Clooney's Murrow

[madamesilverspurs]

Having grown up in the McCarthy era, there was no way I was going to miss "Good Night, and Good Luck." To be sure, I was too young to understand the hows and whys. But I do recall being issued a large pamphlet about the evils of communism, it was the size of any of the popular magazines of the day. Lots of pictures, and it was the focus of our fourth grade social studies lessons. Murrow was must-see TV in our home, as was Cronkite; we had two daily newspapers, and we kids were encouraged to emulate our parents' reading habits.

Anyway, the play was nowhere near as dry as it could have been, and there were moments where Clooney's expressions very clearly brought Murrow to mind. But the closing montage, with Clooney's brief emotional delivery, brought me very unexpectedly to tears. I would watch the whole thing again.

.

[Paladin]

1. Astoundingly good, from beginning to end.

Even the musical interludes were exceptional.

[Nanuke]

4. I cried at the end too. So well done.

[Deuxcents]

2. I watched it, too. Our school had social studies and I brought a newspaper to class as we were taught

How to read it from page one and how to relate to some articles. I thought the show was very good and I remember watching Murrow on tv and turned off the talking heads after. CNN could do well to take some lessons from the professionalism of Murrow and Cronkite..imo

[hlthe2b]

3. The way in which they interspersed real footage--not just of McCarthy and his ilk, but performers and other

news footage. I recall hearing/reading about Murrow's real disdain for having to do interviews with celebrities of the day so when the footage of Liberace came on with him referencing his "old lady fan base" and Liberace responding with a comment about all his "young lady fan base" gave me quite the chuckle. I always wondered if my parents were as aware as I would have been that Liberace was, well, let's just say, no "ladies man..." LOL

At any rate, when Murrow is speaking to (I guess it was Fred Friendly)... and they were talking about what trouble they were in, they referenced their lucky colleagues who had "escaped to Europe" (not sure of the exact quote) but that got quite an audience laugh and both gave knowing smiles. I loved that...

Good production. I was pleased to get to see it. BTW, the Tonys are on tomorrow night and Clooney is nominated.

[badhair77]

5. I highly recommend the video, too.

The cast was not locked in to the stage area, plus they cut some scenes for the play. It would be great if some network showed it now.

[LittleGirl]

16. It was streamed Live around the world on CNN. nt

[malaise]

6. Ditto

Hope they repeat,it

[babylonsister]

7. I loved it. nt

[Upthevibe]

8. madamesilverspurs .............

Thank you so much for the review. I have it DVR'd to watch tomorrow...

[pacalo]

18. What channel?

I've been out of the loop lately & I didn't know the schedule, dang it.

[brush]

9. Excellent. The interplay between the cast when off-air was...

told the story as much as the on-air content. Also the musical interludes were so great, me being a jazz fan, I loved that era of music. I worked me. I don't think our current genres of music could work so topically now.

[Frasier Balzov]

10. Time has passed the story by I'm afraid.

Courage of the press looks quaint.

Scrambling to find an audience and consuming what we agree with is more the business model now than ever before.

The montage of news headlines from the last seventy years, as offered to us at the end of the play, didn't bring Murrow's relevance up to date.

It just made him look more anachronistic.

And a Hearst opinion columnist pushing Don Hollenbeck to suicide didn't rile me into the dramatic outrage I know I was supposed to feel.

In a way, the music was the best part!

[milestogo]

11. This is a passion for him.

His father (who is is close to) is in the news business.

[allegorical oracle]

12. Like you, I recall those times. As a kid home from school in the afternoons, my mom would

have the black and white TV McCarthy hearings on as she started preparing supper.

Watched the film version and now this stage version. Both were very good. The only minor discrepancy I noted was the difference in voice. Murrow had a stern, and deeper voice than Clooney and spoke with a bit more enunciation.

Younger viewers may not realize it, but HUAC -- The House on UnAmerican Activities Committee was active through at least the mid-1960s. Can recall a professor at one of the local universities being summarily fired for teaching "Communism" in his classes. (He was liberal, but scarcely a full-blown Commie.)

[live love laugh]

13. Pffft

[mnhtnbb]

14. I watched it, too.

Coming from the era when I remember Cronkite, but too young at the time to remember Murrow . The play was very well done, with its use of original footage, interspersed with original speeches/broadcasts from Murrow. I, too, got a chuckle from the exchange between Murrow and Friendly discussing those who'd left the US for Europe. Clooney broke character just for a moment, considering how many homes he has abroad!
He's apparently not considered a favorite for the Tony, but I do hope the play wins something. It was quite a memorable production.

[ShazzieB]

15. I've seen the movie; it was amazing.

I was too little to be aware of the communist witch hunts in the early 50s, but I definitely remember growing up during the Cold War, when there was so much fear that communism was going to take over the world. It's hard to describe to anyone who wasn't around then, but the paranoia was real and very strong. One of my most vivid memories of that time was the Cuban missile crisis. I was in the 7th grade at the time, and at one point, the whole school (grades 7-12; it was a very small school) was sitting in an assembly in the gym (it was a very small school), listening to the news. We were scared to death, half expecting WWIII to break out at any moment. It was wild.

[LittleGirl]

17. I really enjoyed it.

I have never been to Broadway so that was my maiden show.
I’ve always loved Clooney. He’s my age.

[calimary]

19. We recorded it so we can watch it later.

And watch it we WILL! Sounds like a treat!