Good Night, and Good Luck

Edward R. Murrow closed his broadcasts of See it Now on CBS with the phrase "Good night, and good luck."

In the early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy headed up  the House Un-American Activities Committee. The purpose of this committee was to expose communists that were trying to infiltrate our country. People brought before the committee were considered guilty until proven innocent. People could be blacklisted by innuendo alone, destroying lives and careers. The effects of McCarthyism still haunt the lives of many people half of a century later.

During the McCarthy era few people would stand up and say publicly that what was happening in this country was wrong. Edward R. Murrow was one of those people. After exposing McCarthy, McCarthy countered by claiming Murrow was a communist. McCarthy was eventually censured by the Senate, but allowed to remain in office.

Last night I saw Good Night, and Good Luck. Directed by George Clooney, the film is shot in black-and-white. It really captures the feeling of the era. Most of the film takes place in the smoke-filled newsroom at CBS. Actual news footage and old commercials are woven into the story. You leave the theater asking yourself how anything like this could ever happen in our country, but then you look at what is happening today and you realize just how difficult it is to stop abuse by a government that we elected to watch out for us.

David Strathairn does a remarkable job portraying Murrow. The film also features wonderful cast of other well known actors playing actual people from that era.

A bit of trivia: George Clooney said that when the movie underwent test screenings, audience members felt that the McCarthy character was overacting. They didn’t realize that the McCarthy character they saw on screen was actually McCarthy himself in archive footage.

I’ll give this movie two thumbs up!