Good Night, And Good Luck

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"Good Night, And Good Luck" follows the legendary Edward R. Murrow (David Straithairn) during the broadcaster's on-air confrontations with Senator Joseph McCarthy. Murrow, the then host of the CBS series, "See It Now," exposed the infamous politician's deceit, bullying, and manipulation in one of history's most courageous moments of journalism, an act that helped bring an end to the tyranny of the blacklist and the House Un-American Activities Committee anti-Communist hearings. "Good Night, And Good Luck" is directed by George Clooney, who co-wrote the script with the film's producer Grant Heslov. Clooney also stars as CBS News producer Fred Friendly.
"Good Night, And Good Luck" is shot entirely in black and white, with much of the mood and atmosphere created by the smoky jazz soundtrack and the gorgeous vocal talents of three-time GRAMMY(r) Award-winner Dianne Reeves. Clooney handpicked each of the songs featured in the movie, which Reeves, one of the preeminent jazz vocalists in the world today, also performs on screen.
The soundtrack for "Good Night, And Good Luck" much of which was recorded live on film, features an original song, "Who's Minding the Store," along with such classics as "Too Close for Comfort," "Straighten Up and Fly Right," "One for My Baby," and "How High the Moon."

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Dianne Reeves's cool contralto, fronted by a quicksilver combo featuring saxophonist Matt Catingub and pianist Peter Martin, provides the flowing jazz soundtrack to George Clooney's 1950s, film detailing the epic struggle between the legendary TV newsman Edward R. Murrow and the Communist-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy. Reeves' delivery is flawless and swinging on these mostly mid-tempo/ballad takes on several timeless classics (including Nat King Cole's "Straighten Up and Fly Right," Duke Ellington's "Solitude," and the bouncy Dinah Washington hit "TV is the Thing This Year"). Two other selections, "Pick Yourself Up" and "Too Close for Comfort," dance with a Latin lilt; the lone instrumental, "When I Fall in Love," is as romantic as they come. Mr. Murrow, who profiled both Ellington and Louis Armstrong on his pioneering See it Now show, loved jazz, so it's fitting that the music's grounding in freedom of expression and improvisation counterweighs the horrors of McCarthy's liberty-killing abuses. --Eugene Holley, Jr.

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