Movie Review: Good Night, and Good Luck

By Frank H. Woodward Oct 6, 2005, 15:25 GMT

"Good Night. And, Good Luck." takes place during the early days of broadcast journalism in 1950’s America. It chronicles the real-life conflict between television newsman Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. With a desire to report the facts and enlighten the public, Murrow, and his dedicated staff - headed by his producer Fred Friendly and Joe Wershba in the CBS newsroom - defy ...more

If Edward R. Murrow felt that the purpose of television was to educate, a film in his memory should seek to do the same.  But education is more than just getting your facts straight.  It should show all sides of the story and George Clooney's GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK doesn't quite make it.

The significance of the events portrayed in GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK may carry little weight for those unfamiliar with the history behind Edward R. Murrow, McCarthy-ism and the HUAC hearings.  Without that context, the risks that Murrow took in 1953 are blunted.    It was a time when "witch hunts" reappeared in the civilized world.  Where people were reluctant to exercise their basic freedom of expression for fear of being labeled a Communist... an enemy of the state.

In Clooney's second film as director, we never leave the CBS news room to see how this Red Scare had an entire nation paranoid.  Lives were ruined with mere innuendo.  Names were being named.  When Murrow stood up to all of that and spoke his conscience in an objective, learned manner, it was a monumental face off.  This was a battle between titans... the most
trusted man in America against the most feared.

But GOOD NIGHT seems to assume we already know all of this.  It's not that Clooney and co-writer Grant Heslov wish to draw Murrow and McCarthy in human scale.  They clearly feel that what their film depicts is important.  So much so that no music (except for a jazz singer chorus) underscores the proceedings.  Murrow's words are left to stand on their own (which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it's kind of like hearing the Gettysburg Address with only a casual reference to something about human bondage) .

One could argue that the lack of exposition about McCarthyism is because GOOD NIGHT isn't really about the violation of civic rights.  The film is framed with David Strathairn as Murrow in 1958 denouncing what the broadcasting industry has become.  Instead of a beacon of information, television became a mere pacifier,  more interested in ratings than rocking the boat.    But even this indictment needs context.  To understand how low CBS sank when they punished Murrow for going against the grain (his show SEE IT NOW was relegated to 5 episodes in the Sunday afternoon ghetto after his feud with McCarthy settled down), you have to know how huge an impact his broadcasts had on Americans everywhere.

The only time we see how events may have threatened innocent people is in some flimsy asides with Robert. Downey Jr. and Patricia Clarkson.  These two have a secret that all the McCarthy inspired loyalty oaths threatens to expose.  The problem here is that their secret is something we can guess from the get go and it hardly compares to the tragedies of those who were
asked the dreaded question "Are you now or have you ever been a Communist?"

The closest Clooney gets to showing the collateral damage of the junior Senator from Wisconsin is with the character of Don Hollenbeck (Ray Wise in a heart crushing performance).  The persecution Hollenbeck suffered (emboldened by McCarthy's example, Hollenbeck was continually smeared in the print media for slanting the news) is just a mere taste of how devastating the times were.

This lack of depth takes away from some of the fine work on display in GOOD NIGHT.  As in CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND, Clooney clearly has a cinematic eye.  The black and white cinematography by Robert Elswit also does a lot to capture a historical feel (even if this is history in outline form).  The film's realization of late 50s style is also well represented
by production designer Jim Bissell and costume designer Louis Frogley.

Performances are also quite nimble (and due in no small part to Clooney's ability to shape an ensemble).  Strathairn and Clooney (as Fred Friendly) have bouts of intellectual razzing that is endearing.  The other members of GOOD NIGHT's team (including co-writer Heslov, Frank Langella, and Jeff Daniels) manage a blend of Hecht and Altman which energizes the film.

Clooney's eye for irony is also quite sharp.  Here are these fine people speaking out against injustice while being sponsored by the manipulations of cigarette companies (and, in Murrow's case, chain smoking the product).  We also see Murrow, a man of
integrity, forced to slum in the staged interview show PERSON TO PERSON where his every response to the pre-recorded interview with Liberace is on cue cards. (In a nice touch, Clooney has one of the stagehands tell Murrow that this light weight entertainment was the best show he produced.)

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK does no disservice to Ed Murrow the man.  It's hard to obscure how fine a journalist he was.  For a much more informative view, however, look for the 1986 HBO movie called MURROW with Daniel J. Travanti in the lead role.  It may not be as artistically produced, but it puts those years of terror in proper perspective while covering many of the same events that Clooney does... only better.

The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on Oct. 7 and to a wider release on Oct. 14.

Access media from 'Good Night, and Good Luck.'