Sherry and I saw good night and good luck last weekend. we saw it at the Kentucky Theatre and i can't say how wonderful it is to walk to the movies...i could go on about the blessings of downtown living but that would be another post.
we really enjoyed the movie and both learned more about Senator McCarthy and the 1950's political scene. one of the most compelling things about the movie is the way real footage is seamlessly included. the whole film is in black and white which, after the initial novelty, draws you into the CBS studios (where almost all the scenes are played out) in a way that might not have been possible with colour. great acting and very serious dialogue made it particularly engrossing. and the most contemporary 'theme' was the way anyone who offered a critique of 'the powers that be' was immediately labeled as unpatriotic. it also made us wonder where all the great investigative journalists have gone. too much entertainment to be had.
In the concluding scenes, Ed Murrow is giving a remarkable speech (1958)...here's a snippet:
Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. I invite your attention to the television schedules of all networks between the hours of 8 and 11 p.m., Eastern Time. Here you will find only fleeting and spasmodic reference to the fact that this nation is in mortal danger. There are, it is true, occasional informative programs presented in that intellectual ghetto on Sunday afternoons. But during the daily peak viewing periods, television in the main insulates us from the realities of the world in which we live. If this state of affairs continues, we may alter an advertising slogan to read: LOOK NOW, PAY LATER.
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