Cheap Cds - Good Night and Good Luck [2005]

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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Interesting take on McCarthyism.
Comment: George Clooney's second film from behind the camera focuses-sorry,couldn't resist the pun!!-on the
bad old days of McCarthy's hysterical anti-communist crusade in the early 1950s.It centres on the
reporting of Ed Murrow(played by David Strathairn),and the reaction against it by the right(not just
McCarthy)and Murrow's struggles with the suits at CBS trying to get and keep his reporting on the
air.
Clooney plays a producer for Murrow-well acted,but he keeps a low profile in most of the
film.The parallels between the anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s and the flagwaving jingoism post
11/09/01 are obvious,and Clooney dosen't strees them,they emerge naturally as the film goes on. />Let's hope Clooney continues to be interested in making odd,non-Hollywood films-if the suits at
the studios let him!!!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Waste of my life!!!
Comment: Nice lighting, expensive and talented actors. Complete rubbish to watch and nauseating. Save your
money and get a good movie, don't believe the other reviews get something like: Anatomy, City of God
or the Bicycle thief instead.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Great Film
Comment: This is simply a great film. Brilliantly acted, well directed, fantastic script. It conveys the
paranoia and madness of the McCarthy era in the States brilliantly, without you actually having to
know too much of what went on. As it is based on true facts it shows how brave Murrow was in taking
a stand against McCarthyism. It also is a great lesson to today's sensation seeking journalists on
what it takes to stand up for what you believe in and yet still remain impartial and let the facts
do the work for you. I warmly recommend this film to everyone.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Very good
Comment: This film is a salutary lesson in the fact that the USA goes through regular fits of total
barminess, such as the one currently being endured under the present theocracy. In the early 1950s,
Wisconsin, a state famous for two reasons only, dairy products and the Green Bay Packers, acquired a
dubious third, a junior Senator called Joseph McCarthy, who sought to make a name for himself by
finding Reds under nearly every bed. It was an era when people could lose jobs because they were
risks to national security, based on evidence they weren't allowed to see and when the media were
relatively subdued for fear of being labelled as "unpatriotic" or even "treasonous". Sound
familiar?

The story is of the confrontation between McCarthy and the distinguished CBS
newsman Ed Murrow, famous for his broadcasts from London during the Blitz ("Goodnight, and good
luck" was his London sign-off - after all, nobody knew whether there was a Luftwaffe bomb with your
name on it - which he kept). On his CBS news show, Murrow calmly and methodically exposed McCarthy
for the humbug that he was, and when McCarthy tried to smear him, equally calmly and methodically
took him apart. It was the end of the road for McCarthyism (although the whole travesty of
un-American activities, blacklisted Hollywood writers, etc., was to continue for some years). />
The film is in black and white and features director George Clooney in a secondary role.
Murrow is played by David Strathairn, who looks passably like Murrow, and he does a splendid job as
the determined journalist. No actor plays McCarthy, he being played by himself, on old TV
recordings. Another good role is CBS's long-suffering boss, forever on the verge of becoming a
nervous wreck because of the fear of Murrow's crusading scaring away the sponsors. In the end, he
tells Murrow that his type of reporting is no longer required and changes the nature of his
show.

Which brings us to the beginning and the end of the film. The story is bookended
by a speech that Murrow gave to a radio and TV association meeting, which was a litany of complaint
of how television, a powerful force for enlightenment, was becoming a trivial medium, lacking
serious meaning and squandering its potential. It wasn't popular, but how right it was...
/>All in all, a short film (less than 1½ hours) effectively executed and well worth seeing. The
atmosphere and feel of the time (including endless cigarettes!) are beautifully captured.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Very good, if a bit dry, drama about courageous TV journalists
Comment: George Clooney's second film as director sees him once again tackling a TV-related true story. In
this case, it's about a group of television journalists - headed by Edward R Murrow - who take a
brave but dangerous stand against Senator McCarthy's persecution of suspected communists in the
1950s.

This is one of those films that wears its worthiness with pride. There's nothing
specifically wrong with that, but it made Good Night a little dry for my taste - a film that's
ultimately more interesting than entertaining. It also benefits greatly from hindsight, allowing
Clooney to revel in the rightness of Murrow's cause, giving the film a slight air of smugness, which
some may find off-putting.

That said, this is still a good one. It's a lovingly crafted
drama, nicely acted by the ensemble cast, and the film does offer a fascinating and inspiring look
at a group of folks who had the courage to challenge the status quo even when it could have ended
their careers. I can't imagine too many TV presenters would be willing to do that these days.

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