REVIEWS FILM JAR PORES MA. STEMPEL ON THE AIR 10 15 GERITOL Ralph Fiennes (left), John Turturro (right) There's a touch of irony in the movie and its subject matter. Redford's film decries dishonesty in the television networks, but he also plays fast and loose with some facts. He compresses several incidents into one, changes some dates and locations, makes it seem as if Richard Goodwin broke the entire story when, in fact, New York newspapers had carried stories about the fixing. His defense, in several interviews, has been that he isn't messing with the truth very much because the basic facts are correct. Putting such ethical considerations aside, "Quiz Show" remains a superior movie. As in "Ordinary People,' "The Milagro Beanfield War" and his other films, Redford's casting sense and his work with actors is exemplary. Ralph Fiennes, John Turturro and Rob Morrow are the main characters as Van Doren, Herb Stempel and Goodwin. Stempel was the homely Jewish kid from Queens who stumbled and sweated and blinked behind I his thick glasses, but always had the right answer. Van Doren, scion of a talented family (Mark was his father, John his uncle), was handsome and reeked of Ivy League, WASP gentility. Goodwin, both Jewish and Ivy League, persuades Congress to investigate the shows, though he had hoped for a fuller investigation of the television networks. There's also an interesting inner battle between Goodwin's heredity and his environment. Pop Quiz: Redford Asks Hard Questions "•QUIZ SHOW" Rating: PG-13. Running time: 2:15. By Joe Pollack Of the Post-Dispatch Staff MERICANS are the nicest people. Or are we A -just naive? Or handicapped by lack of memory? Could we be simply stupid? "Quiz Show" brought those questions to mind. It's a very good movie, just short of greatness, carried along on outstanding performances by John Turturro and Ralph Fiennes, and Robert Redford's simple, evocative direction. It is a typical Redford film in that it is an intelligent look at what begins as a small story but becomes larger as it goes along, developing a variety of interesting ramifications and asking more and more questions. "Quiz Show" goes. back to the 1950s and the turmoil over the discovery that such popular television quiz shows as "Twenty-One" and "The $64,000 Question" were rigged. That particular scandal ruined the academic career of Charles Van Doren and caused considerable furor for a while, but network executives, sponsors, producers and others who created, developed and controlled the scheme suffered little damage. As usual, those who masterminded the operation came out clean while the poor shnooks at the bottom of the chain of command took the beatings. This is what brings up my questions about Americans. Scandals - in basketball, quiz shows, stock markets, government operations - pop up from time to time because of dishonesty, greed, lust for power and other common diseases. There are large headlines and investigations. Sometimes, someone goes to jail. Usually, there's probation and, in a few years the culprit, maybe even a president forced to resign, becomes an important figure again. Lies and criminal action are forgotten, and Americans go on. and Christopher McDonald in "Quiz Show." The supporting roles really give the movie its appeal, with the actors like the frame that sets off a beautiful picture. Paul Scofield, as Mark Van Doren, is so elitist that it hurts, but it's a perfect performance. Christopher McDonald offers a brilliant, pointed view of Jack Barry, the quiz show m.c., and David Paymer and Hank Azaria are amazing as Dan Enright and Albert Freedman, respectively, who produced the shows, rehearsed the contestants and, when necessary, fired them. One of the great things about being Robert Redford is that you can persuade other directors to get in front of the camera and do amazing things. Martin Scorsese offers a scene as a program sponsor that is staggeringly vicious and smallminded, and Barry Levinson delivers a warm and winning Dave Garroway. There isn't much for women, but Mira Sorvino and Johann Carlo perform admirably as Sandra Goodwin and Toby Stempel, respectively, and bring excellent insights into the men they married. Sorvino, by the way, is a long way from her recent work in "'Barcelona,' though it's impossible to show the range that Fiennes does when one compares Van Doren with the German camp commandant in "Schindler's List." Turturro fumes, screams and becomes almost hysterical as he sees his dreams fall apart, while Fiennes, almost ethereal, is a man whose inner workings are always masked. (Des Peres, Esquire)