Good Night, and Good Luck.
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Good Night, and Good Luck. is an Academy Award-nominated 2005 film directed by George Clooney and written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, that portrays the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, especially relating to the anti-Communist Senator's actions with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
The movie, although released in black and white, was filmed on color film stock but on a grayscale set, and was later color corrected to black and white during post-production. It focuses on the theme of media responsibility, and also addresses what occurs when media is a voice of dissent against the government.
The title is taken from the line with which Murrow routinely closed his broadcasts.
The Region 1 DVD of the film was released March 14, 2006.
Characters
The main characters include:
- Edward R. Murrow - (David Strathairn) a television journalist and host of the CBS television program See It Now.
- Fred Friendly - (George Clooney) co-producer with Murrow of See It Now.
- Don Hollenbeck - (Ray Wise) a journalist and contemporary of Murrow's at CBS who was accused in the press of being a "pinko."
- William S. Paley - (Frank Langella) the chief executive of CBS.
Synopsis
Good Night, and Good Luck. takes place during the early days of broadcast journalism in the 1950s. Edward R. Murrow, and his dedicated staff —headed by his co-producer Fred Friendly and reporter Joseph Wershba in the CBS newsroom— defy corporate and sponsorship pressures, and discredit the tactics used by McCarthy during his crusade to root out communist elements within the government. Murrow first defends Milo Radulovich, who was discharged from the U.S. Air Force because his father subscribed to a Serbian newspaper. A very public feud develops when the Senator responds by accusing the anchor of being a communist. Murrow is accused of having been a Wobbly. In this climate of fear and reprisal, the CBS crew carries on and their tenacity will prove historic and monumental. Historical footage also shows the questioning of Annie Lee Moss, a Pentagon communication worker accused of being a communist based on her name appearing on a list seen by an FBI infiltrator of the American Communist Party. The film's subplots feature recently married staffers having to hide their marriage to save their jobs at CBS; and the suicide of Don Hollenbeck, who was accused of being a pinko. The film is bookended by a speech to the Radio and Television News Directors Association, in which Murrow harshly admonishes them not to squander the potential of television to inform and educate the public.Awards and nominations
- 2006 Academy Awards nominations:
- *Best Motion Picture of the Year
- *Best Achievement in Directing, George Clooney
- *Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, David Strathairn
- *Best Original Screenplay
- *Best Achievement in Art Direction
- *Best Achievement in Cinematography
- 2006 Golden Globe Awards nominations:
- *Best Motion Picture (Drama category)
- *Best Director (Motion Picture category), George Clooney
- *Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama category), David Strathairn
- *Best Screenplay (Motion Picture category), George Clooney and Grant Heslov
- 2005 Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations:
- *Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Motion Picture category), David Strathairn
- *Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
- The American Film Institute (AFI) has named the film as one of its Official Selections for 2005.
Critics
Although the film has been received with generally glowing reviews (it was named "Best Reviewed Film of 2005 in Limited Release" with a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes), a number of commentators have questioned its accuracy and overall tone. They contend that by the time Murrow had begun to focus on Joe McCarthy (in March of 1954), McCarthy had lost a large amount of support from his colleagues and the Administration, mainly stemming from his investigations into the U.S. Army.
Perhaps because of its limited cast and condensed, compressed storyline and "view" (almost all action and story was depicted on a set that replicated the CBS News studios), the film at times seems to imply that Murrow was the lone voice of dissent. Murrow undoubtedly contributed a great deal to the public's knowledge of McCarthy, but he was only one of a number of journalists and government figures who were critical of the increasingly unpopular politician. Newspaper columnists such as Walter Lippmann and even Murrow's CBS colleagues Eric Sevareid and Edward P. Morgan had previously broadcast critical commentaries about McCarthy prior to the See It Now show, as had Murrow himself.
Jack Shafer, a columnist from the online magazine, Slate.com accused the film of continuing the hagiography of Murrow.["Edward R. Movie - Good Night, and Good Luck and bad history"] by Jack Shafer, Slate.com (retrieved March 1, 2006)
Roger Ebert, in his [review], contends that "[t]he movie is not really about the abuses of McCarthy, but about the process by which Murrow and his team eventually brought about his downfall (some would say his self-destruction). It is like a morality play, from which we learn how journalists should behave. It shows Murrow as fearless, but not flawless."
Trivia about the film
- Rather than cast an actor to portray Senator McCarthy, the film uses actual footage of McCarthy. Ironically, some industry figures and audience members who attended preliminary screenings were unaware of this and in feedback comments indicated that the "actor" playing McCarthy was "over-the-top".
- George Clooney had a wealth of knowledge about the subject matter of this film; Clooney was a journalism major in college, and his father, Nick Clooney, was a television journalist for many years, appearing as an anchorman in Ohio and Buffalo, New York.
- George Clooney opted to be paid $3 for writing, directing and acting in Good Night and Good Luck. He received a more substantial amount by taking a cut of the profits.
- Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former eBay president Jeff Skoll are among the executive producers.
- Production designer James Bissell used the 3D computer graphics software program SketchUp to model the entire studio set including all sets and camera angles [link].
- Young Robert Kennedy is shown in the movie during McCarthy's hearing sessions. He was then a staff member of McCarthy's.
Posters
References
External links
- [Official Site]
- [}}}] at Rotten Tomatoes
- [Good Night and Good Luck on Yahoo! Movies] - [Cast]
- [David Strathairn Online] – contains photos, multimedia, quotes, and commentary
- [Extensive film coverage at Clooney Network]
- [McCarthyism and the Movies]
- [Joe and Shirley Wershba interviewed on Eric Kuhn's college Radio Show]
- [Good Night, And Good Luck. Script]
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