Network Trivia Quiz

Answer: The George Washington Bridge

Because it's the middle of the night and Max is in his pajamas, the cab driver gets the mistaken impression that Max means to commit suicide by jumping off the bridge. The cab driver says: "Don't do it buddy! You've got your whole life ahead of you!" In reality Max is only going to the bridge to cover a news story.

Answer: Kill himself on the air

Howard tells the audience the show should get a good rating: "a 50 share, easy" he says. A few moments later, the program is yanked off the air. Howard Beale is the pivotal character of the movie and his actions drive the plot. At this point in the story he is probably having a nervous breakdown and is despondent to the point of suicide - which sets up the network to turn him into "The Mad Prophet of the Airwaves".

Answer: Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway)

Diana is the new head of Programming and has many interesting ideas for making the Evening News a more entertaining and successful show. She thinks Howard's "Angry Man Thing" will be a big hit.

Answer: Auspicatory

Auspicatory is a really interesting word! The narrator is telling us that Howard's new format is not headed for success. Paddy Chayefsky's screenplay is full of these on-the-edge, almost 'made-up' words. Another example is "oraculate".

Answer: Archie Bunker

The Ecumenical Liberation Army is a fictionalized version of the Symbionese Liberation Army, which was mentioned in the movie as the group who kidnapped Patty Hearst. The Ecumenical Liberation Army also has kidnapped an heiress, named Mary Ann Gifford. It's ironic that she tells Ahmed, a terrorist, that he is like the famous TV bigot, Archie Bunker.

Answer: I'm not going to take it any more!

As he urges people to go to their windows and yell this, we see a large apartment building with dozens of people yelling into a stormy night. This is the moment of Diana's triumph. After hearing on the phone that "they're yelling in Atlanta", she screams, "We've hit the motherlode!"

Answer: The Mao Tse-tung Hour

The Mao Tse-tung Hour is the name of the show Diana develops around the Ecumenical Liberation Army. The other three are all introduced as segments of the News show. Diana presumably hired Sybil the Soothsayer after Sybil told Diana she was going to have an affair with a craggy, middle-aged man, which actually came to pass.

Answer: "'Anna Karenina', where she is Count Vronsky, and I am Anna"

He describes his affair with Diana in terms of himself as a powerless victim and Diana is a dominant manipulator. In the novel 'Anna Karenina', Count Vronsky abandons Anna, and Max foresees that Diana will abandon him.

Answer: Atone

Mr. Jensen is the god-like Chairman of the Board of the conglomerate that owns the network. He means that because Howard is ranting on television against the banality of network television, he is bringing down the very organization that allows him to rant. Mr. Jensen imparts his whole philosophy to Howard, telling him that the world is run by corporations, not nations.

Answer: He is killed on the air.

Diana, Frank Hackett, and the other high powers of the network plot to have Howard assassinated. Two gunmen shoot him during the opening moments of the Evening News broadcast. The television camera pans in for a close up of Howard's dead body, the studio audience bursts into wild applause, and the movie ends - the conglomerate destroying the monster it created.