Good Night, and Good Luck Performance Review Draft

Good Night and Good Luck

 

Good Night and Good Luck, a movie based on the time period of the 1950s and directed by George Clooney, depicts the controversial problems of communism; defined as a belief system based on government ownership of all land and industry. In the movie, Edward Murrow, played by David Strathairn, opposes Senator Joseph McCarthy, played by himself, for his accusations of citizens for being communists. The citizens were afraid of communism and were being accused of being communists by Senator McCarthy.

Edward Murrow and his supporting staff of his television show, See It Now, with CBS, contests McCarthy for believing that people were communists with the least amount of evidence on innocent people. The staff of See It Now analyzes McCarthy’s broadcasts and “fire back” at him with their own beliefs. This informative performance, shot in black and white, portrays how the McCarthy and Red Scare era, when evidence was unnecessary and could easily destroy a person’s career. McCarthy labeled people communists for little reasons, such as opposing his opinions. During the McCarthy Era, people began to distrust the government and tried everything in their power not to show any signs that would label them as communists.

 There was always a fast pace and rush of adrenaline of the staff before each episode recorded in addition to each puff smoked by the males of the staff, especially the protagonist, Edward Murrow. Good Night, and Good Luck was filmed with a frame setting, beginning the movie with Murrow’s speech and concluding with the end of his speech, showing the history of how the fear of communism affected the citizens in the 1950s.                                                                         

During the beginning of the Red Scare, Senator McCarthy went out on a “witch-hunt” to seek out communists or pinkos, people who were neither for nor against communism. The Red Scare was sparked by revolutions around the world, especially the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. This revolution led to a worldwide fear of the possibility that other countries might experience this same type of revolution (1). In the film, one of McCarthy’s main targets was a lieutenant in the Air Force, Milo Radulovich. Radulovich was targeted by McCarthy because Lieutenant Milo’s father was suspected of being a communist or communist sympathizer. He would not denounce his father and was stripped of his commission. He brought it to the attention of Edward Murrow and opposed McCarthyism. Lieutenant Milo was so full of fear and perplexed of how to go about the situation. Radulovich describes his fear towards the problem, “It was an unjust situation. I couldn’t take it and slink off with my tail between my legs” (1). He chose to build the courage and challenge the government’s case against him, and CBS producer, Fred Friendly, played by George Clooney, gave Edward Murrow the exact story needed to take down McCarthy’s oppositions.

After all the commotion before Murrow’s opposing broadcast, the end of the episode was a relief. Even though there was a sense of relief from the staff of See It Now, the broadcast set a fearful atmosphere for the whole staff, and especially the legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow. McCarthy then tried to blame Edward Murrow for being a communist, of course not obviously, but through his hearings and broadcasts. In the “Joseph McCarthy Hearings”, Anna Marie describes why McCarthy accused Murrow of being a communist, “Edward R. Murrow disagreed with Joe McCarthy’s ideas and printed his opinions in a magazine article. When McCarthy read this, he proceeded to accuse Murrow of being a card-carrying member of the Communist Party (7). Even though it was harder on Murrow, some people could not handle the pressure.

“In its ideal form, communism would lead eventually to a state of perfect equality, freedom, and self-fulfillment for all people” (Grant 4). Since communism would eventually lead to a state of perfect equality, freedom, and self-fulfillment, how come the citizens were so afraid of communism during the 1950s?  McCarthy consistently made accusations of people being communists just to keep his seat in the Senate. He accused Don Hollenbeck, a CBS producer and a colleague of Edward Murrow and Fred Friendly, of being a communist for three WHOLE years. Because he was accused for so long, he could no longer handle the pressures of constantly having his reputation slandered and eventually committed suicide.

Edward Murrow did not quite succeed in the feud he had with Senator John McCarthy. He stood up for those who did not have the courage to stand up against the government. The actions of the few courageous people, such as Edward Murrow, Lieutenant Milo Radanovich, and, in some way, Senator Joseph McCarthy slowed down the increasing levels of people fearing communism. Edward’s astonishing character, real-life broadcasts of McCarthy, enhanced the message of this performance. Good Night, and Good Luck, frame setting showed how much skill Edward had as a journalist and how affectively broadcasting information of fear of communism affected individuals’ personal life and career. Clooney made it very clear in Good Night, and Good Luck how McCarthy’s accusations had an impact on the way of life for the working-class or any individual who wanted to hold their profession.

Works Cited

Boeck, Rick. “The Case Against against Lt. Milo Radulovich” NewsReview. 20 October 2005. Web. 3 August 2011.

            <http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/case-against-lt-milo-radulovich/content?oid=44316>

“Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) –IMDb.” The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), IMDb, 2005. Web. 2 August 2011.

            <http://www.imbd.com/title/tt0433383/&gt;

Jackson, Carrie. “The Red Scare in the 1950s” LessonPlanet.8 April 2010. Web 2 August 2011.

<http://www.lessonplanet.com/directory_articles/history_lesson_plans/08_April_2010/328/the_red_scare_in_the_1950s>