Good Night and Good Luck is Just Plain Good!

Rating: 8/10 (30 October 2005)

While I was in Washington DC last week, I took the opportunity of being in a much larger city to see something that probably won't show up in my own relatively small town theatres. That is how I ended up buying a ticket to the award-winning film. Good Night and Good Luck. After having seen it, I truly can't imagine a more appropriate story for either the time or the place.
Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) revolutionized both radio and television in his day. He was an electronic journalism pioneer, and a strong advocate of free speech. Murrow, who revamped his "Hear it Now" radio show into TV's "See it Now" in the 1950's, was a regular presence in most American households at the time. His partner and producer, Fred Friendly (George Clooney), was in on virtually all that Murrow determined to do including the greatest risk of his career: taking on Senator Joseph McCarthy.
McCarthy, as most of us know, was the power behind the Senate's unAmerican activities hearings. In short, McCarthy had a jones for Communism so strong and paranoid that he saw Communists everywhere. Fear on the part of many, and a desire to share in the power for some others, resulted in damaging testimony and ruined lives and careers throughout Hollywood, politics, and the media. Murrow saw it happening, and determined to take it on; the head of the CBS networks, William Paley (Frank Langella) and of its news division, Sigfried Mickelson (Jeff Daniels) discouraged Murrow, but  to their credit  didn't stop him.
Shirley Wershba (Patricia Clarkson) did research and reported stories from the print media or from political news releases to the writers and reporters; her secret husband, Joe Wershba (Robert Downey, Jr.) was also an integral member of the production crew. As the "See It Now" crew worked to put together more shows on the subject, news anchor and reporter Dan Hollenbeck (Ray Wise) found himself attacked by McCarthy's accusations. Though Murrow and his crew are sympathetic to say the least, nothing will stop them from making public the paranoia and the unreasonableness behind McCarthy's efforts.
Good Night and Good Luck is a wonderfully done story about a time in history that many of us don't even learn about any more (I certainly wasn't taught anything about it in school!). The acting is superlative on all counts, but is truly breathtaking on the part of David Strathairn. Though confident as the on screen and off screen Murrow, little tics, twitches, and the look in his eyes let you know just how frightened he is of the possible repercussions of what he's doing. Wise's Hollenbeck is first angry, then afraid, and finally desperate; his portrayal conveys all of those things brilliantly. Although those two performances are worthy of singling out, the bottom line is that there's not a mediocre or even an adequate performance in the bunch. They're all just terrific.
George Clooney directed and co-wrote Good Night and Good Luck, and did a brilliant job at both. The single criticism I'd have (and it echoes precisely the comments of the friend with whom I saw the film) is this: it's never truly conveyed just how terrified people were  and with what good reason  of the McCarthy Communist juggernaut. Although bad things happen in the film, many are so peripheral that we don't get the real feeling of the horror those days were for some people; we also don't get a real sense of the bravery involved in those who took the project on since the fear isn't adequately conveyed from most.
But that's really a small criticism, especially since it's the very under-statedness of the film that offers the most impact. That it's filmed in black and white and with flawless costuming and sets makes Good Night and Good Luck almost more a documentary than a storytelling, and it's that much the better for it. The icing on the cake is the insertion of various "musical breaks" courtesy of jazz singer Dianne Reeves. They're mood-setting, entirely appropriate for the moment, and just plain amazing editing devices (kudos again to Clooney). Good Night and Good Luck is a true story that everyone should know; but it's also a truly wonderful movie.
POLITICAL NOTES: In one of his on-air speeches, Murrow intones: "We must not confuse dissent with loyalty," and "We will not be driven by fear." He notes that we're not descended from fearful men, and that they in their time had the courage to speak the unpopular. Murrow, of course, was certainly heroic in the 1950's when he chose to fight McCarthy's hold on America. But it was chilling in many ways to see the film in a day and age where we're told that merely speaking against the war in Iraq is unAmerican, and that being critical of the war effort or the government is tantamount to terrorism. Lives and careers are at risk now, too, and we can only hope that the Fourth Estate will do its job as Murrow and other luminaries of the past envisioned and ensured for themselves in their day.
FAMILY SUITABILITY: Good Night and Good Luck is rated PG because "some material may be unsuitable for children." In truth, I don't believe that any of the movie is suitable for children. That's not because of language, violence, or the like, but rather because of the nature of the story itself. Only adults will be able to grasp all of the implications of the plot; only adults will be able to appreciate what happens during the movie. I suspect that even the most mature child won't get much out of the movie, and will probably be bored out of his skull. You, on the other hand, won't be if you're there to see history, superlative movie-making, or both.