Awards
2006 Oscar nominations for:
Best Picture
Best Actor (David Strathairn)
Best Director (George Clooney)
Best Original Screenplay (George Clooney and Grant Heslov)
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Synopses & Reviews
Nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture,
Good Night, and Good Luck. takes place during the early days of broadcast journalism in 1950s America.
It chronicles the real-life conflict between television newsman Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. With a desire to report the facts and enlighten the public, Murrow (David Straithairn), and his dedicated staff headed by his producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) and Joe Wershba (Robert Downey, Jr.) in the CBS newsroom defy corporate and sponsorship pressures to examine the lies and scaremongering tactics perpetrated by McCarthy during his communist "witch-hunts." A very public feud develops when the Senator responds by accusing the anchor of being a communist. In this climate of fear and reprisal, the CBS crew carries on...and their tenacity will prove historic and monumental.
Review
"An electrifying movie event!" Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Review
"Clooney's message is clear: Character assassination is wrong, McCarthy was a bully and a liar, and we must be vigilant when the emperor has no clothes and wraps himself in the flag." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Review
"Part drama and part civics lesson, Good Night, and Good Luck is an entertaining slice of American political and cultural history." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"George Clooney's second directorial outing couldn't be more topical, though the events it chronicles occurred over half a century ago." USA Today
Review
"[A]n energized sliver of history. As Murrow takes on Joe McCarthy, the film generates a small-scale time-capsule fascination... (Grade: B+)" Entertainment Weekly
Review
"Do you respect the corporate line or do you cross it? Clooney, who in his life wears the hats both of the entertainer and the 'actorvist,' gives us an intelligent, electric film that knows this question is as timely now as it was for Murrow." Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
"A hermetically sealed period piece so intensely relevant to our current state of affairs that it takes your breath away." Boston Globe
Description
DVD Features:
- Audio Commentary with George Clooney and Grant Heslov
- Documentary Good Night, and Good Luck. companion piece
- Theatrical Trailer