Taglines: Fifty million people watched, but no one saw a thing.
Quiz Show movie storyline. In 1958, the questions and answers to be used for the latest broadcast of NBC’s popular quiz show Twenty One are transported from a secure bank vault to the studio as producers Dan Enright (David Paymer) and Albert Freedman (Hank Azaria) watch from the control booth.
The evening’s main attraction is Queens resident Herb Stempel (John Turturro), the reigning champion, who correctly answers question after question. However, both the network and the program’s corporate sponsor, the supplementary tonic Geritol, find that Stempel’s approval ratings are beginning to level out, meaning the show would benefit from new talent.
Enright and Freedman are surprised when Columbia University instructor Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), son of a prominent literary family, visits their office to audition. Realizing that they have found an ideal challenger for Stempel, they subtly offer to rig the game in Van Doren’s favor, but he refuses. Enright later informs Stempel that he must lose in order to boost the show’s ratings. Stempel begrudgingly agrees, on the condition that he can remain on television. He threatens to reveal the true reason for his success: he had been given the answers in advance.
Stempel and Van Doren face each other on Twenty One, where the match comes down to a predetermined question regarding Marty, the 1955 winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture. Despite knowing the correct film, Stempel gives the wrong answer of On the Waterfront, allowing Van Doren to win by correctly answering a question he had been asked during his audition.
In the weeks that follow, Van Doren’s winning streak makes him a national celebrity, but he buckles under the pressure and allows Enright and Freedman to start giving him the answers. Meanwhile, Stempel, having lost his prize money to an unscrupulous bookie, begins threatening legal action against NBC after weeks go by without his return to television. He visits New York County District Attorney Frank Hogan, who convenes a grand jury to look into his allegations.
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical film produced and directed by Robert Redford, and written by Paul Attanasio, based on Richard N. Goodwin’s memoir Remembering America: A Voice From the Sixties. It stars John Turturro, Rob Morrow, and Ralph Fiennes, with Paul Scofield, David Paymer, Hank Azaria, and Christopher McDonald appearing in supporting roles.
The film chronicles the Twenty One quiz show scandals of the 1950s, the rise and fall of popular contestant Charles Van Doren after the rigged loss of Herb Stempel, and Congressional investigator Richard Goodwin’s subsequent probe. Goodwin co-produced the film. The film received generally positive reviews and was nominated for several awards, including a Best Picture Oscar nomination and several Golden Globes. It had a disappointing box office return.
Quiz Show (1994)
Directed by: Robert Redford
Starring: John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Ralph Fiennes, David Paymer, Paul Scofield, Hank Azaria, Christopher McDonald, Elizabeth Wilson, Mira Sorvino, Griffin Dunne
Screenplay by: Paul Attanasio
Production Design by: Jon Hutman
Cinematography by: Michael Ballhaus
Film Editing by: Stu Linder
Costume Design by: Kathy O’Rear
Set Decoration by: Samara Schaffer
Art Direction by: Tim Galvin
Music by: Mark Isham
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some strong language.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: September 14, 1994
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