Beauty vs Beast: Make News Not War
Monday, March 20, 2017 at 3:00PM Jason from MNPP here - I didn't take my lead on this week's edition of "Beauty vs Beast" from Nathaniel's "On This Day" post earlier but it's not a surprise that we'd both want to mark the 67th birthday of William Hurt with an acknowledgment of Broadcast News, because I think any sane person will snatch the chance to talk about Broadcast News when it's offered. I did actually contemplate a couple other of Hurt's performances for a minute - maybe Body Heat or The Accidental Tourist? But he's made a career of making the women across from him shine and I knew Kathleen Turner & Geena Davis would dominate those conversations...
... as would Holly Hunter, which is also why we're keeping her out of this even though it's Holly's birthday today too. Sorry, Holly! You'd win way too hard.
But does Hurt stand a chance against Albert Brooks' sweaty sidekick Aaron? The film's clearly on Aaron's side, no matter how kind it does try to be to Hurt's pretty boy destined for the anchor's chair. (Can you say Fake News?) Still it's some of Hurt's best work and Brooks, right-sided though he might be, sure can be a bit much, so I ask you...
PREVIOUSLY We were still riding high on Buffy fumes last week and so we had you face off the show's two best Big Bads, but you should never bet against a Valley Girl God with a taste for the shinier things - Glory stomped that puny human mayor with 60% of your vote. Said Matt St Clair:
"No contest. Glory. She is the best Big Bad of the series and had all the best lines.
"Did anybody order an apocalypse?"
"There's ice cream and puppy dogs in it for you if you start singing."
"So this is where the Slayer eats, sleeps, and...combs her hair."
Reader Comments (11)
Thank goodness Aaron is winning this one. Tom is everything that's gone wrong with the media over the last 30 years.
I am in love with late 80's Hurt.Seemed like that guy whom a friend talked about about being hot and then they bring him to a party and immediately you feel totally inferior.
Aaron, no contest. I've always had a thing for nebbish Jews, and Aaron's "neediness" means he'd probably be the eager-beaver dynamo in bed anyway. Woof!
It's my birthday too, and I vote Tom because it's our BIRTHDAY, dang it. Also Spike Lee and Xavier Dolan's birthday. :)
A vapid pretty-boy with no brains vs. a self-deprecating, decent guy who always aims to please?
Aaron all the way.
Is the film on either man's side?
Aaron is infinitely smarter and more genuine than Tom, and in a fair world his talent and knowledge would win him the news anchor job ahead of his more traditionally handsome and charismatic colleague. But he's also, to quote Tom, a prick (in a great way), supercillious, arrogant, and very needy. When he informed on Tom's fake tears during the date rape report, it seemed less of a moral stance and more of a desire to torpedo his relationship with Jane after she spurned his own interests.
@MDA is Aaron that self-deprecating? Have you forgotten the opening 'Future Network News Reporter' sequence, where a young Aaron brags about the fact that unlike him, none of his high-school peers will earn more than nineteen thousand dollars a year, or know the pleasure of writing a graceful sentence and coming up with an original thought?
By contrast, Tom openly admits he's not very bright or educated during his first encounter with Jane, and seems well aware that he's vastly under qualified and very lucky to be in the position he's landed.
Really cool that Hunter and Hurt share a birthday!
Team Brooks tho. Sorry, Will.
Broadcast News is my FAV-O-RITE movie, and this was like Sophie's Choice because I think William Hurt and Albert Brooks are both so terrific in it...
I related so much to Aaron when I first discovered this film in college, but I surprised myself by voting for Tom who is dangerously sweet and charming and absolutely everything wrong with journalism then and now... but what a cute butt! Plus he's very talented at shadow puppets!!
Suzanne -- true. But Hurt really is perfect in the role. I haven't seen this movie in a hundred years. time to rewatch.
markgordon -- i share this william hurt in the 80s madness. such a sexy man
William Hurt should not be celebrated. He was violent towards Marlee Matlin.