Good Night and Good Luck | ★★★★★★★★

Ann and I watched the TV HD version of this movie last night. It was an interesting probe into a dark era in our country's history when Senator Joseph McCarthy held witch-hunt like hearings in our nation's capitol. The movie also highlighted the effect that the newly formed broadcast TV news had on the hearings.

Initially CBS news anchor Edward R. Murrow (the main character) and virtually all of CBS News cowered at McCarthy's campaign of insinuation and innuendo against communist sympathizers. In a televised speech McCarthy seemed to even say that if you questioned his anti-communist hearings then you were suspect because to do so meant that you must have communist leanings.

I had a hard time not thinking about the way that patriotism is used today in similar ways against people who do not act in ways that we deem to be patriotic. Frankly, I am amazed how much innuendo and insinuation has been used to characterize a sitting United States Senator.. and much of it guised as a search for "the truth" of who this senator is.. sigh.. maybe history does subtly repeat itself.

Back to the movie. I thought that the story line was good because it did not try to cover Murrow's career in it's entirety. The focus of how he courageously confronted McCarthy and how CBS head Bill Paley backed him was a good focus. I am not a fan of the black and white movie genre and would have been happier if at least some of the movie was in color. I thought that the acting was good and David Strathairn's portrayal of Murrow was dead on. On a scale of 10 I give this movie ★★★★★★★★