Review of Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) by Christina W — 04 Apr 2010

I love this film. I must admit, I have been enamored with Murrow's classic battles with the repulsive Joseph McCarthy and his communist witch hunt, and this film does an impeccable job of handling the material accurately and responsibly.

While this film is certainly "anti-McCarthy" (as I'm sure anyone of decency likely is), the film doesn't try to aim for the throat of the junior Senator directly, but instead chooses to re-enact the facts as closely as possible (even getting members of the Murrow and Fred Friendly family to check facts and try to illustrate the events as much as possible).

This never feels like a history film to me, but a terrific thriller, a powerful story of a man whose success up to that point was based on fluff pieces who saw an injustice and chose to charge against it head on.

Credit should go to Straithairn for OWNING the Murrow role. The gruff, authoritative, resonating tone of Murrow is very evident, and Clooney effectively directs himself as his supportive boss Fred Friendly.

Rather than use an actor for McCarthy, the film uses actual McCarthy footage, echoing the same technique Murrow used to expose McCarthy. This is a terrific story that is even more powerful in a time where people are using terms like "progressives" and "conservatives" the same venomous and vitriolic way McCarthy mislabeled people as Communists.

Clooney is a very good actor, but I am almost more interested to see where he goes with his directing career, which so far has yielded some really great films. Oh yes, and the black and white cinematography is gorgeous here.