Good Night, and Good Luck.

Synopsis: In the early 1950's, the threat of Communism created an air of paranoia in the United States and exploiting those fears was Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. However, CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow and his producer Fred W. Friendly decided to take a stand and challenge McCarthy and expose him for the fear monger he was. However, their actions took a great personal toll on both men, but they stood by their convictions and helped to bring down one of the most controversial senators in American history.
Director(s): George Clooney
Production: Warner Independent Pictures
  Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 38 wins & 121 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.5
Metacritic:
80
Rotten Tomatoes:
93%
PG
Year:
2005
93 min
$31,500,000
Website
3,358 Views


In 1935, Ed Murrow

began his career with CBS.

When World War Two broke out...

...his voice brought

the battle of Britain home to us...

...through his "This Is London"

radio series.

He started with us all...

...many of us here tonight,

when television was in its infancy...

...with the news documentary show,

"See It Now".

He threw stones at giants.

Segregation, exploitation

of migrant workers...

...apartheid, J. Edgar Hoover...

...not the least of which, his historical

fight with Senator McCarthy.

He is the host of our enormously

popular show "Person to Person"...

...and tonight he is here

with his son, Casey...

...wife, Janet, and all of you

who he's worked with...

...inspired, lectured, and taught.

Ladies and gentlemen...

...the Radio-Television News Directors'

Association and Foundation welcomes...

...Mr. Edward R. Murrow.

This might just do nobody any good.

At the end of this discourse

a few people may accuse this reporter...

...of fouling

his own comfortable nest...

...and your organization may be

accused of having given hospitality...

...to heretical

and even dangerous ideas.

But the elaborate structure

of networks...

...advertising agencies, and sponsors

will not be shaken or altered.

It is my desire, if not my duty,

to try to talk to you journeymen...

...with some candor about what

is happening to radio and television.

And if what I say is responsible...

...I alone am responsible

for the saying of it.

Our history will be

what we make of it.

And if there are any historians

about 50 or 100 years from now...

...and there should be preserved...

...the kinescopes of one week

of all three networks...

...they will there find recorded

in black and white, and in color...

...evidence of decadence,

escapism...

...and insulation from the realities

of the world in which we live.

We are currently wealthy, fat,

comfortable, and complacent.

We have a built-in allergy to

unpleasant or disturbing information.

Our mass media reflect this.

But unless we get up off

our fat surpluses...

...and recognize

that television in the main...

...is being used to distract, delude,

amuse, and insulate us...

...then television

and those who finance it...

...those who look at it

and those who work at it...

...may see a totally

different picture too late.

Millie! Just the person

I wanted to see! Come here!

This goes at the top

of the Roy Campanella piece.

Yes! Give me a half an hour.

I may need it

a little quicker than that!

- Can I get some coffee first?

- Come on! Get me some coffee!

Morning, Johnny!

I have some new notes that go

with the Tito footage for Fred.

Fred's gonna be in

in an hour.

I already put them on his desk.

Can you just make sure that...

...he doesn't look at the film

until he reads the notes?

- Yes.

- Thank you.

Hey, Joe! Shirley!

- What's going on in here?

- What do you mean?

Two attractive people

alone in the copy room!

Don't tell Paley, he'll fire me.

He'll fire both of us, Shirley.

- Rules are made to be broken!

- You can afford to say that.

Let me see this.

- It's simply a loyalty oath.

- To CBS? - And to America.

You promise to be a loyal American?

I know. All of the reporters

have signed this.

Who are you promising this to?

CBS?

Fred signed it.

Murrow signed it.

- Murrow signed it?

- Yeah.

Are you now

or have you ever been...

I thought it was a joke,

but there's a lot of pressure.

...on the Attorney General's list

of subversive groups?

- I don't know.

- Let's think about it.

What is it really saying? Is it a civil

liberties issue or censorship?

Am I simply stating to CBS

that I'm not a Communist?

- Murrow signed this?

- And Fred and Stanton.

- Maybe you should talk to Murrow.

- Maybe I should sign it.

If you don't sign this,

are you and I a target?

If I don't sign it,

they'll fire me.

Sign it.

Finally we can tell everyone

the truth.

If I could express it

in what's in my heart now...

...I'd do it in the terms

of the poet who once said...

..."Ah, 'tis but a dainty flower

I bring to you."

"Yes, 'tis but a violet..."

"...glistening with dew."

"But still in its heart

there lie beauties concealed."

"So in our heart..."

"...our love for you..."

"...lies unrevealed."

I used to...

...pride myself on the idea

that I was a bit... tough...

...especially over the past

...kicked around,

and bullwhipped, and damned.

I didn't think that...

...I could be... touched very deeply.

Okay, that's enough.

That's enough, Leo.

- It's short.

- How long is the piece?

It's 4 minutes,

but we can cut it down.

It can't stand alone, but it might be

a nice companion piece.

Let's go through this one more time.

Palmer!

Yep, got a call from the office

of Senator Morse this morning...

...interested in setting up

a debate possibly with Senator Kerr...

...over the comments

Bentsen made on last night's show.

Secretary of Agriculture? Good idea!

Can they do it by this week?

No, it would have to be 2 weeks

at the earliest...

...depending on Morse's schedule.

But still it's a great idea.

Let's follow up on that.

"Hoover speaks on Benjamin Franklin."

We're having better luck

with Mr. Benjamin Franklin...

...than with Mr. Hoover.

It may progress better

as a "Person to Person".

"At home with Ben Franklin.

His electricity awards."

We've got the footage,

we need to contact him.

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George Clooney

George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and businessman. He has received three Golden Globe Awards for his work as an actor and two Academy Awards, one for acting in Syriana (2006) and the other for co-producing Argo (2012). Clooney made his acting debut on television in 1978, and later gained wide recognition in his role as Dr. Doug Ross on the long-running medical drama ER from 1994 to 1999, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. While working on ER, he began attracting a variety of leading roles in films, including the superhero film Batman & Robin (1997) and the crime comedy Out of Sight (1998), in which he first worked with director Steven Soderbergh, who would become a long-time collaborator. In 1999, he took the lead role in Three Kings, a well-received war satire set during the Gulf War. In 2001, Clooney's fame widened with the release of his biggest commercial success, the heist comedy remake Ocean's Eleven, the first of what became a trilogy starring Clooney. He made his directorial debut a year later with the biographical spy comedy Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and has since directed the historical drama Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), the sports comedy Leatherheads (2008), the political drama The Ides of March (2011), and the war film The Monuments Men (2014). Clooney won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the Middle East thriller Syriana (2005), and subsequently earned Best Actor nominations for the legal thriller Michael Clayton (2007) and the comedy-dramas Up in the Air (2009) and The Descendants (2011). In 2013, he received the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing the political thriller Argo. He is the only person who has been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories.In 2009, Clooney was included in Time's annual Time 100 as one of the "Most Influential People in the World". He is also noted for his political and economic activism, and has served as one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace since January 31, 2008. His humanitarian work includes his advocacy of finding a resolution for the Darfur conflict, raising funds for the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Armenian Genocide recognition, 2004 tsunami, 9/11 victims, and creating documentaries such as Sand and Sorrow to raise awareness about international crises. Clooney helped fund the March for Our Lives after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2013, Clooney co-founded Casamigos Tequila with Rande Gerber and Michael Meldman. It was sold to Diageo for $700 million in June 2017, with an additional $300 million possible depending on the company's performance over the next ten years. He is married to British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. more…

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    "Good Night, and Good Luck." Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/good_night,_and_good_luck._9195>.

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