Broadcast News [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: James L. Brooks, James A. Brooks James L. Brooks

Overview

Writer/director/producer James L. Brooks scores on all counts with this clear-eyed look at the television news business and the dysfunctional types who work in it. Brooks' intelligent script introduces us to Jane Craig (Holly Hunter), an ambitious producer at the network news division's Washington D.C. branch, who is calm under fire yet has a good cry at her desk every morning over her empty personal life. Jane works well with Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), an excellent reporter who lacks the visual charisma to make him a star. Into their lives comes Tom Grunick (William Hurt), a regional newscaster who admits he can't write news and doesn't understand many of the events he's covering, but has the presence and physical appeal that the increasingly entertainment-oriented network wants for its news programs. Jane is also physically attracted to him, which drives her crazy, because Grunick stands for everything she's fighting against in the news business, while Altman is devastated by her attraction because he secretly yearns for Jane. As Grunick becomes a rising star at the network, and layoffs of the old guard loom, the three leads deal with their feelings for each other, their careers, and their values. Hunter, Hurt, and Brooks are all superb, as is the excellent supporting cast (including an unbilled turn by Jack Nicholson as the network's smarmy national anchor). Brooks' script is funny, poignant, gritty, and brutally honest in its examinations of the television industry and the ways in which professionals interact on and off the job.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/25/2011
UPC:	0715515066617
Original Release:	1987
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	2:12:00
Sales rank:	3,966

Special Features

New, restored high-definiton digital transfer, supervised and approved by director James L. Brooks and editor Richard Marks, with DTS-HD master audio soundtrack; New audio commentary featuring Brooks and Marks; James L. Brooks-A Singular Voice, a new documentary on Brook's career in television and film, featuring actresses Marilu Henner and Julie Kavner, among other collaborators; Alternate ending and deleted scenes, with commentary by Brooks; New video interview with CBS veteran news producer Susan Zirinsky, one of the models for actress Holly Hunter's character and an associate producer on the film; Feaurette containing on-set footage and interviews with Brooks, Hunter and actor Albert Brooks; Original theatrical trailer; A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Carrie Rickey

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

William Hurt	Tom Grunick
Holly Hunter	Jane Craig
Albert Brooks	Aaron Altman,Elli Merriman
Jack Nicholson	Bill Rorish
Robert Prosky	Ernie Merriman
Lois Chiles	Jennifer Mack
Joan Cusack	Blair Litton,Angry Messenger
Peter Hackes	Paul Moore
Christian Clemenson	Bobby
Robert Katims	Martin Klein
Ed Wheeler	George Wein
Stephen Mendillo	Gerald Grunick
Kimber Shoop	Young Tom
Dwayne Markee	Young Aaron
Gennie James	Young Jane
Leo Burmester	Jane's Dad
Jane Welch	Anne Merriman
Jonathan Benya	Clifford Altman
Frank Doubleday	Mercenary
Sally Knight	Lila
Manny Alvarez	Spanish Cameraman
Luis Valderrama	Guerilla Leader
Francisco García	Guerilla Soldier
Richard Thomsen	Gen. McGuire
Nat Benchley	Commander
Marita Geraghty	Date-Rape Victim
Nicholas D. Blanchet	Weekend News Producer
Maura Moynihan	Makeup Woman
Chuck Lippman	Floor Manager
Nanette Rickert	Paul's Secretary
Tim White	Edward Towne
Peggy Pridemore	Tom's Soundwoman
Emily Crowley	Emily
Gerald Ender	Newsroom Worker
David Long	Donny
Josh Billings	Chyron Operator,Chyron Operator
Richard Pehle	Control Room Director
James V. Franco	Weekend News Director
Mike Skehan	Technician
Franklyn L. Bullard	Audio Visual Engineer
Alex Mathews	Lecture Host
Steve Smith	Aaron's Cameraman,Aaron's Soundwoman,Actor
Cynthia B. Hayes	Mother in Hall
Susan Marie Feldman	Ellen
Jean Bourne Carinci	Tom's Female Colleague
M. Fekade-Salassie	Cab Driver
Jerry Gough	Uniformed Cop
Robert Rasch	Defense Dept. Spokesman
Robert Walsh	NATO Spokesman
Rochelle Deering	Woman at Speech
Albert Murphy Sr.	Man in Airport
Eleanore C. Kopecky	Woman in Airport
Jeffrey Alan Thomas	Airport Cabbie
Glenn Faigen	Technical Director
Robert Grevemberg Jr.	Technical Director
Jimmy Mel Green	Assistant Director
Raoul N. Rizik	Assistant Director
Glen Roven	News Theme Writer
Marc Shaiman	News Theme Writer
Dean Nitz	Young Tough
Phil Ugel	Young Tough
Lance Wain	Young Tough
John Badila	Guests at Ball
Heather Ehlers	Guests at Ball
Arlene M. Dillon	Guests at Ball
Sam Samuels	Guests at Ball
Ellen Chenoweth	Actor
Raoul Rizik	Assistant Director
Stuart Pankin	Actor
Robert Prasky	Actor
Bill Conti	Composer
Michael Gore	Composer

Technical Credits

James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks	Director,Screenwriter,Producer,Director
Penney Finkelman Cox	Producer
Polly Platt	Executive Producer,Producer
Ellen Chenoweth	Casting
Thomas D. Causey	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

A film as much about the nature of relationships as the world of television journalism, Broadcast News was one of the most timely films of the 1980s. Released during a decade notorious for its emphasis on making money, it provided a gently satiric commentary on people whose lives are driven by their jobs. That said, Broadcast News is far from being a cautionary tale: instead, it is a funny, touching portrait of three people in the midst of an often turbulent love affair with their work and, less occasionally, with each other. As the film's leads, Holly Hunter, William Hurt, and Albert Brooks give some of the most satisfying performances of their careers. Hunter brings poignancy to her tightly-wound, deeply conflicted, and often hilarious career woman, while Brooks is deeply likeable as a brilliant but lovelorn journalist. Hurt, meanwhile, oozes the potent but befuddled charm of a perpetual big man on campus; rather than make Gunric into a dim bulb caricature, he manages to give him an unburdened complexity. And in his brief, unbilled cameo as the network's unctuous national anchor, Jack Nicholson displays the sort of sharklike charm of which only he is capable. As a director, James L. Brooks is at his best here, injecting his film with warmth and insight. His take on relationships is a novel one--unlike many filmmakers, he is brave enough to show his audience that for some people, love is less of a priority in life than one of its unavoidable byproducts. True passion, he says with frank confidence, is as much the province of the newsroom as the bedroom.

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