Blown Away by this Picture

Rating: 10/10 (15 October 2005)

As someone who lived through this period and remembers every terrible moment of it -- initially as a college student and later as a member of the U.S. Army -- I believe this film has everything exactly right. The words are (with small exceptions) Ed Murrow's, McCarthy's words are his own, the atmosphere at CBS is depicted pretty much as it was depicted at the time (and later on) by those who were in the middle of it. And although Ed Murrow was handsomer (by far) than David Strathairn, Strathairn had Murrow's voice down pretty well and the cadences exactly right. George Clooney took a chance on making this movie, was right to do it in black and white, smart to accept a subordinate role as Fred Friendly (believe me Clooney is a lot handsomer than Fred Friendly was), and the script and editing were excellent. I hope it wins a ton of prizes. There is only one thing I wish had been done a little differently. I wish they'd given a few minutes late in the film to the McCarthy attack on one of Joseph Welsh's young associates so as to provide the context for his famous remark: "Senator, have you no shame. At long last, have you no shame." His question was greeted with applause that reverberated through the hearing room and was heard around the country. All credit to Ed Murrow for what he did and to the unmentioned heroes like Margaret Chase Smith who attacked McCarthy on the floor of the Senate when it was inexpedient to do so. But, in my opinion, it was the Army -McCarthy hearings and Joseph Welsh who ultimately drove the stake through McCarthy's heart. I wish the movie audience had been shown just a tiny bit more of what McCarthy did that provoked Welsh's devastating response.