I hated when Dick was in Dan's office listening to the recording and you could tell it was taped at a different time. I'm not sure why Redford didn't just use the actual scene for that part, it was so well done by both actors.
shareWell I caught that to, and a few times when I watched it I thought, well they made that up later to help cover their tracks.
I was never sure.
Ephemeron.
I agree that it isn't too clear and it was probably on a second viewing that I realized that the audio in the first scene in Dan's office doesn't exactly match what's on the tape they play for Dick. I don't think it's sloppy editing (e.g. they filmed the scene in Dan's office multiple times with slightly different dialogue each time and then used the audio from a take not used in the final film).
I think from maybe the different sound of Dan's voice on the recording that we are to pick up that the tape is a fake and assume that Dan and Al secretly recorded Herb in the scene in his office and then at an unseen time they have Dan record some lines on his own and splice them into the prior recording to make it look to Dick like Herb was lying and admitted the show was on the up-and-up. They probably could have benefited from at least a very quick scene showing Dan and Al editing the tape. I agree that it's the murkiest part of a great story.
I've watched Quiz Show only once, loved it, but that scene you are referring too was perfecty clear imo, when i saw it, and they roled that tape, i recognized instantly that, that wasnt what Stempel said, and clearly was a forged tape.
I thought it was perfectly clear and had no problems with it
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I think the tape does all contain lines that Herb Stempel said. It's actually Enright's voice that is saying stuff he never said during that meeting seen previously; lines like "That's a lie and you know it!" in response to Herb saying the show is fixed.
shareBecause the implication is that Dan Enright and his assistant edited the tape from what was actually said and turned it into something that made Herb sound guilty of trying to extort a position on a panel show from Dan Enright under threat of going to the grand jury and claiming the show was rigged. The audience is supposed to realize that's what's going on because, as opposed to Goodwin, we were privy to the original conversation, so we know it was chopped up and edited. Yes, those are the words that were said in the meeting, but not in that order. What really happened is that the tape was played by Enright at a press conference denying the allegations, and Enright displayed a paper Stempel has signed in which Stempel agreed he had not been given the answers (Stempel later said he said it under threat of not getting a spot on another show).
The thing that has always bothered me about that scene is that I don't think Goodwin would have been dumb enough to fall for that. They started the replay for Goodwin at a point well into the conversation and shut off the playback before the conversation was finished. A real investigator would want to hear the whole tape of the entire conversation, not just the part that Dan Enright wanted him to hear. Without being given access to the tape of the entire conversation to examine on his own, Goodwin couldn't logically conclude that it was proof of anything.
The same goes for the part about the contestant (Snodgrass) who supposedly sent himself the answers ahead of time by registered mail. In the movie, Goodwin thinks it to be ironclad proof that Snodgrass was given the answers ahead of time, but in reality it wouldn't have proven anything since there is no way of knowing what (if anything) was in that envelope when it was mailed. For example, the contestant could have sent himself an empty envelope by registered mail, thereby giving it a date stamp before the show aired, then put the questions in the envelope after the show had aired and sealed it. Goodwin would know that the envelope proved nothing, but in the movie he used it as some kind of supposed slam dunk proof to get Enright to admit that the contestants were given the answers, and Enright surrendered without rightly pointing out that the envelope proved nothing.
In real life, as they frequently do for dramatic effect in "based on a true story" Hollywood movies, those scenes were condensed down from things that actually involved many other investigators and reporters, not necessarily Goodwin. Snodgrass in reality mailed himself several certified letters which became just a part of the overall case against Enright, not the airtight last piece of the puzzle that brought the whole thing down as portrayed in the movie.
Damn, kentor404, you nailed it. I have seen this movie dozens of times and I never picked out those elements. And I love picking apart movies that I love. Slam dunk? The slam dunk is yours, my friend.
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I think everyone seems to be missing the point.
I understand that they're trying to set up the 'character' by making it sound like they're messing with the recording to make him seem crazy, but Robert Redford should have used John Turturro's first recording from Dan's office in the first scene.
By making the actor re-record it made it sound so obviously fake to those who noticed. It goes beyond bad continuity and bad editing.
John Turturro's first take was so spot on, when you heard it again, it sounded stupid and hokey.
Chances are, the rant was recorded first with the three men in Dan's office, then the scene with Dan and Herbert was shot second.
Something a continuity specialist should have figured out beforehand, and also something the director and sound man would have notice and changed in editing.