news
producer, is shown typing late-night letters to the last three pen pals on her
list; her father (Leo Burmester) startles her
mid-thought and warns her not to get obsessive in her writing. Aaron Altman
(Dwayne Markee), future network correspondent, is
introduced as a not-quite fifteen-year-old high school valedictorian who defends
himself against bullies with his sharp wit. Tom Grunick
(Kimber Shoop) studies hard
but is slow to learn. His good looks and pleasant personality will more than
compensate for his average intelligence.
With the salient personality traits and employment aptitudes of its three
principals summarized, the film shows them next as grown-ups; each is a
professional in the world of television journalism. Jane (Holly Hunter,
nominated for Best Actress) and Aaron (Albert Brooks, nominated for Best
Supporting Actor) are working on a story about a mercenary returning from
action in
The two end the evening in Jane's hotel room, continuing their discussion on
journalistic ethics. Jane is attracted to Tom, but their conversation reveals
that his career exemplifies the trend toward slickness and superficiality that
she deplores. Tom recognizes his weakness, claiming that the profession is
rewarding him for something of which he considers himself incapable, to which
Jane inquires about his proficiency at backrubs. This vital conflict between
professional concerns and personal desires is underlined by Michael Ballhaus' fluid camera work, which pans and circles around
Tom and Jane, constantly melding, separating, and repositioning them in the
frame; the lack of visual resolve parallels the emotional confusion of the
characters.
The scene concludes with Jane, alone in her room after Tom's departure, sitting
in bed and talking to Aaron on the phone. Aaron, brilliant but average looking,
is both colleague and confidant; he hears out the evening's postmortems and
Jane's concerns that she has lost her capacity for seduction. Jane and Aaron
share the same high ethics and intellectual acuity and are both driven by the
pursuit of truth in broadcasting. Their relationship, however, remains
platonic, though comfortable, until Tom, who has been hired by their network as
a news anchor, arrives in
The office greets Tom with a frenetic welcome while Jane races a deadline to
finish a story. Tom can only stand back and marvel at her command of the
situation as she pushes her assistants to the limits of their skills and
perseverance. In contrast, Aaron calmly writes and tapes the copy for the
piece, stopwatch in hand for thirty seconds of quality voice-over. They finish
with barely enough time to rush the tape to the control room and put it on the
air. Adding to the scene's intensity is a brilliant cameo performance by Jack
Nicholson as the network's star anchor from
The frantic aspect of this scene informs the remainder of the film, though it
does not graphically re-emerge. Broadcast news is portrayed as a highly
demanding profession with no room for inefficiency or indecision. Jane and
Aaron are well versed in its necessities, and Tom is quick to realize that he
must strive hard to keep pace. His initiation into the big leagues arises when
he is assigned to anchor a special report on a sudden crisis in the
While Jane coordinates the report and conspires to make everything as simple as
possible for Tom, he retires into his office to make his own preparations --
calmly unwrapping and donning a fresh shirt and combing his hair. Aaron, whose
substantive experience reporting from the region is bypassed for Tom's stylish
presence, sits peevishly at home. In a brilliantly comic and poignant scene, he
cannot avoid watching the report and getting involved. He telephones Jane at
the studio and gives her information, which she synthesizes and conveys as
prompts to Tom through his discreetly placed earphone. The electronic link
between Tom and Jane as she feeds information to him becomes a sensuous
metaphor: Her voice is insinuating, seductive, and redolent of discretionary
power. Her finger is seen caressing the button which connects her microphone
with his ear, which in turn is intercut with tight
close-ups of her mouth. Adding Aaron to the picture as he talks to Jane from
his living room, Brooks molds these three distinct personalities into one
high-performance broadcast machine. Seconds after Aaron has conveyed his ideas
to Jane, they resurface from Tom's mouth, on the air, in one of the film's best
evocations of the schizophrenic split between idea and image, conception and delivery, that is the unsavory reality of television news.
As Tom discovered during the report, and Aaron already knew, highintensity work can provoke high-intensity attraction.
This romantic triangle, with its attendant dialectic of career and personal
aspirations, is nevertheless destined to remain unresolved; there are no clear
winners or losers here. With the emotional matrix loaded to its breaking point,
the network intervenes to resolve the dilemma. A massive layoff entirely
disrupts the
Tom suggests to Jane that before he relocates they should go away together on
vacation to discover their compatibility outside the work environment. She
accepts his offer and is eager to go until Aaron suggests that she review a
story Tom produced earlier. The piece was an emotional portrayal of a woman who
had been raped, and it contained a shot of Tom responding with tears in his
eyes to the woman's painful confession. Jane's investigation of the unedited
footage reveals that Tom filmed this emotional response after the interview, then inserted it to give the impression of an immediate and
sincere reaction. Jane is aghast at this breach of journalistic ethics and is
completely disappointed by Tom. Her romantic interest in him and the vacation
flags. She abandons him at the airport and rides away, small and despondent in
the backseat of a cab with a ticket to the Tropics in her hand, frustrated again.
In the film's conclusion, the three reunite seven years later. With the
tensions of professional ambitions diminished (all three are successful in
their careers) and the possibility of a relationship between Jane and Tom or
Aaron evaporated (they have found other partners), the viewer is forced to
temper away any previous biases about their personalities (especially Tom's) as
the three themselves have done. TERMS OF ENDEARMENT ended on a tearful note;
BROADCAST NEWS offers little in the way of catharsis, leaving viewers bemused
and quizzical instead. Given the professional milieu of the film, however, it
is not surprising that viewers' emotions should be kept at bay. By basing the
relationships in BROADCAST NEWS on the image-conscious ethics and morals of
television journalism, rather than on the vicissitudes of middle-American daily
life, Brooks created a film which posits success and professional integrity as
higher virtues, if it does not actually condone them.
Country of Origin: USA
Release Date: 1987
Production Line:
James L. Brooks; released by Twentieth Century-Fox
Director: James L. Brooks
Cinematographer: Michael Ballhaus
File Editor: Richard Marks
Additional Credits:
ART DIRECTION - Charles Rosen
SET DECORATION - Jane Bogart
COSTUME DESIGN - Molly Maginnis
MUSIC - Bill Conti
MPAA Rating: R
Run Time: 131 minutes
Cast:
Tom Grunick - William Hurt
Aaron Altman - Albert Brooks
Jane Craig - Holly Hunter
Ernie Merriman - Robert Prosky
Jennifer Mack - Lois Chiles
Blair Litton - Joan Cusack
Paul Moore - Peter Hackes
Bobby - Christian Clemenson
Review Sources:
America. CLVIII, February 6, 1988, p.122
Commonweal. CXV, January 29, 1988, p.48
Los Angeles Times. December 16, 1987, VI, p.1
The Nation. CCXLVI, January 23, 1988, p.94
The New Republic. CXCVIII, February 1, 1988, p.26
The New York Times. December 16, 1987, p. C21
The New Yorker. LXIII, January 11,
1988, p.76
Time. CXXX, December 14, 1987, p.82
Variety. CCCXXIX, December 9, 1987, p.13
The Wall Street Journal. December 15, 1987, p.30
Named persons in Production Credits:
James L. Brooks
Studios named in Production Credits:
Twenthieth Century-Fox
Screenplay (Author):
James L. Brooks
Color
Video Available.
Genre:
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Award Citations:
Academy Awards - Nomination - Best Picture - BROADCAST NEWS (James L. Brooks)
Academy Awards - Nomination - Best Actor - William Hurt
Academy Awards - Nomination - Best Actress - Holly Hunter
Academy Awards - Nomination - Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks
Academy Awards - Nomination - Screenplay (original) - James L. Brooks
Academy Awards - Nomination - Cinematography - Michael Ballhaus
Academy Awards - Nomination - Editing - Richard Marks
New York Film Critics - Winner - Best Picture - BROADCAST NEWS (James L.
Brooks)
New York Film Critics - Winner - Direction - James L. Brooks
New York Film Critics - Winner - Best Actor - Jack Nicholson
New York Film Critics - Winner - Best Actress - Holly Hunter
New York Film Critics - Winner - Screenplay - James L. Brooks
Los Angeles Film Critics - Winner - Best Actress - Holly Hunter (tie)
Berlin Film Festival - Winner - Best Actress - Holly Hunter
Return to Main Articles Menu Page or Return to Home