"We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason"

Rating: 7/10 (28 October 2005)

"This instrument can teach, it can illuminate and yes it can inspire. But it can only do so to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is nothing but wires and lights in a box." Thus spoke Edward R. Murrow, somewhat a legend of broadcast journalism. Better than average but less than legendary is Good Night and Good Luck, a new film about Murrow's historic confrontation with Sen. Joseph McCarthy. The timely themes of the film will not go unnoticed by even mildly aware viewers and though the film is certainly competent, that it perhaps its greatest contribution.
The films opens with Murrow (David Strathairn) giving a speech to the Radio Television News Directors Association. His speech encapsulates much of the problems of that television had then, and still has now. The film shares the beginning of the speech at the beginning of the film and ends with the end of the speech. In between are scenes of the decision making that led to See it Now's confronting of McCarthy and McCarthyism. Other journalists had been poking at McCarthy for some time and Fred Friendly (Clooney) and Murrow found an opportunity to do an excellent piece on television that would add their names to the growing ranks of dissenters. The first shot fired was on Oct. 20, 1953 when See it Now broadcast the story of Air Force reservist Milo Radulovich. He was discharged from the service after his father and sister were labeled as communist sympathizers. Ending the program with, "the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, even though that iniquity be proved beyond all doubt, which in this case it was not," Murrow and Friendly had for the first time taken their personal misgivings about McCarthyism public. This confrontation, and subsequent ones, missed a vital point that the film misses as well. In a free society, what's wrong with being a communist if you want to? Instead of labeling all kinds of people as communists incorrectly, what if McCarthy had been 100% correct? Clooney does not investigate what the problem would have been about having competent professionals, who are communist, in government, or private industry, position. One can only imagine the laughter that would loose should an agitator for a single-payer health system be labeled a subversive Canadian agent. Being a docudrama perhaps it would have been a bit out of place for the film to go there but it was the fundamental flaw of McCarthyist, and anti-communist ideologies, that communists had no place in America, a purportedly free nation.
Clooney does an excellent job fitting the archival footage of McCarthy and others into this film. He guides the film with a good pace but it still seems to be padded a bit. A subplot about the secret marriage of Joe & Shirley Wershba (Robert Downey Jr. & Patricia Clarkson) is neat enough and good for a few one-liners but there doesn't seem to be any reason for it to be in the film. It stands in contrast to the subplots of CBS' wavering support for Murrow and the pressures applied to coworker Don Hollenbeck (Ray Wise) about his supposedly subversive activities. The transitions between scenes are welcome each time with wonderful jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves performing old time pieces in the CBS sound studio. The strength of the performances by Strathairn, Clooney and especially Frank Langella as CBS head William Paley help keep the flaws of the film fairly well hidden.
Though perhaps mildly overstating the importance of Murrow's influence on the downfall of McCarthy, Good Night, and Good Luck does a good job of elucidating the atmosphere of paranoia that pervaded many parts of the country at the time. It makes a strong and enjoyable contribution to the body of work involving the Red Scare but in the opinion of this reviewer, it still misses an important point. After seeing it, if you're taking public transportation home, be sure to listen for the recordings that ask you to look out for suspicious activity around you. Then the real strength of the film will be even more evident.