“No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices” – Edward R. Murrow
Good Night is a great movie that covers a period that most Americans might’ve forgotten about. Through solid performances from its cast, the film details the televised battle between newsman Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and Senator Joseph McCarthy (as himself), and exposes the risks Murrow and CBS News took when they took on the senator’s witch hunt against communism.
The movie begins on October 25, 1958, where Murrow is giving a speech to the convention of the Radio-Television News Directors Association and basically says that television is rotting America’s brain. We then go back to 1953 when Murrow anchors the show news show See It Now on CBS. Murrow decides to do a story on a kid named Milo Radulovich - who’s kicked out of the Air Force with charges that are in a sealed envelope and not even Radulovich is allowed to see. Radulovich’s father subscribes to a Serbian newspaper and is thought to be a communist.
Senator Joe McCarthy is one to see communists under every stone. Murrow and his producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) decide to give McCarthy a taste of his own medicine and do a show on him. They decide not to openly accuse McCarthy through Murrow’s commentary, but use the senator’s own words, through news clips, to condemn him. This is a device that Clooney, as director, also uses in the film since all the footage of McCarthy is the actual senator and not an actor. The two newsmen also offer equal time to McCarthy to refute their news program (the beginning of fair and balanced?). The controversy generated from this program gets Murrow and Friendly in hot water with CBS head William Paley (Frank Langella).
David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow
Although the movie mostly focuses on the Murrow/McCarthy battle, there are also some subplots with newscaster Don Hollander (Ray Wise) – who has been accused of being a commie and is facing his own fight against a newspaper journalist - and secretly married couple Joe (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Shirley (Patricia Clarkson) – at the time CBS allowed no employees to marry and stay employed with the company.
Clooney says in the commentary that most of the test audiences had no idea who McCarthy was. Strathairn does a good job as Murrow, but portrays him as a little too morose for my tastes. Murrow did laugh on occasion (see his interview with Harpo Marx where he’s in stitches). All the cast does great work here, and Ray Wise is excellent (in my humble opinion) in his supporting role. Clooney also provides some nice musical interludes with a singer that sounds very much like his aunt, the late Rosemary Clooney.
The movie is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a 15-minute behind the scenes documentary called “Good Night, and Good Luck. Companion Piece.” In it, they interview some people. I only say that because they chose not to identify anyone with onscreen title cards. You’ll recognize Clooney and the other actors, but I really didn’t know most of the other people. You have to play close attention to the dialogue to hear that Milo Radulovich is interviewed in the documentary. Joe Murrow (Edward’s son?) and I think that another interviewee is Fred Friendly’s son.
Director George Clooney and screenwriter Grant Heslov provide an interesting commentary (even with Clooney’s joking). Finally there’s the theatrical trailer.
Oddly in looking around on the film’s website they claim that the DVD will contain “gripping deleted scenes” but they are nowhere to be found on the DVD. Sadly, there’s not any footage of the real Edward R. Murrow’s newscasts.
Murrow listens to McCarthy's response
I’ll have to admit that I don’t really like Clooney. He said some nasty things about Charlton Heston when Heston announced that he had Alzheimer’s. I’ve never really forgiven him for kicking Chuck when he was down. Heston did get in a nice dig when he said “I guess that class skips a generation” meaning Rosemary had it and George does not. However, putting that aside George has fashioned a very good movie. He also wisely borrows from Murrow and uses the McCarthy footage to great effect. Excellent performances abound and lovers of history might enjoy this film. Definitely give it a rental if you want to know about McCarthy, Murrow, or the era.
Good Night, and Good Luck is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD's database for more information.
USA
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