• Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!

    You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!

"Good Night, and Good Luck"

Marc

New member
Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
7,526
Points
0
Location
Dudley, MA
Website
www.marcpmc.com
Anyone seen it or planning on seeing it?


I would like to see it. I don't get out to the theatre much anymore, and while the $9.25 ticket price leaves a bad taste in my mouth... hey, I just don't go to many movies.

Although let's reserve this thread for the topic of the movie at hand. The subject of McCarthyism always interested me but I never found much time to read about it. IMDb users have rated it very high, 7.9/10 with 719 votes.
 

ChileMass

Active member
Joined
Nov 10, 2003
Messages
2,482
Points
38
Location
East/Central MA
David Strathairn is a great character actor. It's pretty remarkable how much he looks like Edward R. Murrow. McCarthy must have ben a scary dude, and if you think it's tough to be a non-conformist in the 21st century, imagine what it must have been like in 1950. We have it pretty good by comparison.

I hope to see the movie, but also don't go to the movies as often as I'd like. Maybe now that the Red Sox are done.....
 

Marc

New member
Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
7,526
Points
0
Location
Dudley, MA
Website
www.marcpmc.com
ChileMass said:
David Strathairn is a great character actor. It's pretty remarkable how much he looks like Edward R. Murrow. McCarthy must have ben a scary dude, and if you think it's tough to be a non-conformist in the 21st century, imagine what it must have been like in 1950. We have it pretty good by comparison.

I hope to see the movie, but also don't go to the movies as often as I'd like. Maybe now that the Red Sox are done.....

I was taken aback by the trailer. I thought they were using old footage of Murrow at first.

Speaking of non conformity, I hope you've seen Cool Hand Luke.
 

pedxing

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2001
Messages
426
Points
18
Location
Eastern MA
I saw it (as a matinee). Usually I wait til a movie hits the cheap theaters, but my wife was really eager to see it.

I thought it was good. It gave a real news room feel. Still, I felt like there was somethign missing. Given the drama of the story it portrayed, the lack of dramatic tension was odd. There was nothing to propel the plot forward, nothing that really pulled the viewer in. It wasn't a bad movie, IMHO, but I definitely would have waited for a video or at least the cheap theaters. My wife agreed. We both thought we'd give it 2 1/2 stars on a four star scale.
 

Marc

New member
Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
7,526
Points
0
Location
Dudley, MA
Website
www.marcpmc.com
Do you think the lack of dramatic tension was the fault of the filmmakers/director or the fault of the story.


I mean, being a true story, sometimes people are dissapointed because true stories are not formulaic like we're used to being fed from Hollywood.

Not suggesting you're an unintelligent filmgoer... but I don't know you personally so if you can manage to ellaborate with spoilers I know I would appreciate it... after all it still garners 8/10 on imdb (extremely high), and while I don't take those ratings on gospel, they often reflect (except for comedies) how I feel about a film.

:beer:
 

pedxing

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2001
Messages
426
Points
18
Location
Eastern MA
It can't be the fault of the story. It may be that the over-riding goal was to give you a sense of what it felt like to be there - not emotionally - but physically, the look, the feel the cadence. In other words, the over-riding goal seemed to be verisimilitude.

I think people might also be voting for what the movie was trying to do and trying to defend, for the analogy to the present day, and for the politics of it. I actually share those sympathies, but I also wanted a compelling story. I think it was difficult to flesh out characters in a recent real event - because it would have involved taking dramatic license with people and things that are still in living memory - and still maintain that feel of verisimilitude. Still, I think there were ways - to set the context, to show the dangers, to create a greater sense of drama to provide some more meat, in characters, story line or dramatic tension. Again I thought it was a good movie, but not an excellent one.

I'll be interested to hear what others think.
 

jjmcgo

New member
Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
54
Points
0
McCarthy was the noncomformist. When he started, he was rebuffed by Truman and Sec. of State Acheson. It wasn't until he was proven right again and again and again about communists that Acheson wouldn't fire in the State Dept., that the ball began rolling. It took a couple of more years before alcohol and Roy Cohn steered him wrong.
We've reached the point where we have so demonized McCarthy that we need a factual, chronological, in context account to show that there was a progression from passionate patriot to exhausted, discredited drunk. But his early work was incredibly important and in the nation's best interest.
Or, as they used to say, Who Lost China?
 

pedxing

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2001
Messages
426
Points
18
Location
Eastern MA
But didn't McCarthy have a record of deceit and corruption long before the abuses that lead to the Army-McCarthy hearings.

Didn't he take kickbacks, for example for helping Pepsi get around sugar rationing in the post war era?

Didn't he break his leg at a ship board party during WWII and later clain it was a war injury?

Wasn't he as involved in dragging suspected communist symapathizing entertainers into HUAC hearings as he was people in Government?

When do you see the onset of his drinking problem? When do you think it started interfering with his job performance? When was he last on target?

What is are examples of specific things he uncovered that were helpful to the country?
 

jjmcgo

New member
Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
54
Points
0
All true

A decidedly mixed record that is not nowadays presented as such. It's almost like the devil who walked the earth rather than a complicated person whose single-minded focus addressed a serious contemporary problem.
Goodness gracious, we thought it trendy/risque to have a Communist VP until FDR's health was so bad it could no longer be risked.
Interesting connection between the exposes of McCarthy's shipboard accident/war injury claim, Clelland's beer-run grenade accident and Kerry's purple hearts for self-inflicted wounds.
Good comeback by you.
 

pedxing

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2001
Messages
426
Points
18
Location
Eastern MA
jjmcgo:

Another misunderstanding of McCarthy is that people seem to think he started the UnAmericn Activities Committee - but he didn't (whether he is credited or blamed for it, it's inaccurate).

Thanks for the compliment - but I was trying for a comeback. My questions were sincere. I'm particularly interested in the last two lines of questions. I believe I have my information right on the ones where I am asking for verification of what I remember about him, but am intersted in what you think on the latter questions (where in his life you see things going downhill and in what way, and what specifically you feel were his positive accomplishments).
 

jjmcgo

New member
Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
54
Points
0
Google Owen Lattimore.
McCarthy's decline was accelerated after he hooked up with Roy Cohn.
There's a couple of names to get you going.
 

riverc0il

New member
Joined
Jul 10, 2001
Messages
13,039
Points
0
Location
Ashland, NH
Website
www.thesnowway.com
bump

just saw this movie this evening. best movie release of 2005 that i have seen, fantastic! i especially appreciated the fact that the actting had to be so fantastic since the movie was B&W and lacked any special effects that normally draw modern movie goers into the movie. i hung on every word (though i think the sound engineers could have increased the volume a tad on the whispered scenes). i thought the inclusion of the married couple (regardless of whether it was factually true situation or not) was terrible and was the only aspect of the film that catored to a typical hollywood format, that of needing a romance which is an extremely overrated crappy requirement to get people to care for the characters.

one of my favorite parts of the movie was after one of the final filmings, morrow lowers his head and makes and ever so subtle facial move. what a fantastic bit of actting, so subtle but so telling more than any words what the character was thinking.

i was ready to stand up and applaud after morrow's final speach in the movie. highly recommended and amazingly relevent today.
 

BeanoNYC

Active member
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
5,080
Points
38
Location
Long Island, NY
riverc0il said:
i was ready to stand up and applaud after morrow's final speach in the movie. highly recommended and amazingly relevent today.

Why you could have gotten away with that at my movie theatre, Steve. I still haven't gotten to see it but I'm hoping to see it real soon.
 
Top