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| 2005 NYFF Films Introduction Good Night, and Good Luck Regular Lovers The Death of Mr. Lazarescu Methadonia L'Enfant (The Child) Bubble The Squid and the Whale I Am Capote Something Like Happiness Sympathy for Lady Vengeance Manderlay Tale of Cinema Breakfast on Pluto Through the Forest The President's Last Bang Who's Camus Anyway? Three Times Paradise Now Tristram Shandy Gabrielle The Sun The Passenger Cache (Hidden) | Good Night, And Good
Luck. George Clooney, USA, 2005, 90 min.  In his amusing first film, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, George Clooney, whose dad is a long-time TV anchorman, dramatized the fanciful autobiography of a kooky Seventies game show host. This time he films the conflict between much respected, ultra-solemn CBS TV commentator and veteran newsman Edward R. Murrow and the dark prince of early Fifties communist-scare witch-hunting, Senator Joseph McCarthy. In the film, Murrow defends a navy pilot who¹s been kicked out as a security threat without being told the charges, and the pilot is reinstated. McCarthy accuses Murrow of being a communist sympathizer and Murrow rebuts. McCarthy is subsequently sued by the Army and censored by the Senate so again Murrow has won the battle; but he loses the war, because CBS, then headed by the regal William S. Paley, soon phases Murrow out. The film looks very elegant with its rich black and white (blending with archival footage for McCarthy) heavily weighted to close-ups intersperced with jazz song interludes sung onscreen by Dianne Reeves. The cast is led by David Strathairn as Murrow and George Clooney as his producer and right hand man, Fred W. Friendly. The period atmosphere is spot-on. But the overall effect is dry and a little self-important, and the result is a rather limited picture of the red-baiting period for viewers unacquainted with the overall history. (Chris Knipp) |
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