GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. Review by Scott Weitz Rating: Director George Clooney and Producer/Co-writer Grant Heslov have certainly made a good film in GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK, recalling a pivotal moment in television and political history that smartly remains as applicable and relevant in the 21st century as it was in the 1950s.

This intriguing and, yes, exciting drama of claustrophobic personal and professional tension occupies a very small footprint geographically, rarely straying from the smoky confines of CBS studios and offices. Yet the solid script and excellent acting draw forth the most intrigue out of the political standoff between broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and junior Senator-turned-demagogue, Joseph McCarthy.

The understated power of the film is transmitted through a studied, measured and appropriately monochromatic characterization of Murrow by David Strathairn. Avoiding caricature or impersonation, yet embodying Murrow's side-glance stoicism in casual, humorous and on-air moments, Strathairn offers a highly involving performance throughout.

As Murrow and delivering his broadcast reports with little room for dramatic license, Strathairn captures the requisite tone and vocal style of Murrow's stern eloquence without becoming lecturer or a mere kinescope rerun. Though it's likely most of the film's audience today has never seen clips of Ed Murrow's actual broadcasts to compare, but those who have will find the actor all the more remarkable for comparing the man to the artist's rendition.

Similarly, George Clooney steers his film away from being a political manifesto, even as it is filled with political discussion and observation so rarely heard on the same level of erudition or just plain class today. For someone of my generation, I found myself feeling quite nostalgic for such sane, responsible public awareness on and off the air that I was too young to know firsthand, save for my early memories of Walter Kronkite. Intellectual heights achieved, kudos to Clooney and Grant Heslov for penning a script that remains as emotionally entertaining as it is mentally stimulating. In fact, how the script and direction present Murrow and his crew as assured and doubting, confident and vulnerable individuals makes the film utterly enjoyable to watch, politics and partisanship aside.

Clooney also provides an unglamorous, enticing performance as Murrow's SEE IT NOW producer and confidant, Fred Friendly. My first impulse is to say that his portrayal of Friendly goes against Clooney's star image, but with roles like this and his in SYRIANA, such work is fast becoming his expanded arsenal of "type," and to great effect. As actor and director, Clooney invests a wealth of humorous and human moments in the film, perhaps none so revealing as the on-air ritual of Friendly sitting on the stage floor at Murrow's feet, out of camera range but ready to cue Murrow by tapping a pen on his shin. This touch is a great symbol of the low-tech, high-trust relationship between producer and reporter, and more so between two friends.

A sidebar plot to Friendly and Murrow's challenge of McCarthy plays out between two of the SEE IT NOW reporting team, Shirley and Joe Wershba (played by Patricia Clarkson and Robert Downey Jr.), who are forced to keep their marriage a secret under the pressures of strict CBS policy. Into their relationship Clooney throws the monkey wrench of another corporate intrusion on employee freedoms: the implicit order to sign loyalty agreements. Refuse to sign on principle that such a request is unAmerican, amid the boiling turmoil of McCarthyism, and Joe risks losing his job and career. Sign, and he merely risks surrendering his personal values and integrity, if only on his own behalf and not his wife's. Downey enacts his character's roller coaster of career highs and personal troughs even-handedly, putting the most personal face on the social effects of McCarthyism in the film. Clarkson, as usual, delivers a solid, alluring performance, providing a valuable touchstone of dramatic interest as far out of the CBS studio as the story ever expands.

Indeed, GOOD NIGHT's narrow, laser-like focus on the small, inner circle of players working in the CBS crucible concentrates the drama's intensity and contains the period aspect to the political and social questions at hand in 1953.   Clooney avoids a nostalgic, sweeping tour through the recreated 50s that would diffuse the ticking bomb at ground zero.  Such vintage cultural artifacts do weave quietly through the film, such as the omnipresent lifestyle of smoking, even to Murrow's trademark curls of nicotine wafting past his face as he broadcasts. A recurring device parallels the news action with CBS recording sessions of a period jazz singer (Dianne Reeves), and a humorous scene of the SEE IT NOW gang reading their first edition reviews in a diner also open up the script enjoyably and help evoke the world going on outside.

Perhaps the most stark contrast between then and now resides in the austere form of CBS head William Paley, by way of Frank Langella's fine contribution. Paley's attention-on but hands-off approach to running the network without jumping through hoops of public opinion or political pressure is refreshing to watch, and yet sadly anachronistic for today's network TV climate. Langella's performance is believable and accessible, with his greatest strength coming from Paley's self-assuredness in his decisions balanced by his palpable inability to know how or if his strategy will succeed. The audience may know how Murrow's battle against McCarthy's excesses played out historically, but Langella's performance helps the audience worry that it won't succeed as Paley and Murrow are wagering.

In such moments of boldness with Paley, countered by his eventual consignment of Murrow to fluff celebrity reporting -- what in the end the public truly wants to watch -- Clooney and Grant Heslov have woven a tale that smartly reflects 1950s media culture through a 21st century lens. Compare Murrow and Friendly to 99% of today's network broadcasters and producers, and one easily weeps how are the mighty fallen, and how low we as a society have set the bar for ourselves. The contrast and sheer contradictions between then and now pack quite a punch in the film, yet Strathairn's annoyed acceptance of Liberace-level interviews -- Murrow's strangely enjoyable if absurd side work -- show the seeds of celebrity culture were already sewn in 1953. Clooney wisely makes the larger point about media responsibility not with the question of why Americans prefer infotainment to hard news, but why networks and conglomerates running them cannot provide a reliable dietary supplement of bold news content along with our hunger for dessert?

Such excess of indulgence, such lopsidedness of greed-driven programming, and such starvation for inviting widespread opinions and debate, are exactly the fertile growth medium in which the extremity of a Joseph McCarthy can grow. In an era of renewed investigation into unAmerican activities, both judiciously and injudiciously pursued, CBS and Edward Murrow's personal and professional challenge to abuse of power and forsaking of liberty in the name of freedom is as frighteningly fresh and dramatic today as it was in 1953.

As Murrow wishes to cap every broadcast, good luck to us facing our own battles today. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK is must viewing for as large an American audience as it can capture and captivate. I'm more than happy to do my small part in exposing George Clooney's excellent film to as many viewers, voters and thinkers as possible.

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK was recently nominated for four Golden Globe awards, including George Clooney for Best Director, David Strathairn for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama, George Clooney and Grant Heslov for Best Screenplay, and Best Picture - Drama. The National Board of Review proclaims the film as the Best Picture of 2005.