"We Cannot Defend Freedom Abroad By Deserting It At Home"

Rating: 8/10 (3 February 2008)

During the early 1950s the United States of America valued conformity over honesty and integrity--a social lockstep driven by fears that the Soviet Union had infiltrated American government and society and sought to bring our society crashing into chaos. As the decade progressed, a number of politicians played upon those fears to their own greater glory, and few played harder than Senator Joseph McCarthy, who shocked the nation when he claimed to have factual evidence that numerous branches of the government were overrun by communists and communist sympathizers.
Over the past decade or so a number of historians and critics, Anne Coulter among the latter, have attempted to rehabilitate Senator McCarthy's reputation by noting that there were indeed communist infiltrators at work in the United States government. This was doubtlessly true, but there are several problems with this pro-McCarthy argument. Chief among them is McCarthy himself. His accusations were not based on fact and were strewn with misinformation, and he showed a marked tendency to level them against two types of people: those who could not fight back and those who dared to criticize him. If McCarthy ever did manage to expose a communist it was by dumb luck only, and by 1954 even the members of his own party--including President Dwight Eisenhower--were openly disgusted by his behavior.
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK is the story of how Edward R. Murrow, possibly the single most respected reporter of his era, exposed McCarthy for what he was via a meticulously prepared news program. In the wake of this broadcast an outraged public turned against McCarthy and thus gave the Senate the public support required to end his reign of terror. At the same time, it is also the story of television's role as entertainer ultimately undercut its role as news medium--and laid the destructive seeds of the "news as entertainment" format that today typically overpowers serious journalism.
It is in many respects a fascinating film, its script drawn from the actual words of the actual people involved in the Murrow telecast. It is memorably directed by George Clooney and remarkably performed by an ensemble cast that includes David Staitham, Robert Downey Jr., Frank Langella, and Clooney himself. The black and white art direction and cinematography is brilliant, truly capturing the look and feel of the era; the pace is rapid fire; and it offers a series of pointed warnings about political bankruptcy and public expectations of television that ring true in no uncertain terms.
Unfortunately, it also manages to ever so slightly miss the mark. This is partly due to the film's divided intent: by refusing to focus specifically on either McCarthy or the issue of broadcast news it manages shortchange both. It also errs in its use of considerable archival footage, which leaves us to wonder if we might be better off watching a documentary on McCarthy and Murrow instead of GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. But the ultimate problem with the film is that gives zero context. We are told nothing of the tenor of times, given no clear idea of what made McCarthy's claims seem initially viable, and indeed given no clear idea of what those claims actually were. We are simply given to understand that he is a danger to democracy and shown actual film footage of McCarthy to prove what we are assumed to already know.
In the end, I have to say that it is always a good thing to be reminded of McCarthy. He stands as a warning to us against those who would play upon our fears for the sake of their own power. It is also always a good thing to be reminded that "finest hour" events in television news tend to be few and far between largely because of the commercial, entertainment-oriented nature of the medium. But GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LOOK isn't entirely successful in making its points in either direction. The DVD includes a making-of documentary that is reasonably interesting and an audio commentary that is largely spurious. Recommended, but primarily for those who already have enough historical knowledge to fill in the gaps.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer