I feel like he's horrific in this. Nothing at all like his Sunset Boulevard's days.

Holden was the heart and soul of the film. Ironic that he's the only acting nominee that didn't win the Oscar for it.

It sure is! He deserved an Oscar for it as well.

To say Cagney had limited range is the most ludicrous thing I have read in a while.

Lumet was genius

Sunset Blvd. was incredible!!!! I absolutely loved it! Time to see it again.

"Perhaps he had a limited ranged, but so did many great actors, like Gable, Cooper, Cagney, Bogie, etc." Cagney? Limited range? Have you ever seen "Man of a Thousand Faces" ???? Please,

Oh yeah pullman1881, I LOVE that film too even though I forgot to include it in my list!!! He was
just perfect
in it. There was a certain nasal(?) characteristic in his voice that really lent itself to cynical roles like Joe Gillis.

Don't forget Sunset Boulevard.

Excellent analysis of the Max/Diana relationship. Doesn't he tell his wife that (paraphrasing) he's been dead inside and Diana makes him feel alive? Pretty cruel thing to say to a wife who has remained loyal, (and most likely faithful) to him for 25 years, although he probably has had a number of affairs in that time.

Correct ecjones1951, I watched it last night!
I gather, after reading other threads on this board, that some people find
Network
too wordy and starkly moralistic. I can't disagree entirely, especially when it comes to William Holden's character Max as he's interacting with Faye Dunaway's Diana during their break up. Were it not for Dunaway's physical beauty and relative youth, it would be hard to believe a man like him would even be attracted to someone as manipulatively ambitious, shrill and amoral as she was. He knew she was all of those things, but I simply view him as an old fool who hoped he'd convince her to change. And such a vain hope required quite a bit of talking!
Still, I love the film and William Holden's portrayal of an over-the-hill newsman having a late-life crisis.

Guessing you watched on TCM tonight too, eh? Yep, the dance scene in
Picnic
is pure perfection. Candy floss.

He's absolutely terrific in
Network

• a much needed, soulful foil for just about every other character in the film (except for his wife Louise, portrayed by the beautiful and classy Beatrice Straight in her very brief but Oscar-winning performance). Max Schumacher was a great role that suited him to a t, and he played it to perfection.
  William Holden was my favorite leading man when I was a little girl. Even today, I can't think of anyone I like better. In addition to the ones you mentioned generalusgrant,
  Bridge On The River Kwai, Stalag 17, Picnic, Love Is A Many Splendored Thing and Born Yesterday
  are all movies he starred in that I watch again and again.
  His dance scene with Kim Novak in
  Picnic
  is pure magic.

"Holden has always been a rather wooden and awkward actor with very limited range."
!?? Totally disagree. Perhaps he had a limited ranged, but so did many great actors, like Gable, Cooper, Cagney, Bogie, etc.
Holden was excellent in early roles like Sunset Blvd, Sabrina and The Country Girl. But this was his greatest performance.

"This is one of William Holden's finest performances."
Just watched this for the first time since its theatrical release, and couldn't agree more. Finch may have had the more flamboyant, showy role, but Holden's quiet under-acting was rivetting. If you ask me, everyone who shares a scene with him is better in that scene because he's in it.
"In
my
case, self-absorption is
completely
justified."

I agree that he does a really good job here. I just hated the whole faye dunaway romance. I thought they had no chemistry anyway.
I agree Finch should have been in the best supporting actor category and Holden would have won best actor then. It would have been something if they had won Oscars in all four categories.

I couldn't agree more. The whole cast is superb in this but Holden was excellent.
It is my business to protect your majesty. against all things.

Definitely!! His final scene with Faye Dunaway is as close to perfect as it gets.
"I think we've out-sophisticated ourselves out of some of the pleasures of movies."

If anything, Lumet's underrated, in big part probably because he's usually not considered an auteur as he tended towards sort of an unobtrusive, "invisible" style, not making his presence obvious. However, how many directors are there who have, by my reckoning, up to 10 masterpieces or near-masterpieces on their resume? Well, Lumet has 12 Angry Men, The Pawnbroker, The Anderson Tapes, The Offence, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Prince Of The City, The Verdict, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead bit hard to chalk this filmography up to coincidence. Also, even his lesser pictures tend to be worthwhile and interesting at least in some regards - just like with Robert Altman, there was always an alert intelligence and mature sensibility at work in his films (as someone noted, between 2006 and 2011, when Altman and Lumet died, Hollywood's collective IQ must have dropped by a half).
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

Lumet is over-praised as a director and while I haven't seen all his films, I think I have seen the ones that count. Except SERPICO-73'

Yes, I saw the tracking deficit too.
They could have used more back-shots and other actor's reactions for Faye in Mommie Dearest!
Lumet has some lousy-reviewed films, like the director of Lady Sings the Blues, Sidney J. Furie (a worse case)

There were even some shots, with the camera following her and static on her back or side, while she is talking. It could have tracked her, from the front. Holden's quiet expression and reaction, wasn't as compelling at this stage of the film and we needed to see more of Straight. Lumet lacked some pizazz, in his presentation and style of directing at times. He was all wrong for THE WIZ-78', when the camera just sat there, like a piece of dead wood and gave the film no life or energy.

'The camera is more concerned with his reaction to what she was saying, rather than 'as' focused on her character and how she was saying it.'
That annoyed me. I like to see the actor delivering the lines, especially when she wins an Oscar for them. I know it's done for effect, but it can be overkill. You even see that a lot in Valley of the Dolls, a much lesser film (showing the actor's back) and it ruins the passion of the actor's lines.

I don't know about wooden; Holden..

I have seen about 12 of Holden's films and the Lucy episode he appeared in, (love it just for him) and have never found him wooden. There are many actors from the bygone era that I haven't discovered and Holden was always around in movies when I was a kid in the 70's. Some of his more popular older films, hadn't escaped me either.
He has a strong masculine presence and sad expressive features and I love watching his face and eyes. Lumet loved them to and it was a bit detrimental in some scenes in NETWORK. Especially Beatrice Straight's scene, when she is confronting him. The camera is more concerned with his reaction to what she was saying, rather than 'as' focused on her character and how she was saying it.