Good Night, and Good Luck is the story of 1953’s televised debates between CBS news journalist Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy. And though the film is shot in black and white and takes place over 50 years ago, the story is as relevant now as it ever was. Given today’s watered-down journalism, where much of the news we receive is filtered to please corporate sponsors and where credible journalists seem harder and harder to come by, its rare to see any journalist, to put it bluntly, grow some balls and ask the tough questions that need to be asked. Murrow, like him or not, had balls.
At the time of the McCarthy hearings, Murrow (played by David Strathairn, who you know, even if you don’t know it) and his producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney, who also directs) are skeptical that justice is truly being served, and are weary of what seems to be no more than a McCarthy witch hunt. As the film unfolds Murrow and Friendly grow more convinced that McCarthy and his tactics are becoming an unjust yet unstoppable force, and despite pressure from CBS heads not to do it, Murrow and team use his program as a platform to raise pointed questions to the American viewing audience about the McCarthy hearings and the legitimacy in the accusations brought against those on trial. The programs are so controversial that finally even McCarthy (played by McCarthy, in vintage footage) fires back, accusing Murrow himself of being a communist sympathizer.
Though the heat of the shows quickly lead to the end of Murrow’s program on CBS, his legacy still remains - and the guts he showed 50 years ago are an example to journalists everywhere, then and now, of what news journalism could – and should – be about.
This one’s as good as they're saying, guys...by far the best film I have seen this year.
Good Night, and Good Luck is in theatres now.
