Good Night, and Good Luck
I’m kind of surprised that it’s taken me 20 years to have George Clooney’s feature directorial debut reviewed on Sonic Cinema. As I prepared to watch it for a podcast, it occurred to me that maybe it was meant to be. After all, at the current moment, we are wondering which reporters- be they in print or on television- might have the courage of Edward R. Murrow when he took on Senator Joseph McCarthy in his hunting for Communists during the 1950s. Speaking truth to power, holding the powerful to account, is what we need now more than ever. Are the corporations that own news outlets too influenced by the top? How did Murrow do what he did at that time?
One of Clooney’s master strokes in this drama is how he uses actual footage of the time of McCarthy for his Murrow- played by the excellent David Strathairn- to go up against. Yes, he could have cast someone to play McCarthy, but as we watch the footage on screen, any performance by an actor would have hit the wrong notes. They would have either gone too over the top or tried to underplay it for dramatic effect. Having Strathairn react to the footage as Murrow is where this film gets its power.
We are less than a decade into the Cold War when Murrow begins to challenge McCarthy. It does not start with McCarthy, however; Murrow and his producer, Fred Friendly (Clooney), begin with a story about an Air Force pilot who has been removed from his post for suspected Communist ties. Two colonels challenge them on their story before it airs. It’s the opening salvo in a battle between the government and the press, one where the outcome is in doubt. It would not be the first time the press would find itself challenging the powers that be in Washington in the last half of the century.
The screenplay by Clooney and Grant Heslov is lean, mean and straightforward. Clooney understands the story he wants to tell, and its 93-minute running time moves like a bullet. Murrow gets pushback from his bosses, but he’s told to make sure everyone he works with on this is clean re: any Communist ties. To hit him, they use his own words, because- let’s be honest- that is the most damning source for some politicians. We don’t have to imagine the sort of attacks a news organization- or any type of show- is threatened with now; it is actually happening as I write this, as news organizations “bend the knee” rather than fight in the courts. Clooney recognizes the importance of fighting against authoritarians- even if he has sometimes taken controversial ways of showing it in real life. His filmmaking here is exquisite- the brilliant production design, the beautiful black-and-white cinematography by Robert Elswit, and the crisp editing by Stephen Mirrione.
“Good Night, and Good Luck” is an extraordinary collection of performances, and actors. Everyone gets their moment- Ray Wise, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Frank Langella and Matt Ross among many others make their mark on the material. The film belongs to Strathairn, though, whose steely intensity on camera- and the wealth of humanity in his eyes- give us everything we need to know about the legendary journalist. This is as vital a film as it ever was.
