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'Good Night, and Good Luck': Questions still ring 50 years later

Nobody plays decent, quietly heroic men better than David Strathairn. The tormented pitcher in "Eight Men Out." The brave sheriff who sides with the miners in "Matewan." The conscience-stricken fisherman in "Limbo."

In George Clooney's stirring yet understated "Good Night, and Good Luck," Straithairn plays famed '50s journalist Edward R. Murrow, probably the most admired newsman in television history.

Warner Independent Pictures 'Good Night, And Good Luck' B+ The verdict: Good movie. Important movie. Director: George Clooney Starring: David Strathairn, George Clooney, Rose Abdoo, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson Run time: 90 minutes Release date: Oct. 7, 2005 Rating: PG for mild thematic elements and brief language. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Good Night, And Good Luck'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

The movie covers several months in the mid '50s when Murrow took on a monster named Sen. Joseph McCarthy ("played" here, in newsreels, by McCarthy himself). The junior senator from Wisconsin's so-called witch hunts for Commie sympathizers (read: anyone he personally did not think sufficiently American) ruined not only careers but lives. For many Americans, the phrase "Are you now or have you ever been" wasn't just the first step toward disgrace (warranted or not), but sometimes toward the grave.

The movie shows us Murrow as a man who picks his battles carefully, but, once committed, stays the course, undeterred by network jitters or his adversary's thug tactics. Tossing out bait as calculatedly as Roy Scheider luring Bruce the shark, Murrow does a segment on his weekly "See It Now" show about an airman discharged from the military with neither a trial nor a chance to know the charges. Murrow's point is not the man's innocence or guilt, but that he has been refused the right to see the evidence against him or to confront his accusers.

It doesn't take long for the bully McCarthy to charge. Standing with Murrow is his loyal CBS team — producer Fred Friendly (Clooney), fellow newsman Don Hollenbeck (Ray Wise) and secretly married (due to network policy) couple Joe and Shirley Wershba (Robert Downey Jr. and Patricia Clarkson).

Murrow's boss and CBS top dog, William Paley (deftly portrayed by Frank Langella), is on board, but reluctantly so. Murrow, who became famous bravely broadcasting from London during the Blitz, is the crown jewel of Paley's Tiffany network. However, "The $64,000 Question" brings in more cash than both of Murrow's shows put together. (The other is the fluffier "Person to Person," where Murrow keeps a straight face asking Liberace about future wedding plans.) Paley knows there could be severe economic repercussions if the sponsors decide Murrow is overstepping his bounds — if, as Paley bluntly puts it, he begins making the news instead of reporting it.

That question is at the heart of "Good Night, and Good Luck." What is the role of the media, be it 50 years ago or today? What is journalistic responsibility? Where do we draw the line? And, finally, are there always two sides to every story?

Murrow asks that of himself and his colleagues. But he clearly has taken a side, and it's not McCarthy's. The movie agrees the man is an abomination, but does that give Murrow the right to editorialize?

As expected, when McCarthy makes his on-air rebuttal, he rebuts nothing and merely attacks Murrow personally. To Clooney, that act justifies Murrow's decision, because it illustrates the very point the newsman was trying to make: that the power-hungry politician only wants to deal in accusations, not facts.

The movie, filmed in documentary-like black and white, was made for less than $10 million. Almost all the action takes place indoors, either at the network, a nearby bar or the testimonial dinner for Murrow in 1958 that bookends the film. The claustrophobic effect is an intentional reflection of how focused these men (and Clarkson) are, how their world has been reduced to a single moral battle, where one misstep could do enormous harm, not only to the country or to journalism, but to themselves. The ever-present cigarette in hand, the clipped enunciation impeccably replicated, and wearing a series of natty suits, Strathairn nails Murrow's manner and carriage. But his performance goes much deeper — into the man's sense of justice, his gentlemanly resolve, his piercing intelligence.

Briskly directed by Clooney with passion and an ear cocked for humorous camaraderie, "Good Night, and Good Luck" insists the media needs to mean something, that it must have a say in the public discourse it covers — though the precise nature of that say is still up for discussion.

These days, when an interview with a post-prison Martha Stewart and the birth of Britney's new baby are considered news, you have to wonder. Murrow may have won his battle, but we may all have lost the war.