The Secret of the Wednesday’s Haul

I wonder if Good Night, and Good Luck loses something if you’re not at a certain age. For me, the Red Scare and Senator Joe McCarthy were already a part of American history by the time I was reading the history books grade school. And while he appears to be a bastion of journalistic integrity, I don’t remember Edward R. Murrow being mentioned in those grade school books. While an important part of our history, the ground this movie covers is just that– old history. I’ve got no great personal link or hero worship going on with any of the characters or events in this story. That may be a huge obstacle for director George Clooney to overcome.

David Straithairn has always been “that guy” in movies. “Look, it’s that guy!” He’s a solid and dependable actor but has he ever really been in a great role before? He’s made a career as a character actor, usually filling in good supporting roles in movies but barely having to carry a whole movie as a lead actor. This is a different character than I’m used to seeing Straithairn in. As Murrow, the journalist who goes after McCarthy and his tactics, Straitharn emotes an air of confidence and control over the situation. And yet he isn’t untouchable; he isn’t unflappable. Mostly through facial expression and body language, Strathairn does a nice job conveying an image of a man who knows what is the best thing to do even if he knows the results could backfire against him and his team of reporters.

Clooney’s second directorial project is a solid movie. It focuses on a small group of friends and comrades, Murrow and his cohorts, amid the larger picture of the Red Scare and the HUAC testimonies. McCarthy and his tactics are portrayed through actual news clips and footage, adding an air of authenticity to the movie but lacks some of the character and depth of actors. Murrow’s group, risking their livelihoods, aren’t really developed except for Joe Wershba (played by Robert Downey Jr.) Wershba’s secret marriage to co-worker Shirley (Patricia Clarkson) adds some needed characterization to the movie and occasionally moves the movie out of the newsroom and into a more personal setting.

The biggest failure of the movie is that it doesn’t make the events important to anyone who doesn’t know about them. I have no idea from this movie of the stakes (until very late in the movie thanks to the strong performance by Ray Wise,) the importance of what Murrow is doing. Clooney leaves it up to the viewer to input their own stakes upon the movie. The performances are strong, the story is good but at only a few points during it did I understand and feel the weight of Murrow’s choices and actions. Maybe it’s because of the de-personalization of McCarthy, reducing him to television screens and history while Straitharn, Downey Jr and Clooney (as Murrow’s producer and partner) bring color, life and vitality to all of the characters.

Good Night, And Good Luck is a good film, a history lesson disguised as cinema. There’s no arguing the power behind Straithairn’s portrayal of Murrow and the importance of the historical events depicted in this film. I just wish that Clooney, as the director, had decided to portray in the movie some of why he thought that this was an important movie to make.

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