Quiz Show
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical mystery-drama film directed and produced by Robert Redford. Dramatizing the Twenty-One quiz show scandals of the 1950s, the screenplay by Paul Attanasio adapts the memoirs of Richard N. Goodwin, a U.S. Congressional lawyer who investigated the accusations of game-fixing by show producers. The film chronicles the rise and fall of popular contestant Charles Van Doren after the fixed loss of Herb Stempel and Goodwin's subsequent probe.
Plot
In 1958, the questions and answers to be used for the latest broadcast of NBC's popular quiz show Twenty-One are transported from a secure bank vault to the studio. The evening's main attraction is Queens resident Herb Stempel, the reigning champion, who correctly answers every single question he is asked. Eventually, both the network and the program's corporate sponsor, the supplementary tonic Geritol, begin to fear that Stempel's approval ratings are beginning to level out, and decide that the show would benefit from new talent.
Awards
Cast
- Allan Rich
- Barry Levinson
- Ben Shenkman
- Bruce Altman
- Calista Flockhart
- Carole Shelley
- Christopher McDonald
- Dave Wilson
- David Paymer
- Debra Monk
- Douglas McGrath
- Elizabeth Wilson
- Ethan Hawke
- George Martin
- Gretchen Egolf
- Griffin Dunne
- Hank Azaria
- Harriet Sansom Harris
- Illeana Douglas
- Jack Gilpin
- Jeffrey Nordling
- Jerry Grayson
- Johann Carlo
- John Turturro
- Mario Cantone
- Martin Scorsese
- Matt Keeslar
- Michael Mantell
- Mira Sorvino
- Neil Ross
- Paul Guilfoyle
- Paul Scofield
- Ralph Fiennes
- Rob Morrow
- Stephen Pearlman
- Timothy Busfield
- William Fichtner