Broadcast News **** (1987, William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Holly Hunter, Jack Nicholson, Joan Cusack, Lois Chiles, Robert Prosky) – Classic Movie Review 8446

Writer-director James L Brooks’s smooth and amusing 1987 TV news comedy Broadcast News is easy-going but still with a sharp, intelligent edge.

It purrs along smoothly thanks to the three attractive stars – William Hurt as handsome but smarmy new newscaster Tom Grunick, Holly Hunter as over-anxious network news producer Jane Craig, and Albert Brooks as homely but perceptive reporter Aaron Altman, plus Joan Cusack as Blair Litton, Lois Chiles as Jennifer Mack and Robert Prosky as Ernie Merriman.

But, stirring though they are, they are all upstaged by uncredited Jack Nicholson as the cheesily grinning network star Bill Rorish.

In the love rivalry department, Jane falls for Tom, and Aaron falls for Jane, just as the network braces itself to get ready for enormous changes.

Just a bit more sharpness and a bit less running time (it is 133 minutes long) would have helped Broadcast News to be an all-time great. But it is still a treat as a thoughtful, enjoyable and civilised grown-up entertainment with adult humour.

Hunter won Best Actress at Berlin International Film Festival. Along with The Piano and Raising Arizona, it is one of Hunter’s best.

There were seven Oscar nominations and five Golden Globe nominations, but no wins. It was a nice hit, though, costing $20,000,000 and taking $51,250,000 in the US plus $67,330,000 cumulative worldwide gross.

Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor (Albert Brooks), Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen (James L Brooks), Best Cinematography (Michael Ballhaus), and Best Film Editing (Richard Marks).

Broadcast News was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2018 as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

Also in the cast are Peter Hackes, Christian Clemenson, Robert Katims, Ed Wheeler, Stephen Mendillo, Kimber Shoop, Dwayne Markee, Gennie James, Leo Burmester, Amy Brooks, Jane Welch, Jonathan Benya, Frank Doubleday and Sally Knight.

Nicholson reunited with James L Brooks for As Good as It Gets (1997) and was much luckier, winning the Best Actor Oscar. By 2022, Nicholson’s most recent appearance is in Brooks’s How Do You Know (2010). It is also Brooks’s most recent film, following Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, I’ll Do Anything, As Good as It Gets and Spanglish.

The cast are William Hurt as Tom Grunick, Kimber Shoop as young Tom, Albert Brooks as Aaron Altman, Dwayne Markee as young Aaron, Holly Hunter as Jane Craig, Gennie James as young Jane, Robert Prosky as Ernie Merriman, Lois Chiles as Jennifer Mack, Joan Cusack as Blair Litton, Peter Hackes as Paul Moore, Christian Clemenson as Bobby, Jack Nicholson as Bill Rorish, Leo Burmester as Mr. Craig, Marita Geraghty as Date-Rape Woman, Glen Roven as News Theme Writer, Marc Shaiman as News Theme Writer, and John Cusack as Angry Messenger.

The score is by Bill Conti. Composers Glen Roven and Marc Shaiman appear in cameos as a dorky musician team.

The Jane Craig character is based on journalist/ news producer Susan Zirinsky, who is associate producer and technical adviser. Brooks wrote the role for his Terms of Endearment star Debra Winger, but she became pregnant and Hunter lucked out.

William Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) made his film debut in Ken Russell’s 1980 Altered States, followed by the 1981 neo-noir Body Heat. He had three consecutive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Children of a Lesser God (1986), and Broadcast News (1987), winning for the first of these.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8446

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