"Good Night, Good Luck" - Question . . .

I know I read something about it here a while back. Looks like it'll be a damn good movie to me! What do you think? I plead ignorance here, so please forgive me.

And timely as well, what with the wingnuts attempts to rehabilitate McCarthy lately.

I've read and heard.

What we're going through isn't entirely new. The press was cowed before, when Senator Joe McCarthy was on a witch-hunt for "commies." People turned in friends to the government. People were called before congress and if they didn't name names, they were ruined, whether or not they knew any actual commies. Many "gave up" co-workers and friends who were accused just so they themselves weren't labeled commies. Finally, a brave radio journalist named Edward R. Murrow began to speak out against it. The network brass threatened him with perpetual fluff reporting. He had to make the choice -- country or career. He determined that he'd have to do a few fluff pieces in order to stay on the air long enough to help bring down McCarthy. When he finally did, and broadcast a now-famous speech telling America, essentially, WAKE THE FUCK UP, it was a turning point in the McCarthy witch hunts, and gave others in the press the balls to stand up, too.

I think the timing of the release of this movie is spectacular.

I hope all the goddam lilly-livered young twits calling themselves "journalists" see this movie, and fast. America needs 'em as much now, if not more, than it did back in Murrow's day.

who's seen it yet because it's in very limited release until next weekend. However, I've read lots of articles and reviews about it and people are raving. George Clooney, a fine progressive I might add, is much more than a pretty face. He co-wrote and directed this film. He has a lesser role in it as an actor because he had someone in mind who he felt would be perfect for the role, and apparently there's even oscar buzz for this actor. I can't wait to see this film!

Wow!!!!!!

used for the film. I grew up with Murrow and Straithhorn is dead on. It was deeply dangerous to be in opposition then and he helped take McCarthy down. He's one of my life long heroes and this movie seems to do him justice.

Adding that the movie reminds us that dissenting does not mean that one is "anti American."

Plus, their prediction that Faux News and Limping and the rest would consider it a liberal propagnada... you know it has to be good.


Can't wait to see it.

Murrow was prophetic in his vision of the world of news and media. His words back then ring so eerily true today.

To me, its kind of an "Apollo 13" of the media world. Not quite as action packed, but much more significant and in the lives of all Americans, namely those who were hunted by McCarthy.

My hope is it will become a catalyst for more films that chronicle historic moments and historic material.

I also hope for a time where people like Murrow will be more common place. That people doing good work and taking on the tough issues will be rewarded for their work, and commended in the highest capacity in all realms.

I love Murrow. He was fearless.

Here's absolute classic Murrow reporting from London.
Sociological Impact of War from 4 Sept 1939
724 Kb MP3 (3:04)

Another classic wartime Murrow. "This is London"
Wartime Spring in England from 9 March 1941
1.7 Mb MP3 (7:14)

Right click on links and select "Save as...".
Enjoy everybody.

on edit: added timings

And hours and hours of WW II era newscasts including some real gems.
I have posted links to more Murrow on these forums in the past. You can search for them; they're still up on my server.

Link to more Murrow

by the (get this) House Un-American Activities Committee or HUAC:

First, the "Hollywood Ten":

While the Hollywood Ten were the most high-profile screenwriters and directors blacklisted, many others, including some of Hollywood's most famous and successful writers found themselves unable to work in their fields during the time of the red scare while others had their careers all but destroyed.

Alvah Bessie, screenwriter
Herbert Biberman, screenwriter, director
Lester Cole, screenwriter
Edward Dmytryk, director
Ring Lardner, Jr, journalist, screenwriter
John Howard Lawson, writer
Albert Maltz, author, screenwriter
Samuel Ornitz , screenwriter
Adrian Scott, screenwriter, film producer
Dalton Trumbo, screenwriter, novelist

Most estimates indicate that the blacklist involved approximately 325 employees in film and related industries. However, according to Carl Foreman's son, Jonathan Foreman, a lawyer, historian, and editorial writer and senior film critic for the New York Post, there were 500 or so victims of the Hollywood blacklist. Dalton Trumbo said of it: "the blacklist was a time of such evil, no one survived untouched."

Blacklisted Film Artists:

Allen Adler, screenwriter
Larry Adler, actor, musician
Orson Bean, actor
Barbara Bel Geddes, actress
Herschel Bernardi, actor
Walter Bernstein, screenwriter
John Berry, actor, screenwriter, director
Marc Blitzstein, composer
Allen Boretz, songwriter
Phoebe Brand, actress
Bertolt Brecht, screenwriter
J. Edward Bromberg, actor
Sidney Buchman, screenwriter
Hugo Butler, screenwriter
Morris Carnovsky, actor
Jerome Chodorov, writer
Aaron Copland, composer
Jeff Corey, actor
John Cromwell director
Jules Dassin, director
Roger De Koven, actor
Paul Draper, actor, dancer
Hanns Eisler, composer
Cy Endfield, screenwriter, director
John Henry Faulk, radio personality
Jerry Fielding, composer
Carl Foreman, producer, screenwriter
John Garfield, actor
Betty Garrett, actress
Will Geer, actor
Jack Gilford, actor
Bernard Gordon, screenwriter
Lloyd Gough, actor
Lee Grant, actress
Dashiell Hammett, writer
Sterling Hayden, actor
Lillian Hellman, playwright
Marsha Hunt, actress
Sidney Kingsley, playwright
Sam Jaffe, actor
Paul Jarrico, producer, screenwriter
Gordon Kahn, screenwriter
Pert Kelton, actress
Victor Kilian, actor
Howard Koch, screenwriter, actor
Alexander Knox, actor
Arthur Laurents, writer
Marc Lawrence, actor
John Howard Lawson, writer
Canada Lee, actor
Robert Lees, screenwriter
Louise Lewis, actress
Philip Loeb, actor
Joseph Losey, director
Arnold Manoff, screenwriter
Robert A. McGowan, screenwriter, director
Burgess Meredith, actor
Arthur Miller, playwright
Karen Morley, actress
Zero Mostel, actor
Jean Muir, actress
Clifford Odets, writer
Dorothy Parker, writer
Larry Parks, actor
Leo Penn, actor
Abraham Polonsky, screenwriter, director
John Randolph, actor
Maurice Rapf, screenwriter
Anne Revere, actress
Rosaura Revueltas, actress
Frederic I. Rinaldo, screenwriter
Martin Ritt, actor, director
Paul Robeson, actor, singer
Edwin Rolfe, poet
Robert Rossen, screenwriter
Jean Rouverol, actress, writer
Waldo Salt, screenwriter
Pete Seeger, folk singer
Irwin Shaw, writer
Joshua Shelley, actor
Howard Da Silva, actor
Gale Sondergaard, actress
Lionel Stander, actor
Frank Tarloff, screenwriter
Dorothy Tree, actress
Louis Untermeyer, poet
Michael Wilson, screenwriter
Richard N. Wright, writer
Nedrick Young, actor, screenwriter

Source: Blacklisted Artists

http://wip.warnerbros.com/goodnightgoodluck/

Yeah. I can see it in Houston on 10/14/05

OCTOBER 7, 2005
Boston
Los Angeles
New York
San Francisco
Washington D.C.

OCTOBER 14, 2005
Atlanta
Baltimore
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
Ft. Lauderdale
Houston
Miami
Minneapolis
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Portland
Seattle
West Palm Beach

OCTOBER 21, 2005
Albuquerque
Anchorage
Austin
Charlotte
Chicago
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Columbus
Fresno
Ft. Meyers
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Monterey
Orlando
Pittsburg
Reno
Sacramento
Salt Lake City
San Antonio
San Diego
Santa Barbara
St. Louis
Tallahassee

OCTOBER 28, 2005
Montreal
Nashville
Toronto
Tucson
Vancouver

:-(

I know most of the people here are way, way too young to remember, but there had been stories about McCarthy's tactics written in the New York Times and in other papers for more than a year before the famous "See It Now" broadcast. And, contrary to popular opinion, it was NOT Murrow's expose that put the nail in McCarthy's coffin: that came about a year later during the Army McCarthy hearings; that's the one in which the witness asked him "Have you no shame ... at long last."

To Murrow's everlasting credit, however, he was the first TV broadcaster to take a serious look at McCarthy. This is very significant when you think about who the TV audience was in the 1950s - middle class Americans, war veterans, who were accustomed to think well of their country and their leaders. Murrow carefully took them into the cobweb-filled mind of McCarthy in a series of shows that looked at people whose lives had been ruined by McCarthy's scare tactics, finally culminating in the direct examination of McCarthy that I think this movie concentrates upon.

Murrow also deserves credit for the gamble he forced his network to take, since it was well and truly thought that TV should be an entertainment and not a news medium. Unlike print journalists, who had an established string of court precedent protecting their freedom of speech, there was no such foundation for TV reporting. Yet the network's cojones quickly retracted after the broadcast, and CBS' main rival, NBC, never picked up its gauntlet. In fact, when McCarthy started his new witchhunt against the Army, both CBS and NBC turned complete chicken and did not report on the hearings.

However, ABC - then a brand new network - took a gamble. They knew that American's eyes had been opened due to Murrow's broadcast and that, despite what the other networks thought, there WAS an audience among the middle class for political and news content on TV. ABC's hunch was justified when millions of Americans abandoned the game shows and soap operas being shown on the other two networks and tuned in to ABC for its gavel-to-gavel coverage. It was when Americans saw with their own eyes what kind of person McCarthy was - instead of reading about it in print or catching edited glimpses - that McCarthy's reign of terror came to an end.

So, even though Murrow didn't bring down McCarthy, he deserves all the credit in the world for giving the American public a gentle shove that turned into a momentum of public opinion that eventually brought the monster down. Had Murrow not taken the chance and woken the sleeping American middle class to the danger - well, who knows what we would have today. Perhaps a government that rules by fear and making scapegoats?

Something tells me you're a writer. A very educated one. :)

Excellent background info, and a good read. Some stuff I hadn't heard before!

than some cinematic re-enactment.

However, I've read some say Ike really undercut McCarthy behind the scenes. Maybe.... but it seems like Ike should have got his party to moderate or stop this asshole.

And if you don't know it yet.... The Rethug Party is making an effort to rehabilitate Joe McCarthy and his form of Republicanism. We're hearing more and more that McCarty was right and shouldn't be vilified.

politics do you see?

Only 70 reviews so far at IMDb because GNGL has been in limited release. Nationwide release is October 14.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433383/externalreviews

Curious George:
Everything you thought you knew about Clooney—the roguish guy's guy and lady-killer—is true. So how'd he direct one of the best and smartest movies of the year?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9555148/site/newsweek/

I haven't seen it yet but it sounds like a winner to me.