Excellent History Lesson

Rating: 10/10 (17 March 2006)

This is a slice of life for an hour and a half of the controversies in the early 1950s with CBS's TV journalist Edward R. Murrow (Strathairn) going up against the USAF and Senator Joseph McCarthy who seemed to accuse everyone of being a communist if they didn't agree with him.
You are only going to see a small part of the life of Murrow who is played perfectly by David Strathairn, but this is more than something about someone's life. This is a part of our history and should be mandatory viewing in all High Schools across the nation and it's better than a Classic Comic Book (are they still around?). This was a very serious time in our history. And, you are going to see how effective Edward R. Murrow was.
The movie is shot in Black and White, but it didn't need to be. There was enough actual B/W TV coverage of Sen McCarthy and that would have been sufficient for effects, but no matter. The actual TV coverage of Sen McCarthy was genius at work, hence no one needed to "play" him. You actually get to see history being made. You see the real thing. And, Strathairn's portrayal of Murrow was as close to the real thing as anything I have ever seen. I was a kid back in the early 1950s and I had heard of Edward R. Murrow, of course, but I was a kid and didn't pay too much attention at the time. What I do remember about the time was that the whole country seemed to be watching the Army vs McCarthy hearings and they kind of overshadowed the Murrow broadcasts except for the politicals and the news people. And, now we are here again. Can you see any similarities between then and now?
We learn that Murrow really didn't like doing the Person to Person TV shows, but he did those to keep CBS brass happy with advertisers. The head of CBS played by Frank Langella never censored Murrow, but cringed every time Murrow went on a crusade. Very good interplay here.
I was surprised to learn that CBS, at the time, had a policy whereby two CBS employees could not be married to each other. How that played out in the film was never really explained unless I missed it.
Acting all around was excellent. The movie was nominated for 5-Oscars: Best Actor (Strathairn), Art Direction, Best Director (Clooney), Original Screenplay and Best Picture. George Clooney did an excellent job as Director.
Now for Murrow's sign off. Terrible, terrible, terrible. You would think someone would have taken Murrow aside and said, "Hey, come up with something more people friendly. This sounds like you are in Las Vegas with friends for a night of gambling and you tell them you are tired and are going to bed and leave them with: Good Night and Good Luck (at the tables)." But no one did and here we are.
All in all an excellent slice of life regarding our history. Again, this should be mandatory viewing in all High Schools across the nation. Good night and good luck with that.