Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Film and Plot Synopsis

In the 1970’s, Ron Burgundy is the top-rated anchorman in San Diego and has all the trappings of a famous television personality. However, feminism marches into the newsroom in the form of ambitious newswoman Veronica Corningstone and throws Ron’s world off kilter. Ron is willing to play along at first-as long as Veronica stays in her place, covering cat fashion shows, cooking, and other “female” interests. But when Veronica refuses to settle for being eye candy and steps behind the news desk, it’s more than a battle between two perfectly coiffed anchor-persons… its war.

‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’ Movie Summary

The most famous news anchorman in 1970’s San Diego is Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell). Ron heads up the KVWN Channel 4’s evening news team along with his friends, lead field reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner), and meteorologist Brick Tamland (Steve Carell). Channel 4 news leads the city in ratings, but nevertheless, the channel hires the beautiful Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) to begin doing news stories for the channel.

The news team is upset about their male dominated world being infiltrated by a woman. However, the station director Ed Harken (Fred Willard) orders them to work with Veronica and treat her well. Initially, Ron tries, unsuccessfully, to seduce Veronica. However, Veronica eventually relents and agrees to a “professional tour” of the city with Ron. Ron takes her to his favorite restaurant where he plays jazz flute for her. Eventually, Veronica succumbs to Ron’s advances and they have sex. The next morning, Ron and Veronica agree to keep their relationship on the down low, but Ron announces his sexual conquest on air later that night.

Veronica continues to do good work with her cameraman Scotty (Seth Rogen), even though she receives less than spectacular assignments. She dreams of becoming an anchor like Ron, something that Ron thinks is amusing and unrealistic. One day, Ron gets into an argument with a motorcyclist on the Coronado Bridge in San Diego. The motorcyclist (Jack Black) takes Ron’s true lifetime companion, Baxter the dog, and punts him off the side of bridge. Ron is devastated and loses track of time. With Ron running late, Ed puts Veronica on in his place. She does an outstanding job despite the sabotage attempts by the news team. Veronica receives higher ratings than Ron normally does, so Ed promotes her to co-anchor. Ron and the rest of the news team bemoan her promotion, and Veronica and Ron break up over his petty jealousy.

The news co-anchors become fierce rivals off the air while maintaining a phony cordial relationship on camera. The news team becomes depressed about Veronica’s success and decide to go shopping for new suits to clear their heads. On the way to the store, they encounter Wes Mantooth (Vince Vaughn) and his news team from a competitive channel. Ron challenges Mantooth’s team to fight which is soon joined by three other news teams led by their anchors (Tim Robbins, Luke Wilson, and Ben Stiller). The police arrive and everyone scatters.

Ron and his team are upset that the addition of Veronica has hurt their reputation in the news world. Ron gets into another heated argument with Veronica and they get into a physical fight after she insults Ron’s hair. Veronica learns from a co-worker Helen (Kathryn Hahn) that Ron will read anything written on his teleprompter. Veronica decides to get revenge by changing Ron’s script. However, when Ron closes the show by stating “Go fuck yourself, San Diego”, Ron is fired. Veronica feels guilty for what she has done, but Ron refuses to accept her apology. Brian, Champ, and Brick are told that if they see Ron, they will be fired. Ron is soon unemployed and friendless while Veronica becomes even more famous.

Three months later, a panda is about to give birth at the San Diego Zoo. Every news team in the city rushes to the zoo to cover the story. Veronica is sabotaged by a rival news anchor when she is pushed into a Kodiak bear enclosure. Ed and Scotty are unable to find Veronica, so Ed calls Ron back to cover the story. Once at the zoo, Ron discovers Veronica in the bear pen and jumps in to save her as all of the other news teams watch on. Ron’s news team shows up and jumps into the pen to save Ron and Veronica. Nevertheless, one of the bears approaches Ron to attack until Baxter returns and jumps into the pen. Baxter communicates with the bears and asks them to spare the humans, which the bears agree to do.

The news team climbs out of the pen, but when Ron reaches the top of the ladder, Mantooth grabs the ladder and threatens to drop Ron back in. However, Mantooth confesses his admiration of Ron instead and helps the fallen news anchor out of the pen. Ron and Veronica cover the panda birth together, and Ron returns to prominence. Ron and Veronica reconcile and begin their relationship again.

In the aftermath, the film shows that Brian becomes a host of a Fox reality show named Intercourse Island. Brick is married with eleven children and becomes a top political adviser for George W. Bush. Champ becomes a commentator for the NFL before getting fired after being accused of sexual harassment by Terry Bradshaw. Ron and Veronica become co-anchors for the CNN-esque World New Center.

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