It is a measure of how influential this film was that Peter Finch’s newsman character’s tagline “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” became a national rallying cry for the ’70s. Screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky and director Sidney Lumet expose the media’s role in manufacturing consent with a stellar cast including Faye Dunaway, William Holden, and Ned Beatty, whose chilling monologue is one of the high points of ’70s American Cinema.