Quiz Show: The Dilemma

Quiz Show, known in Spanish as Quiz Show: El dilema, is an American drama film about 1994 directed by Robert Redford, and written by Paul Attanasio, based on Richard N. Goodwin's memoir, Remembering America: A Voice From the Sixties. The film starred John Turturro, Rob Morrow, and Ralph Fiennes, with supporting roles by Paul Scofield, David Paymer, Hank Azaria, and Christopher McDonald.

The film chronicles the scandals surrounding the game show Twenty One in the 1950s, the rise and fall of popular contestant Charles Van Doren after Herb Stempel's rigged loss, and investigations later by Richard Goodwin. Although the film was a commercial disappointment, it received mostly positive reviews and was nominated for several awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture and several Golden Globe Awards. It won the New York Film Critics Circle award. for Best Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Plot

From a bank vault, responses to a prime-time TV game show "Twenty-One," are sent to a TV studio as producers Dan Enright and Albert Freedman watch from the control cabin. The night's main attraction is Queens resident Herbet Stempel, the reigning champion, who answers question after question. However, both the network and the show's sponsor, a supplement tonic called Geritol, learn that Stempel's ratings are starting to drop, hinting that the show would benefit from some new talent.

Enright and Freedman find a new contestant in Columbia University professor Charles Van Doren, son of renowned poet and intellectual Mark Van Doren and novelist Dorothy Van Doren. The producers subtly offer to fix the show for him, but Van Doren turns it down. Enright soon invites Stempel to dinner at a restaurant, where he breaks the news that he must lose to regain the ratings. Stempel agrees, only on the condition that he stays on television, threatening to reveal the real reason for his success: they were giving him the answers.

Stempel and Van Doren face off in 'Twenty-One,' where the contest comes to a predetermined question regarding Marty, the 1955 Academy Award-winning Best Picture film. Despite knowing the correct film, Stempel gives the wrong answer, allowing Van Doren to answer a question he had previously prepared while at Enright's offices; Van Doren gives the winning answer.

In the weeks that follow, Van Doren's game-winning success makes him a national celebrity. Overwhelmed by the new pressure, he begins to let the producers give him the answers directly, instead of searching for them himself. Meanwhile, Stempel, having forfeited his contest winnings by giving it to a bookie, begins threatening legal action against NBC after weeks go by without his promised return to television.

Dick Goodwin, a young congressional lawyer from Harvard University, travels to New York to investigate rumors of rigged contests. After visiting a number of contestants, including Stempel and Van Doren, he begins to suspect that the "Black Twenty-One" contest is being played. it's actually a montage. However, Stempel is an unstable person and no one seems to confirm that the program is rigged. Goodwin spends time with Van Doren, and Van Doren invites him to social gatherings, doubting that a man with Van Doren's background and intellect could be involved in the scandal.

Stempel, in despair, confesses that he is in on it himself, continuing to insist that he got the answers beforehand and that Van Doren did too. With this evidence, Van Doren deliberately loses, but is rewarded with a no-nonsense contract from NBC to appear as a special guest on the 'Today' show.

Meanwhile, Goodwin files a complaint with the Legislative Hearing Committee, with extensive evidence about the corruption of the program. Goodwin strongly advises Van Doren to avoid making any public statement supporting the contest. If he accepts the advice, Goodwin promises not to call Van Doren before the Congressional Committee. However, before the head of NBC, Van Doren signs a statement reaffirming his confidence in the honesty of the contest.

Stempel testifies before Congress and, while doing so, implicates Van Doren, forcing Goodwin to call him as a witness. Van Doren appears before Congress and publicly admits his role in the conspiracy. After this, he is informed by journalists of his firing from Today, as well as the university's decision to fire him.

Goodwin thinks he's on the brink of a win against Geritol and the TV network, but instead realizes that Enright and Freedman won't get their bosses involved and secure their own TV futures; In silence, he watches the testimony of the producers, exonerating the sponsors and the chain of any responsibility.

Cast

Historical comparison

While the film promises to portray real events, it has been widely criticized for taking liberties to create its own heroes and villains. The film features investigator Goodwin, beginning his pursuit of Van Doren during the contestant's 1956-1957 season of "Twenty-One," when in fact the Congressional investigation, led by Goodwin, took place in the summer of 1959. Others have complained that it inflates Goodwin's role in the overall investigation and downplays the initial investigation, led by attorney Joseph Stone of the New York County District Attorney's office, Frank Hogan.

Only after Judge Mitchell Schweitzer closed the New York Grand Jury evidence in the summer 1959 inquest, did Congress begin its investigation. The film assumes that NBC entrusted Enright with the wishes of Blackjack sponsor Geritol that Stempel should be replaced, with network president Bob Kintner (Allan Rich) telling Enright "You're a producer.", Dan. Produces." Neither Kintnet nor NBC were ever implicated in the scandal, and NBC canceled the show when news of it became known. But Enright claimed before he died that Geritol's complaints about the lack of drama and suspense in the first episode forced the company to rig the show.

The film shows that Van Doren's victory was direct due to Stempel's gaffe; even though the question that appears in the film was one that Stempel was supposed to fail (even though he knew the correct answer), he did not call it quits immediately, instead continuing with another tiebreaker game and ending it later in the show. The episode in which Stemple was defeated (which raised ratings to a new record after Van Doren's victory) aired on December 5, 1956, and was the thirteenth episode of the series.

The film shows host Jack Barry amending slightly when a contestant, James Snodgrass, answers correctly instead of failing on a question he was supposed to fail on. Barry, Enright's business colleague and co-producer, was never involved in rigging the show but covered for Enright once he found out. Furthermore, Monty Hall had replaced Barry as presenter in early 1958 and was still presenting when the scandal broke.

The film does not acknowledge the deceptive practices of other 1950s game shows, most notably "The $64,000 Question", Dotto and "Tic-Tac-Toe" from Barry Enright himself.

Journalist Ken Auletta, writing in a 1994 article in The New Yorker newspaper, wrote that Redford admitted in a preview of the film that summer that he had taken "dramatic license" in the making of Quiz Show (The Dilemma), as well as many dramatizations based on true events. However, Auletta also reported that Redford made no apology for the licenses taken, saying that he had tried to "elevate something in such a way that people could see it.... otherwise they would have seen a documentary". Robert Redford noted that there was already a documentary on the scandal, referencing work produced by Julian Krainin for a 1991 PBS series, The American Experience. (Krainin, like Goodwin, was a co-producer on the movie Quiz Show)

In a July 2008 issue of The New Yorker, Charles Van Doren wrote about the events depicted in the film, agreeing with many of the details but also saying he had a serious girlfriend while on the pageant "Twenty One", who is not present in the film. Van Doren also stated that he continued to teach, contrary to the film's epilogue which stated that he never did it again.

Reception

Ticket office

The film had a limited release on September 14, 1994, and grossed a total of $24,822,619 in the United States.

Criticism

Quiz Show reached 96% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5 out of 4 and referred to the script as " intelligent, subtle and ruthless'. Another critic, James Berardinelli praised Finnes's "excellent performance" and commented: "John Turturro is exceptional as the charismatic Herbie Stempel".

Awards

Oscar 1994