Mar. 6, 2006 - Goodnight and Good Luck

I had the pleasure of seeing this movie on Friday night before the Oscars. The theatre was full and seating was scarce. I had heard of Edward R. Murrow however I was unaware of the groundbreaking impact he had on broadcast journalism. This movie chronicles how Murrow and his team expose Senator Joe McCarthy (the 'junior' senator from Wisconsin) and his terrorization of the American public. The mixing in of actual historical footage allowed McCarthy to play himself which really allowed the film to come alive. Murrow was a deeply principled man who saw injustice and exposed it, risking alienation of CBS sponsors and defamation of his own character (manufactured by the McCarthy group). Filmed in black and white the realism of the 1950's was well if not expertly crafted. Historic film footage of the hearings and the proliferation of cigarette smoking took you back to 1954. Great film.