Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I'm not sure what to say. "Quiz Show" was the type of movie that shows you the ups and downs of stardom. Charles van Doren(Fiennes) did what any person would do, and because of the executives, he suffered. Fiennes shows a brilliant performance and Redford's directing is fabulous!
Rating:
Summary: "Quiz Show" fall-out
Review: I'm very thankful to have had the opportunity to again see
"Quiz Show" on 2/5/05 and re-experience the emotions I felt so many years ago when the scandal erupted. I was in my 20s, very busy raising a family and naive about the television industry. I remember having my jaw drop open like a codfish as the story unfolded in all its ugliness. What a great job Robert Redford did in capturing the drama surrounding the episode and the tragedy of ruined lives portrayed in this outstanding film; it truly deserves to be categorized as "great". While no one was punished by the judicial system, Herb and Charles' lives were ash heaps when it was over. Yes, it's a morality tale, and isn't the purpose of telling morality tales to change our evil ways?
Guess what? It changed my viewing habits forever. No more quiz shows for me from that period to today's revolting "reality" garbage dished up throughout the week. Television can either be a blessing or a curse, depending on choices. That was true back in the 50s and it's true in 2005. Is this a film worth seeing? Oh, yes, and more than once. Superb performances. What a great joy to again see the great Paul Scofield in another masterful portrayal of a real-life character and a triumph for Robert Redford. I'm hoping for a DVD version with interviews with Robert Redford and any of the real-life people portrayed in the film who are still with us to tell us how their choices affected their lives when the scandal faded with time.
Rating:
Summary: Geritol, it makes your blood run good!
Review: If you want my opinion, this is the greatest movie of all time. It's better than the Godfather, Citizen Kane, and Casablanca will ever be. The plot and acting is spellbinding and no one actor is better than the other in Robert Redford's best film.
Rating:
Summary: Capra-Corn for the 90's
Review: Please understand that the review heading above is not an insult to the film in any way. This is a great movie with a wonderful message directed by an accomplished artist. After watching the movie a few times in color, I would suggest that you turn off the color on your T.V. and watch it in good ol' B&W. Although some scenes (the yachting sequence, for example), work better in color, B&W accentuates the Frank Capra-esque Rob Morrow role. John Turturro is great in both formats. And let's not forget Ralph Fiennes, who gives a performance no mere Oscar could honor.And by the way, kudos to Martin Scorsese.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent Movie
Review: Quiz Show and Schindler's List are Ralph Fiennes' best roles. All his subsequent movies are just a rehash of the tormented adulterer from The English Patient. The entire cast does a superb job of showing us what makes their characters tick. The story itself is an interesting look at how the early television industry developed. A must-see.
Rating:
Summary: Quiz Show is exceptionally good, and that's my final answer
Review: Quiz Show is a remarkably good film, presenting in vivid detail an important if disillusioning piece of Americana. I understand the events as presented here are quite accurate to the truth of the actual events, but the film is so gripping and so full of implications about the America that was and was yet to be that it has the appearance of a brilliant screen play made exclusively for Hollywood. Honesty, integrity, greed (both personal and corporate), betrayal, politics, discrimination, disillusionment-this movie is filled to the brim with these themes and many more besides. The story is rather simple. Long-running Twenty-one champion Herb Sempel is a contemporary version of Everyman, winning the acclaim he has sought his whole life only to lose it when America begins growing tired of this Jewish underdog (and I mention he was Jewish only because that fact does have some bearings in the story). With ratings slipping, producer Don Enright compels him to take a dive so that he can be replaced by the charming, good-looking, academic, viewer magnet Charles Van Doren. Van Doren, with a lot of help from the producers, goes on a record-breaking run as champion while NBC's viewership rises sharply and the sponsor's sales increase 50%. Humiliated that he was forced to purposely miss an easy question and furious that his expectations to land a spot elsewhere on television go unfulfilled by the network, Sendel cries foul to a grand jury. The story is quickly hushed up behind courtroom doors, but then an upstart Washington lawyer working for a Congressional oversight subcommittee hears word of the rumors and sets out to ferret out the truth. The acting in this movie is top-notch indeed. John Turturro is wonderful as Herb Sempel, David Paymer and Hank Azaria are convincingly slimy and fast-talking as producers Albert Freedman and Dan Enright, and remarkably talented supporting players such as Paul Scofield and Martin Scorsese make this movie something special, but it is the performance of Rob Morrow in the role of lawyer Dick Goodwin and Ralph Phiennes as Charles Van Doren that really steal the show. (As an aside, look for Ally McBeal's Calista Flockhart in a cameo role as a young coed mooning over her suddenly famous instructor.) These are some complex characters: Sempel is a somewhat paranoid man obsessed with the fame that was taken away from him yet not without secrets himself, but Van Doren is exceedingly hard to read. Oftentimes seemingly ashamed of the fraud he knows he is committing, he allows himself to rationalize his situation, buying into notions that he is doing the right thing by inspiring youngsters to study harder and bringing entertainment to the masses. Beneath all of his motivations lies a seemingly innate need to make his Pulitzer-winning father proud of him and to step out from the shadows of the Van Doren name he secured by birthright alone. I must admit that the lawyer's motivations are somewhat inscrutable to me. Fired up over the chance to "nail television," he is reluctant to implicate everyone despite his zeal for bringing the fraud to light; in the end, it's hard to really say what his most basic motivations are. Any ambiguity I feel over Goodwin's motives is dwarfed by the magnificence of the movie as a whole, however. Clocking in at over two hours, there is not a slow spot to be found anywhere; each scene is dripping with tension and drama. Its subtleties make for great rewatchability, as everything that takes place is important, even though it may not seem so at the time. Van Doren in particular is a marvelous character study in this amazing cinematic morality play. Having appeared on a game show myself, I thought I might be able to offer a unique perspective on this movie, but its lessons are undeniably universal. I can say that the legacy of this scandal remains vibrant indeed in our own time-I and my fellow contestants were not allowed to bring anything with us to the studio, we were not permitted to go anywhere (including the bathroom) alone all day, and we had to search the faces of the audience in front of us to make sure that no one we knew was in our field of vision. Anyone watching this movie should answer the question that Goodwin answered for himself: if you had been in Van Doren's place, placed under extreme pressure, knowing the eyes of millions would be studying your every move, would you have been a party to a fraud promising you fabulous riches? Beyond providing over two hours of gripping entertainment, this movie compels you to learn something about yourself, and that is one of many reasons why Quiz Show is a certifiably five-star movie.
Rating:
Summary: Redford Hits 21
Review: Quiz Show is about the quiz show scandal of the 1950's that shocked the nation. Robert Redford expertly guides this film and gets excellent performances from his actors. Ralph Fiennes is cool and dashing as Charles Van Doren, a Columbia professor who became a national hero due to his success on the popular quiz show Twenty-One. John Turturro gives a manic and hyper performance as loose cannon Herb Stempel who was the most popular contestant on Twenty-One until Van Doren came along. He is forced to take a dive in return for future TV work, but the show's producer Dan Enright reneges on his promises, sending Stempel on the trail for vengeance. Rob Morrow gives a solid performance as a young and aggressive federal investigator Dick Goodwin. He investigates the shows and along the way become friends with Van Doren. Paul Scofield gives his usual superb performance as Van Doren's father, the noted poet Mark Van Doren. David Paymer is perfectly slimy as Twenty-One's producer Dan Enright and Chris McDonald plays Twenty-One's host Jack Barry with the right touch of mock importance. Mira Sorvino has a small part as Goodwin's wife and Martin Scorcese has a cameo as the head of Geritol who was the show's sponsor. Mr. Redford expertly weaves the lives of Van Doren, Stempel & Goodwin together and we are taken from the highest of highs to the low of lows. The movie is meant to show that prior to the scandal, America was a more trusting place, we accepted things at face value, but after the scandal, we started to become skeptical and question everything. In many ways, Mr. Redford is dead on with that assessment.
Rating: 
Summary: Quality depiction of a true story...
Review: Quiz Show is the true story of a game show scandal in America during the 1950s. As described in Amazon's review, Charles Van Doren is a man who receives the answers to the game show Twenty One in order to win and boost ratings.
Quiz Show is an impressive representation of a true story, showing how Americans in the '50s want someone to love and take under their wing, no matter how they got there.
Ralph Fiennes leads a cast of unknowns, but they are very good in producing a very interesting film under the guidance of director Robert Redford.
One of the most suprising films you could see, as it is much better than it looks. If you enjoy a good story, or have an interest in the real-life scandal, then I strongly recommend Quiz Show to you.
Rating:
Summary: Superb!
Review: Ralph Fiennes gave on outstanding performance, I was very impresed with his acting along with all the other actors, the set and costumes where done with excellence, Robert Redford was never better at directing. Look for several other directors through out the film.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and VERY well acted
Review: Rare is the movie that ends TOO soon. This movie draws you in from the very first scene and has you firmly in it's grip until the closing credits. The movie, which is set in the '50's, is filled with characters you care about, well acted, every nuance well established and played by a magnificent cast.
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