Excellent but with narrow appeal

Rating: 7/10 (21 March 2006)

This movie portrays the battle between CBS and Senator McCarthy in the 1950s. For those who don't know, this was the period where Joseph Mc Carthy became chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and used it to perform an anti-communist "witch-hunt" calling dozens of prominent people and basically accusing them of treason on little or no evidence. It is very stylish, filmed in black and white with occasional jazz music. The character portrayal of Murrow (David Straithairn) is flawless. McCarthy appears in archive footage. The atmosphere of a 1950s newsroom is faithfully reproduced. Strangely I found George Clooney seemed to detract from this because he is such a familiar face on TV.
In what it is, the film is pretty well perfect. It shows a genuine moment of human heroism where one man had the courage to stand up and say enough was enough. On the other hand, those who know nothing of the history may not find it engaging enough to draw them in. It does not go beyond its brief to inform and provide background to the climate of terror that McCarthy fostered. In fairness, most people would probably find this movie boring. But that's OK, a movie of this kind can't have mass-appeal.