>>REVIEW
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
STARRING David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson and George Clooney
DIRECTED BY George Clooney
Opens
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Filmed in lush black-and-white, George Clooney’s Good Night and Good Luck tries hard to look like a relic from the era it depicts – the 1950s. Set primarily in the CBS newsroom, where the crew of reporters and producers behind Edward R. Murrow’s nightly news program smoked incessantly and argued over how far the shows could push the boundaries, Clooney’s film sometimes feels as if it’s more a snapshot of a bygone era than anything else.
But this feeling is a passing one, thankfully. Good Night and Good Luck, which chronicles the showdown between news anchor Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy, is actually a perfect film for today. Subtly linking the McCarthy communist witch-hunts with the deceptiveness and treachery of the current U.S. administration, both of which rely on fear tactics to enforce their own agendas, Clooney’s film is a polemic about the politics of television.
In Good Night and Good Luck, David Strathairn stars as Murrow and Clooney plays Fred Friendly, his longtime friend and producer. Doing duty on mindless stories about Hollywood, Murrow pushes his team to take McCarthy to task for his senseless, unethical activities. Pushing the network’s envelope of comfort in the process, Murrow and his close-knit band of young male reporters played by, among others, Tate Donovan and Robert Downey Jr. speak out against McCarthy. Putting his job and reputation on the line, Murrow gambles that the American people will ultimately trust a levelheaded anchor over an ambitious politician and that it’s more than OK for a reporter to have an opinion and share it.
Although Good Night and Good Luck is sometimes weighed down by its over-use of stock footage, it’s beautifully shot and subtly poignant. Strathairn, who’s been skirting leading-man status and significant fame throughout his impressive career, particularly shines as the stoic Murrow. Signing off each broadcast with his titular tagline and preceding it with eloquent, thought-provoking editorials on McCarthyism, politics and the world at large (who can imagine hearing one of today’s newsmen quoting Shakespeare on air), Murrow comes off as the kind of unsung hero the world could use right now.
Like another film from a celebrated American actor, Robert Redford’s Quiz Show, Good Night and Good Luck reminds us that television was not always perceived as simply a cash cow. At one time the medium was viewed with possibility, as something that could entertain as well as inform. Now, in an era when TV news is held to the same ratings standards as everything from The Bachelor to The O.C., Clooney’s film is particularly pointed. It reminds us to take another look at the media at large and question where it’s going and, more importantly, where it’s taking us. |
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