Good Night, and Good Luck

Good Night, And Good Luck. looks at the early years of television and journalism principles; specifically the on-air clash in the 1950's between Edward R. Murrow of CBS and Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. With an outstanding cast, including McCarthy himself through archival footage, this film comes alive with intense emotion while depicting the historical See It Now shows and journalism integrity. Sen. Joseph McCarthy abused his position of power when he claimed many U.S. citizens were Communist Party members. By instilling fear he was able to cripple people's lives with uncorroborated hearsay evidence. Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) decided to report the known facts of McCarthy's tactics on his show with the assistance of his right-hand man, Fred Friendly (George Clooney). With Murrow's strong following he was able change the course of history. The film was produced in black and white and with impeccable acting and props I felt I was living through the events and they unf... Read more

"...television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us..." Ed Murrow, 1958 Any film with that line in it is a smart cautionary tale that you really want to root for. As a writer and a Broadcasting graduate of the Cronkite School at ASU, I was pre-disposed to love this film. Unfortunately, this powerful 'docudrama' misses the mark on several fronts. Though the film bypasses the personal stories of Murrow and his producer/confidant Fred Friendly, it does take sidetrips into the lives of several lesser characters (the Wershba's one-note cute couple angle/Hollenbeck's instability). By dissipating the power of the film in this manner, the lack of Murrow's innerworld is just as stunning as the foisting on us of smaller character arcs that we barely care about. Murrow is so buttoned-down in this portrayal he's virtually bloodless. And the B&W; landscape, along with the hothouse atmosphere inside the studio we almost never leave, eventually takes... Read more

George Clooney's second attempt at the triple threat of filmmaking (actor/writer/director) that in 2005 got him and the film Oscar nominated 6 times (and winning none) sorta to me after five years didn't seem all that impressive. The true story of 1950's CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow's battle against the mass accusation of communism brought by then Senator Joseph McCarthy should have been alot more enthralling than this. Clooney definitely has the power to bring in some great A-List actors (Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Daniels, Patricia Clarkson, Frank Langella), but the story as a whole seems bogged down by pacing and too much stock footage used of the actual broadcasted interviews and original people involved. Murrow here is portrayed by character actor David Strathairn, who no doubt is very well at his craft, but lacks any real punch or drive like the real Murrow showed over fifty years ago. As a history lesson, it does educate the viewer in the now-absurd public witchhunt of the 1950'... Read more

You had to be around in the 50's to understand that Edward R. Morrow was as much a hero as a newsman as one could want. The red scare hate monger Joseph McCarthy was a lot like George Bush's use of torture in the fight against terrorism: the campaign seemed right in cold war terms to many in the military. Casualties of the black listing in the 50's read like an intellectual's whose who. One of the last ones was Dr. Oppenheimer who for philosophical reasons opposed the H-bomb proliferation after having been the leader in the development of the A-bomb in the late WWII years. I really wish that there had been more TV newsmen with guts like Edward R. Morrow.

Great service, great movie, great Christmas gift. I'm very pleased with this transaction and product.

I bought this DVD after the Oscar hype. It is perhaps one of the worst movies I have seen. I can't figure out which is more atrocious - the screen play or meandering direction. Basically it is like a 20 minute documentary stretched out to full length movie with lots of unnecessary plot diversions. AWFUL!!!

This probably should merit a four from me, but I just love this B and W film.  I was won over by the atmosphere and solid performances.  The film attacks the blatant use of media and propoganda by entrenched powers for purposes of control (i.e. the McCarthy saga) and is quite contemporary in its attack on television.  The sheer contemporary feel of the message of the film could be a weakness for some- but I'm a sucker for a movie with brains and atmosphere.

i was expecting alot. but this was sooo boring. and i felt like i came in during the middle of the movie. though the main actor was really good.

I am fairly familiar with the McCarthy saga and its repurcussions. But I found this movie shedded little light on this American "Reign of Terror." But worse of all, I found this movie about as boring a flick as I have seen in a long time (Gosford Park was the most boring movie I ever saw). I don't mind Black and White. But the hushed voices and endless close ups of men puffing heaters talking in hushed voices was just stultifying and sonorous. It knocked me (and my wife) out quicker than a Joe Frazier left hook. I guess this is one of those movies that the Bluest of Blue Staters love. The obvious allegory of Murrow vs. McCarthy with the Press vs. the current administration is quite obvious. They hope this propaganda will help bring the GOP down, to be replaced by (take your pick) Tall, lean, out of touch Kerry, Menopausal Maniac Hillary, or some out of the blue ex-Guv like Virginia's Mark Warner (who can't even get his wife to change her last name). I feel totally guilty that I... Read more

This is better than I thought it would be. I always like black and white, but my criticism was the camera was TOO CLOSE to the subjects. We didn't need to see all those blemishes, did we? We see that every day. I thought it would be more heavy handed lefto than it was. Murrow actually had very little to do with bringing down McCarthy. McCarthy lost his footing when he took on the army and then Eisenhower and the large military establishement turned on McCarthy. McCarthy had very little to do with the "Red Scare." The Hollywood Ten and others appeared before Congress when the Democrats were in charge and therefore McCarthy would not have been chairman. He made his first speech on the subject at Wheeling February 9, 1950, and was "denounced" in 1954. I think the Hollywood Ten appeared before the HCUA in the mid-1950's after the Democrats had taken over the Congress. In any event they appeared in the House and not the Senate where McCarthy served until he died in 1957. The Lef... Read more

A collection of superb performances that added up to an aggressively average film. Something was missing from this movie. It just wasn't worthy of all the accolades it has received. It should be noted that, among my friends at least, mine is a minority opinion. Of last year's well regarded movies, I simply thought that Capote and Brokeback Mountain were far better.

I loved the way Good Night and Good Luck was filmed - all that back lighting and so much picturesque cigarette smoke that I thought I was going to start coughing. I do remember those regrettable McCarthy era days, as well as Edward R. Morrow, vaguely, as someone my parents watched, but the movie rings almost too true for today and is worth note. We have to be vigilant, folks, if we want to prevent a repeat perfomance of what happened then. Lets guard our liberties!

OK, it looks like this movie is pretty well made, I'll have to go and see it. I was too young to remember the times (vis-a-vis the "Red Scare) but have heard so much about it that I find the whole situation fascinating. But . . . The people behind this movie have an unmistakable, predictable political agenda. There is more to the story of Sen. Joe McCarthey than empty, grandstanding accusations against inncoent people. If you leave the theatre convinced that McCarthy was an evil man who smeared people injustifiably (in EVERY case) you owe it to yourself to find out more, because you might have fallen victim to the same sort of propaganda against which both Joe McCarthy and Edward R. Murrow fought.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film from beginning to end. Granted, I'm fascinated by the history of the time period portrayed and the politics involved. If you're not interested in those things you may not get much from the movie . . . but you should. See it anyway & try to understand what it's all about. What it's about is as current today as it was way back when. Funny (or not) how history repeats. A film of this type, with this message will always be relavent, no matter which side of the political spectrum you prefer. I thought the movie was brilliantly filmed in black & white. I enjoyed the editing and camera angles. The dialougue is intelligent and, at times, quite funny in a low-key sort of way. There's more going on than meets the eye. Finally, the movie made me want to find out even more about the characters involved. If a film can make me pick up a book then it has done it's job.