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Good Night, and Good Luck

TITLE:	"Good Night, and Good Luck"	AUTHOR:	G. Clooney & G. Heslov
GENRE:	Historical Drama	CIRCA:	1958
LOCATION:	Chicago	PAGES:	90
SUB TO:	****	SUB BY:	****
READER:	SC	DATE:	November 19, 2004

LOGLINE: Journalist Edward R. Murrow takes editorial stand against Senator Joe McCarthy's communist witch hunt.

COMMENT SUMMARY: "Good Night, And Good Luck" is a choppy but relevant look at the media's power, and its abuse of power. Legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow succeeds in initiating the fall of Senator McCarthy, only to be retired in favor of the more lucrative game show, prompting him to issue a dire warning: television can either illuminate truth, or insulate us from it. The script is structurally unfocused, making for a haphazard—though energetic—experience.

	Excellent	Good	Fair	Poor
Story:		X	X
Characters:		X	X
Dialogue:		X	X
Structure:			X	X
Setting:			X

BUDGET: Medium/Low

RECOMMENDATION: Pass

SYNOPSIS: The Chicago Theater, 1958. At the Radio and Television New Directors Association Annual meeting, EDWARD R. MURROW gives "The Box of Lights and Wires" speech—a harsh indictment of the media industry, in which he warns that television is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us. Cut to a busy newsroom, 1953. Murrow and his news team are asked to sign loyalty oaths that state they have never engaged in Communist activities.

McCarthyism is on the rise in America; it is a strange and alarming chapter in American history. Murrow seems obsessed with a bit of trivia: the most trusted man in America, according to polls, is Milton Berle. A small story catches his attention: MILO RADULOVICH has been kicked out of the Air Force because his father subscribed to a Serbian Newspaper. Milo refused to denounce his father as a communist. Murrow interviews Milo and is outraged by the Air Force's behavior. He decides to break with 15 years of "reporting both sides."

Word of the upcoming story reaches the military. COLONEL ANDERSON asks CBS to pull the story, saying the military has secret evidence against Milo. CBS airs the Milo interview, attracting the attention of McCarthy's committee. They decide to air material suggesting Murrow has communist ties. Murrow gets an envelope intended to blackmail him into retracting the story.

Rather than backing down from the fight, Murrow decides to take on Senator McCarthy, who is currently one of the most powerful men in America. Murrow airs a story on McCarthy's tendency to distort facts, or even invent them, in accusing and condemning people as communists. The story results in a barrage of phone calls that flood the switchboard. Most are supportive.

McCarthy fires back, listing Murrow's "communist" connections and saying Murrow has become a propagandist traitor. Murrow airs a rebuttal that point by point refutes the Senator's claims. McCarthy's reign seems to be coming to an end. He is investigated by Senate. Others are tired of his powerful campaign of intimidation. PALEY, the president of CBS, tells Murrow that he's cutting Murrow's airtime. It's not making as much money as "The $64,000 Question"—a game show.

Murrow realizes he's being "retired."

We cut back to the opening scene, and Murrow's concluding remarks, over shots of historical events: "if television is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it is merely wires and lights in a box. Good night. And, good luck." THE END.

COMMENTS:

-----PREMISE-----

STRENGTHS: The stated premise is directly relevant in today's era of media consolidation, reality television, and ever-shrinking news bureau departments. Murrow's speech is indeed prescient of the modern media dilemma: does our mass media serve to inform and enlighten, or mere pacify us into subservience?

WEAKNESSES: This is a challenging premise to humanize—that is, to make is accessible on an individual level. There is also a bit of irony in attempting to use a mass media format to criticize itself. Finally, the premise needs to be a little sharper, more focused.

-----STORY-----

STRENGTHS: The story deals with one of the darker chapters in American History—the McCarthy trials, in which Senator Joe McCarthy launched a movement to purge suspected communists from American government and society, in the process starting a bizarre witch hunt that forced people to declare their loyalty while betraying their friends and coworkers, and even families. Murrow's role in confronting McCarthy is inspiring, proving that the "box of lights and wires" can indeed make a dramatic, positive impact on our lives.

WEAKNESSES: Given the strength of the premise, the script doesn't seem to be able to take advantage of it. The story is told in a loose, documentary format that avoids structured scenes, instead employing a fly-on-the-wall observatory style. This gives the script a newsroom's energy, but weakens its overall focus.

-----CHARACTERIZATION-----

STRENGTHS: Murrow makes a strong, imposing protagonist. He chooses to use his somewhat limited power as a newsman to confront the seemingly unstoppable Senator McCarthy, at great personal risk. And Murrow has the foresight to recognize that television can become either a tool for good or evil.

WEAKNESSES: The script offers us an incomplete biography of Murrow. The documentary style of the storytelling allows little room for character development. Almost all the other characters in the script are blank names that swirl around Murrow with no individual personality. The script fails to identify people, maddeningly so, such that we often can't tell what the characters' roles in the story are.

-----DIALOGUE-----

STRENGTHS: The dialogue has the weight of historical archival footage behind it, quoting at length from actual speeches and broadcasts. The dialogue is otherwise energetic, thanks to a realistic, rapid-fire style of conversation that credibly reproduces the newsroom talk.

WEAKNESSES: The dialogue often lacks organization. The same rapid-fire technique that sounds so realistic fails to develop the story due to a lack of dramatic focus. This again leads to scenes in which we have difficultly identifying who the characters are and what role they are playing.

-----STRUCTURE-----

STRENGTHS: The story has an energetic feel that keeps the pace racing forward, thanks to a documentary style. Rather than giving us carefully constructed scenes and dialogue, the script presents snippets of scenes and moments in which people talk, somewhat randomly, interspaced with subtext and actual plot elements. The effect is clever, generating an unedited, gonzo reality feel that helps bring the scenes and characters to life.

WEAKNESSES: Somewhere along the line, we expect the story to resolve into a focused point. Organization is a fatal flaw in "Good Night. And, Good Luck." The same storytelling style that pumps energy into the structure also undoes it, falling short of presenting a coherent, organized drama. Onscreen, the picture is likely to gain clarity (especially with regard to the unidentifiable characters). On the page, however, the script is much too random in its scene work.

-----WRITER-----

STRENGTHS: The authors show skill in crafting an energetic, cinema verite-style drama that captures the feeling and pace of a busy newsroom. Additionally, the script is well-researched, with archival footage and actual, historically-accurate quotes.

WEAKNESSES: The freeform storytelling style ultimately lacks coherence, to the point of undermining this otherwise energetic and relevant screenplay. The characters and scenes show a consistent, maddening lack of organization.

FINAL COMMENTS: One can't help feeling that this is a lost opportunity. The premise has all the necessary potential to build a compelling story...yet the authors can't seem to find a way to organize it. The lack of clarity (at least on the page) is often startling, resulting in an seemingly episodic, unstructured screenplay.

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