Good Night. And Good Luck.

Relevant.

I went to see this movie this afternoon (sorry Half-Dozen), because I felt the need to procrastinate all weekend. And, despite the horrible traffic, the rain, and the fact that I was surrounded by senior citizens who walked, talked, drove, and moved slowly, I really enjoyed it. Not only was it a view of the past, but it was echoed modern day concerns. It had all the elements of those classic, old films, too.. shameless smoking, drinking, and cigarette ads.. old news clips of McCarthy's speeches.. the image of the hard, gritty newsman working out a story on a typewriter, and hiding his fear of the reprecussions of his challenges with a scotch.. that low, slow, jazz.. everyone walking around with glasses that look like the Mexican's. The audience (average age, 75; I was probably the youngest person in the theater) kept laughing at all the references they tossed out that I guess I'm a little too young to get, but all was well.

David Strathairn (Edward R Murrow) did a phenomenal job capturing his newsman persona -- little things, like the nervous twitch of a foot just before the broadcast, really helped get his feelings across, and the transition from scared citizen to assertive editorialist (is that a word?) was very powerful. I really recommend this movie, it's a nice departure from a lot of the normal crap that gets churned out for most of the year.