Good Night, and Good Luck

Set almost entirely in the smoke filled studios of CBS, Good Night, and Good Luck is a brilliant movie that grabs you the moment actor David Strathairn makes his entrance as legendary telejournalist Edward R. Murrow . George Clooney directed this ode to Morrow and his battle to expose the illegality of the communist witch-hunts instigated on the American people by the junior Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. Not only did Murrow scuffle with the Senator, but also his boss, CBS news, and the corporate sponsors to push this story forward.

The pressure of taking on the government is at the core of Edward R. Murrow's character and is eerily similar to what we see in today's media, terrifed of its own shadow and relentlessly cowed by politicians and pundits every bit as ruthless as McCarthy. Murrow knew the pressures he would face if he tackled what he knew were the injustices McCarthy committed, which resulted in an all out attack on our civil liberties nationwide. Murrow knew that using innuendo and sealed envelopes to destroy a person's character was not acceptable in the United States of America he believed in. And so he took it upon himself to fire the first shot against what we know today as "The McCarthy Era."

Clooney cites his father Nick Clooney, who was a local news anchor for many years and it was his upbringing that inspired his passion for the news and to tell this tale.

Every thirty or forty years the country gets a little screwed up," Clooney said at a group panel at the end of the screening I attended. The film's brilliance is highlighted by not casting an actor for Senator McCarthy, but rather used actual TV clips from his hearings and an incredible on air Set almost entirely in the smoke filled studios of CBS, Good Night, and Good Luck is a brilliant movie that grabs you the moment actor David Strathairn makes his entrance as legendary telejournalist Edward R. Murrow . George Clooney directed this ode to Morrow and his battle to expose the illegality of the communist witch-hunts instigated on the American people by the junior Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. Not only did Murrow scuffle with the Senator, but also his boss, CBS news, and the corporate sponsors to push this story forward.

The pressure of taking on the government is at the core of Edward R. Murrow's character and is eerily similar to what we see in today's media, terrified of its own shadow and relentlessly cowed by politicians and pundits every bit as ruthless as McCarthy. Murrow knew the pressures he would face if he tackled what he knew were the injustices McCarthy committed, which resulted in an all out attack on our civil liberties nationwide. Murrow knew that using innuendo and sealed envelopes to destroy a person's character was not acceptable in the United States of America he believed in. And so he took it upon himself to fire the first shot against what we know today as "The McCarthy Era."

Clooney cites his father Nick Clooney, who was a local news anchor for many years and it was his upbringing that inspired his passion for the news and to tell this tale. "Every thirty or forty years the country gets a little screwed up," Clooney said at a group panel at the end of the screening I attended. The film's brilliance is highlighted by not casting an actor for Senator McCarthy, but rather used actual TV clips from his hearings and an incredible on airattempted rebuttal to Edward R. Murrow's claims of his abuse. I wonder if they'll create a new category for an academy award? "Best Perfomrance by the Dead"?

The cast is awesome with Robert Downey jr., Frank Langella, Jeff Daniel's Clooney and Patricia Clarkson doing great work. It also sports an incredibly beautiful film score, utilizing the wonderful jazz singer Diane Reeves who weaves her way through out the action singing standards, like a one-woman Greek Chorus, as a Zoot Sims like saxophone embellishes her vocals.

But it's David Strathairn's, Murrow that's the bedrock of Good Night and Good Luck. His steely eyed; no nonsense glare sucks you into his world and never let you escape. It might have been the first time that TV news made a difference in the way we live and breathe and gave a voice to the thought that authority or power must be challenged by our media at every turn. Dissent is not traitorous, but patriotic. Hear any similarities in America today?

The cast is dynamic with Robert Downey jr., Frank Langella, Jeff Daniel's Clooney and Patricia Clarkson doing great work. It also sports an incredibly beautiful film score, utilizing the wonderful jazz singer Diane Reeves who weaves her way through out the action singing standards, like a one-woman Greek Chorus, as a Zoot Sims like saxophone embellishes her vocals.

But it's David Strathairn's, Murrow that's the bedrock of Good Night and Good Luck. His steely eyed; no nonsense glare sucks you into his world and never lets you escape. It might have been the first time that TV news made a difference in the way we live and breathe and gave a voice to the thought that authority or power must be challenged by our media at every turn. Dissent is not traitorous, but patriotic. Hear any similarities in America today?