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Of the many pleasures of George Clooney's second film as director, chief is the evocation of a time when breaking the news seemed to matter more.
Good Night, and Good Luck. chronicles the on and off-air tussle that unfolded in the mid-1950s between CBS journalist Ed Murrow's 'See It Now' show and the witch-hunting 'junior Senator from Wisconsin' Joseph McCarthy. Sure-handed writing and direction establishes a world that's cinematic and intensely seductive, not least for being so intelligent and principled. David Strathairn's Oscar-nominated performance as Murrow helps: he's fastidious, erudite, articulate and grave, and dolefully funny rather than flippant. However, the triumph of Good Night... is that – McCarthy/Dubya-baiting aside – it's the sort of film that Republicans would love too. All-American through and through, it's nostalgic, stately of pace, and shot unfussily using only those techniques available to mid-50s cameramen. (Robert Elswit's elegant monochrome photography is another major plus.) Above all things an exhortation to have faith - in facts, not assumptions - and be smarter, it fights a good fight, and makes for very good work.

 

Mike McCahill on 9th June 2006
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