Quiz Show (1994)

The quiz show has been a fixed part of TV programming for years on almost every channel. They are programs which are relatively cheap to make and contestants are easy to find. It was the same during the fifties and in America the show Twenty One was the most popular.

The show had two contestants (a challenger and a defending champion) who both are located in a sound proof booth and can’t see or hear each other. The presenter picks out a random card about a specific subjects and the contestants have to pick for how many points they want to play. The more points you choose, the more difficult the question. The winner is the one who reaches 21 points first. A big scandal related to the show was huge news for a while and could mean the end of the show. That scandal is the focus of this film.

Herbie Stempel (John Turturro) has been a reigning champion for weeks and manages to answer the questions (which are brought to the studio from a highly secured vault every time) better than his rival. The sponsor of the show and the network though see that the ratings are slowly declining and think it is necessary for a new champion to be introduced. They seem to find their answer in the form of Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), son of a famous poet.

During the first meeting with him they subtly propose to give him some of the answers in advance so he can win, but Charles is not interested in it. The producers decide to convince Herbie to give a wrong answer on purpose. He agrees, but only if he will be programmed in other shows, or else he threatens to tell everyone the show is fixed. Van Doren becomes a celebrity and whole America loves him, but a lawyer becomes interested in the show and reads about a court case about the show, but the information isn’t public. He decides to investigate further and tries to find out if Charles really is as good as he says he is.

The movie has been directed by Robert Redford who succeeds in bringing this story to film. Turturro plays Stempel as an annoying character, someone who’s prepared to do anything to prove he is right, making him a huge risk for the TV show. Fiennes injects Van Doren with sympathy and makes him an almost brilliant man who enjoys his time in the spotlight and all the perks that come with it. The cat and mouse game with the lawyer, the political games that are being played and the fifties setting make for a two-hour long movie which never gets boring. It is a subject which is still relevant today (everyone knows stories about shows where the winners were already known before the end of it), because rating still are leading.