Before Walter Cronkite, there was Edward R. Murrow. He was one of America’s most respected news anchors and came to prominence covering the Battle of Britain during World War II. His ending phrase, “good night, and good luck,” became frequent in America’s homes. One of his most famous moments was when he stood up to the actions of the junior senator from Wisconsin, Joe McCarthy, whose namesake ideology of McCarthyism and the subsequent Red Scare terrorized America until his formal censure.
In 2005, George Clooney directed a film named after the infamous send-off that goes over Murrow’s (played by David Strathairn, who is also in the 2020 Best Picture winner “Nomadland”) confrontation with McCarthy. Clooney also co-stars as Fred Friendly, the president of CBS News, who assists Murrow throughout the picture. The film shines with its meaty and powerful monologues, taken directly from Murrow’s speeches. Several of his most famous and incendiary broadcasts are shown in the movie, with this excerpt perhaps being the most famous:
“No one familiar with the history of this country, can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating. But the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one, and the Junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep into our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men. Not from men who feared to write, to associate, to speak, and to defend the causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.
This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. We proclaim ourselves as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom wherever it continues to exist in the world. But we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. The actions of the Junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his, he didn’t create this situation of fear, he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right: ‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.’ Good night, and good luck.”
The film was a major contender at the 78th Academy Awards, with Clooney receiving Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. Strathairn also received a Best Actor nomination, and the film was nominated for both Best Cinematography and Best Production Design. Unfortunately, it won no Oscars, which I view as a shame, especially because of its superb screenplay. It is yet another film that 2004’s “Crash” undeservedly beat out for any award. While not perfect, it is a compelling 9/10. At least George Clooney coincidentally won Best Supporting Actor that year for his performance in the unrelated 2005 film “Syriana,” which even he joked was a consolation prize for losing Best Director to Ang Lee for “Brokeback Mountain.”
However, in light of recent political events, Clooney decided to adapt his film into a Broadway stage play, and he partnered with CNN to make it the very first ever Broadway performance streamed live to viewers at home. The transition from being a film to a play was rather seamless. Except the beginning and end, the majority of the film took place either in a CBS News room or a single diner. The relatively small number of characters, as well as extremely lengthy monologues, make this an ideal screenplay to be adapted into a short play.
The occasional musical interlude from the film, depicting a jazz singer recording songs for the radio, has been seamlessly adapted for the play to disguise scene transitions. Clooney now takes the role of Murrow, and he was nominated at the Tony Awards earlier this month for Best Lead Actor in a play, although he did not win. While not quite as good as the film, it is a solid 8/10 and an experience that I would recommend.
I suppose I can give my final thoughts on this play, and how sadly prescient it has become again. As is abundantly clear from the haunting final montage, the evil and lies that Senator McCarthy peddled so many years ago have returned en masse, streamed through a constant deluge of cable news and social media. Every lie normalizing an insurrection, every retracted claim about voter fraud, every attempt to whitewash a Nazi salute at a presidential inauguration come from the same unwillingness to let the truth win out against the face of tyranny.
We must not let it go gently into that good night; we must defend said truths and liberties and all those rights that we hold dear, from these political forces that are putting our basic freedoms into question. As a student of history, I can confirm that the adage of it repeating itself is far too true. Nevertheless, this evil was once defeated, and it will be defeated once more. George Clooney intended this film, this play, to remind us of that very fact, as to implore us to stand up for our rights, and to that point he has undoubtedly succeeded. That is what I will leave you with, so “Good night, and good luck.”
