1. Films about screenwriting or screenwriters: SUNSET BLVD., IN A LONELY

PLACE, THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, THE FRONT (blacklisted screenwriters),

WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART, MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE

 

2. TV films: A FACE IN THE CROWD (Kazan-Schulberg, 1957).  IT'S ALWAYS

FAIR WEATHER (Kelly, Donen, 1955) has some sharp parody of early TV, as

does THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (Frankenheimer, 1962).  Of that late

70s-early 80s cycle you mention, the best are probably

Cronenberg's VIDEODROME (1983) and Scorsese's THE KING OF COMEDY (1983).

Also James Brooks's BROADCAST NEWS (1987) and the Italian THE ICICLE

THIEF (1990).  As for your last question, the U.S. film industry

has been deeply involved in TV since the late fifties, and several

studios tried unsuccessfully to get in on television at the very

beginning, when government antitrust bloodhounds (the Paramount Decrees)

were quick to squelch such attempts.  Now however, with the Paramount

Decrees quietly having been overturned by judicial appointees of that old

friend of the vertically integrated studio system, Ronald Reagan,

American entertainment companies are so intermeshed with each other that

good old independent lampooning of TV by the film industry is probably

impossible.  With four studios owning TV networks in the U.S. (Fox,

Warners, Paramount, and Disney), a FACE IN THE CROWD or NETWORK-style

attack probably would be unconvincing if not hypocritical.  Indeed Kazan

and Schulberg tried throughout the 80s to remake A FACE IN THE CROWD and

got nowhere--and I don't think it's simply because no one wants to remake

a flop!  Besides TV and cinema in the U.S. increasingly seem to have

switched their historic roles, with serious topics having a much greater

chance of airing on the omnivorous tube and the big screen seeming a

"vast wasteland" of cheap (actually super-expensive) thrills and

dumbed-down formula fare--and I write this in the heat of a

blockbuster-sated summer.  For instance, Spielberg and

Michael Crichton produce vacuous JURASSIC PARKS for the cinema, meatier

ER's for the networks.

 

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