QUIZ SHOW. Directed by Robert Redford; written by Paul Attanasio; produced by Michael Jacobs, Julian Krainin and Michael Nozik for Hollywood Pictures. Starring Rob Morrow, Ralph Fiennes and John Turturro. Rated PG-13.
More reviews by —
TITLE:
RATING:
Quiz Show has something in common with its central character, the upper crust intellectual Charles Van Doren (Fiennes)—namely, it has everything going for it.
It has a great script—provocative, witty, well-paced and absorbing and incredible production design that immerses the audience thoroughly in the late 50's (and yet makes that time seem 140, rather than just 40, years in the past). And the cast is just about perfect.
Fortunately for us, though, the movie doesn't squander its blessings the way Van Doren tragically does. It's a winner from first to last, and it never has to cheat.
Quiz Show is based upon true events, but a novelist probably couldn't have concocted a more entertaining yarn of temptation, deception, shifting values, and changing times. With television just beginning to become a mass medium, a series of televised quiz shows were among its most popular offerings.
One of these, "Twenty-One," features Herb Stempel (Turturro) from Queens as the movie begins. Stempel seems to know everything about everything and is really enjoying his bit of celebrity. But the show's ratings are starting to fall off, and the show's producers want a new face. Exit Stempel, protesting, and enter Van Doren, at first reluctantly.
Van Doren turns out to be a real find, and the ratings just keep going up as he keeps winning. He's a smart guy, as well as telegenic, but not necessarily as smart as he looks on the tube. It turns out he's getting the answers in advance.
Eventually investigated by a grand jury and by Congress (with the investigation led by Richard Goodwin, played by Morrow), Van Doren and his producers finally admit to their chicanery. The nation is shocked, the good Van Doren name is irrevocably tarnished, and, the filmmakers seem to be saying, nothing is ever the same again.
The importance of the scandal, especially in light of soon-to-be-coming events (Kennedy assassination, Vietnam, Watergate, etc.) may seem inflated out of proportion here. But Quiz Show makes the story relevant to any time. Its comments on media and society certainly make sense today, and the side angles of family relationships and class animosity are timeless.
Quiz Show is top-notch movie-making from every angle, but the acting deserves special mention. I'm a "Northern Exposure" fan, but I didn't get Goodwin confused with that show's Dr. Joel much at all. Turturro plays Stempel as a bundle of irritating energy, but finds some humanity inside as well. And Fiennes is simply hypnotic as Van Doren, giving a performance of such complexity and nuance that one viewing just isn't enough. It's a little early for such predictions, but expect him on the Oscar list again this year.
October 5, 1994