Watch Betrayal () Online Free Movie Download
- Title: Betrayal
- Year:
- Duration: unknown
- Rating: 8,7
- Genres: Drama, History, Biography
Summary Betrayal ()
Following yet another defeat, the Pazzi come to a decision: it's time to get rid of the Medici once and for all.
The Sforza duke having been murdered on Pazzi orders, Jacopo plots to hire condottiere count Montesecco to seize Firenze and eradicate the Medici. Lorenzo still hopes for peace trough pope Sixtus IV, but as he sends his sister, she's prevented from speaking the Medici man in the curia, whom Montesecco blackmails into abusing her to set the trap. It now appears that a papal teen nephew just create Cardinal Riario is heading a papal peace mission, but is serves as cover for the bloody plot to slay all Medici in the cathedral. However a delay occurs. Giuliano and Boticelli are shattered, and on hostile terms, blaming each-other for the death from consumption of their unavailable beloved Simonetta in her husband Vespucci's home dungeon.
Synopsis Betrayal ()
Being firm on eradicating the power gaining Medici doctrine from the Florence, Jacopo Pazzi plans to hire count Montesecco's army to invade Florence after the plan of assassinating Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici is achieved. To serve this cause, Francesco Pazzi and Salviati visit Count Montesecco in the Curia and the plan of inviting Lorenzo ( who after the death of Duke Sforza plans to negotiate peace with Sixtus) to Rome through Pope Sixtus's orders to murder him, while doing so the three men sense somebody spying on them and when the count started chasing the man, the spy confides into Father Carlo in the chapel thus spilling all of the plan to him. Unfortunately in the very chapel the count eventually kills the spy and takes Carlo into captivity to keep their murderous planning from reaching the Medici brothers. Meanwhile in Florence, upon receiving the invitation to negotiate the peace in Rome by Pope Sixtus, Lorenzo is prevented to go to Rome as his mother senses smell of betrayal and instead Clarice goes to Rome on behalf of her husband while also for the cause to visit her family there. While in Rome, after learning of Lorenzo's absence the conspirators delay the plan, and also blackmail the captive Carlo (with whom Clarice wishes to speak to gain confidence over the conditions) of abusing Lorenzo's wife if he would spill any sort of truth to her. Despite Carlo's pretending of everything's being fine, Clarice senses something troubling with him and leaves Rome to aware Lorenzo of her unsatisfactory meeting with Carlo. On the other hand Giuliano and Sandro argue and despise while blaming each other's motives to be the cause of Simonetta's death, while Giuliano who now stays delirious and in despair seems to take no interest in anything but mourning for his late beloved. Also during being counseled by Lorenzo, Giuliano criticizes his peaceful approaches to deal with challenges and asks him to be wiser and evil than his opponents. Having seen their plan underachieved, now the Pazzi conspirators, along with bishop Salviati and the Pope (who is convinced on murdering the Medici head to save his papal authority) himself intend to send a peace delegation to Florence to discuss the peace terms with Lorenzo by sending a teen Cardinal Raffaele Riario who happens to be Pope's nephew, on behalf of the papacy, thus inventing a reasonable letting of the armed guards inside the Florence, as the cardinal is young. It is being decided that the butchering would be held during the banquet that Lorenzo had arranged for the cardinal. As cardinal Raffaele (who is unaware of the conditions) reaches the Medici Plazzo, he is welcomed by the Medici household. Giuliano who stays mostly drunk and sunken into his own grieves is counseled by his concerned mother Lucrezia, stays adamant on not to joining the cardinal in the banquet. Thus upon learning of Giuliano's absence during the banquet, where the assassinations were planned, the Pazzi plan once again fails and therefore Jacopo Pazzi along with his fellow allies including Marco Vespucci decides to kill both of the brothers simultaneously during the congregational mass of Easter in the cathedral. Finally when the day of the mass dawns, and while the Medici family members were getting ready, Giuliano intimidates Lorenzo of the situation by telling him of his hearing regarding a papal army approaching at the gates of their city, much to Lorenzo's surprise. However upon arriving the cathedral Giuliano promises his mother of being sane from onward and taking his rightful responsibilities for their family. Francesco on the other hand proposes a gesture of reconciliation to both of the Medici brothers by embracing them in order to check their armors before entering the cathedral. While during all of this, Guglielmo who also happens to be a Pazzi was invited by his elder brother Francesco to aware him of the coming event, decides not to meet him out of his loyalties with his wife and her family.Watch Midnight Express (1978) Online Free Movie Download
- Title: Midnight Express
- Year: 1978
- Duration: 2h 1m
- Rating: 7,6
- Genres: Drama, Crime, Biography
Summary Midnight Express (1978)
Billy Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.
On October 6, 1970 while boarding an international flight out of Istanbul Airport, American Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) is caught attempting to smuggle two kilos of hashish out of the country, the drugs strapped to his body. He is told that he will be released if he cooperates with the authorities in identifying the person who sold him the hashish. Billy's troubles really begin when after that assistance, he makes a run for it and is recaptured. He is initially sentenced to just over four years for possession, with no time for the more harsh crime of smuggling. The prison environment is inhospitable in every sense, with a sadistic prison guard named Hamidou (Paul L. Smith) ruling the prison, he who relishes the mental and physical torture he inflicts on the prisoners for whatever reason. Told to trust no one, Billy does befriend a few of the other inmates, namely fellow American Jimmy Booth (Randy Quaid) (in for stealing two candlesticks from a mosque), a Swede named Erich (Norbert Weisser), and one of the senior prisoners having already served seven years, an Englishman named Max (Sir John Hurt), the latter two also in for hashish-related charges. One prisoner not befriended is Rifki (Paolo Bonacelli), who wields power in the prison as the unofficial eyes and ears for the guards. As Billy, his family and his girlfriend Susan (Irene Miracle) attempt through legal and diplomatic channels for Billy's release, Max tells him that the only way out is to "catch the midnight express" (escape), which is what Jimmy is continually trying to do. When Billy's situation changes, he becomes more desperate in every sense of the word. It seems as if Billy has only two options: to let the prison ultimately figuratively then literally kill him, or to somehow regain control of his life through whatever means available.
With nearly two kilos of hashish blocks strapped to his torso, on October 6, 1970, the young American college student, Billy Hayes, is arrested and sentenced to four years of imprisonment for trying to smuggle drugs. As the new inmate struggles to finish up his time enduring unspeakable torments and abuse within the hellish purgatory, he is befriended by a few fellow convicts, however, with Ankara in grave need of a scapegoat, Hayes' sentence is overturned to another thirty years of incarceration. Under those circumstances, Billy's only hope is one last and fervent appeal. This, or to catch the "Midnight Express".
On October 6, 1970, American college student Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. The Turkish courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than thirty years in prison. The prison environment is inhospitable in every sense, with a sadistic prison guard named Hamidou ruling the prison, he who relishes the mental and physical torture he inflicts on the prisoners for whatever reason. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".
Synopsis Midnight Express (1978)
This movie is based loosely on Billy Hayes' book Midnight Express about his five year experience in the Turkish prison system. The movie was exaggerated for dramatic effect.October 6, 1970. Opening scene has a xenophobic soundtrack of machine guns, Muslim prayer cries, and synthesizer music and a glimpse of Istanbul, Turkey during twilight with shots of the Bosphorus Strait, a mosque, and the downtown area with seagulls flying about . It is portrayed as a very spooky, forbidding place.
While finishing up on his vacation in Istanbul, Turkey, American college student Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) is in his hotel room and straps several pounds of hashish (about two kilograms) to his body. The film's soundtrack consists of an increasing heartbeat.
Billy is at the airport, nervous at being caught smuggling, goes to the washroom to wet his face and attempt to relax himself, and makes his way with his girlfriend, Susan (Irene Miracle), through customs. Billy perspires heavily, noticed by the middle aged, chain-smoking customs agent who checks his bag. After his bags are searched, both Billy and Susan board a shuttle bus to their plane. Billy smiles and is relieved thinking he is out of danger. However, as the bus pulls up to the plane, he notices that a large detachment of armed police and soldiers have taken up positions just outside the plane. Unable to detach and discard the hashish, and sweating heavily, Billy is arrested on the spot when he is frisked by a young Turkish policeman and his comrades, who immediately point their guns at Billy, thinking he may be dangerous. Billy is taken away and back to security and searched, his bags being thoroughly searched and all items such as cigarettes, camera film, and toothpaste are searched and destroyed. He is forced to stand around in his underwear. Afterward, the Turkish security chief of the airport makes Billy stand for several press photographs of him holding the confiscated drugs with the smiling customs officers and then slaps them around after Billy reveals more hash in his boots they didn't find.
A little later, Billy is forced to stand naked with the customs officers staring and grinning at him and an unidentified southern American man (Bo Hopkins), presumably an agent with the DEA, walks in. He is calm and kind with Billy and takes him to a local police station where he is is interrogated where Tex translates for a local Turkish detective whom offers Billy freedom if he points out who sold him the hash.
He takes Billy downtown the next morning to the bazaar where he claims to have purchased the hashish and tells Billy that recent terrorist airline hijackings have made the Turks much more fanatical about airport security and that the potency or type of drug that Billy was caught with doesn't matter: the Turkish government wants to appear tough on smuggling. Billy is at the restaurant that seems to be a popular place with young American hippies where the sale happened and tries to run from his security escort. He is quickly caught by Tex himself, whose previously friendly attitude suddenly changes for the worse as he his holding a gun to his head.
During his first night in holding, Billy has his hair cut short and is put into a filthy cell by a trustee, Rifki, (Paolo Bonacelli) whom refuses to give him a blanket for warmth because he's not selling any at the time, then sneaks out of his tiny cell and takes a blanket in storage. He is later rousted out of his cell by the trustee and taken to a large guard named Hamidou (Paul L. Smith), the chief of guards, who takes him to another filthy room, the basement, trusses Billy's ankles in the air and hits the soles of his feet repeatedly with his club for stealing the blanket. Billy's feet swell immensely and he is left in horrific pain.
The next morning, a small group of prisoners, Jimmy (Randy Quaid), a towering and hot-tempered American, and Erich, a kindly Swede, get him on his feet and walking (they tell him his feet will continue to swell and his recovery will be longer if he doesn't move around). Jimmy was sentenced for attempting to rob a mosque and Erich was busted for smuggling about 100 grams of hash and given a 12-year sentence. Jimmy is quite sure Billy will receive a stiff sentence, but Erich remains optimistic that he just needs a good lawyer. Jimmy shows Billy around how to navigate the minefield of the prison and, being a foreigner, not to trust any of the Turks, especially the children there who rat out prisoners to Hamidou. The prison resembles an old barracks from the 1800's.
Billy is introduced to Max (John Hurt), is a bespectacled, introverted, unkempt, 30-something junkie uninterested in small talk that injects himself with "gastro" a stomach medicine with codeine. Max has been in prison the longest for drug dealing (seven years and counting), while Erich has already served four years and Jimmy around three. Billy and Erich are conversing with him to get a lawyer and Max is in a haze telling Billy about the Turkish justice system and that all Turkish lawyers are crooked and that he just needs to escape the best way he knows how, catching the "Midnight Express", a train that doesn't stop at the prison. He refers to him a lawyer named Yesil that got off a Frenchman for smuggling 200 kilos.
A few weeks later, Billy's father (Mike Kellin) arrives and embraces him, forgiving his mistake and introduces him to Stanley Daniels (Michael Ensign) of the American Consulate and his requested lawyer Yesil to defend him. Yesil is a fat, shifty, greasy-haired, chain-smoking, ever-smiling man with gold teeth that promises Billy to get him the right court and judge and not to worry. Their goal is to get bail for Billy and a fake passport to get him across to Greece to leave.
Billy appears before a local Turkish court before a panel of three judges to hear his case and defend him. But Billy's shifty and uninterested lawyer does little to combat the charges brought by an angry prosecutor, who wants Billy charged with more than possession: If Billy is charged with smuggling over mere possession, his sentence will be heavier. After the three judges deliberate for an uncertain amount of time, Billy is sentenced to serve a prison term of four years and two months for possession of hashish at the Sagmalcilar Prison. Billy and his father appear devastated while his defense lawyer argues that it is a good thing because the judges (sympathetic to Billy) turned down the prosecutor's request to convict Billy for smuggling or impose a life sentence in order to make an example of him. Billy's father gives him a care package of snacks, cigarettes, writing paper, toiletries, and loses his temper that he's unable to get him out of prison. He warns Billy not to do anything stupid and that they can play with his sentence. They tearfully depart.
Over the next several months, Billy slowly adjusts to prison life. Jimmy gets stabbed in the behind for treating a Turkish prisoner badly and Hamidou beats several of the young boys on their soles believing to have raped a new young inmate, with his two pudgy sons looking on and him warning them about what happens if they break the law. He is also given the truth about Rifki, the trustee, who informs on other prisoners for unheard-of privileges and favors and has a special distaste for foreigners. Rifki also sells watery tea, low-grade hashish, steals from his fellow inmates, and seems to have an unlimited (for incarceration) supply of money to bribe the poorly paid guards. When Max offends Rifki, the informant kills Max's pet cat.
In June of 1972, Billy meets with his lawyer Yesil again with Yesil assuring him of convincing Turkish officials to lose his records before the high court in Ankara can review his case for the right amount of money. Billy is bored and uninterested at Yesil's visit, feeling it's all empty promises.
Jimmy shows Billy and Max blueprints to the prison of catacombs. They believe they can access them through a wall in the kitchen and go underneath or simply climbing over the wall. Max dismisses Jimmy's idea as foolish and Billy does not want to risk trying to escape fearing that if he's caught it will add time to his sentence. An angry Jimmy decides to go ahead with it himself, being caught and badly beaten with a leather strap by Hamidou and sent to the sanitarium.
In June of 1974, Billy's friend, Erich, is granted transfer to prison in his home country, more than likely leaving there after a short term because of Sweden's lenient laws, and leaves the prison after serving around eight years. Billy farewells with him and marks down his prison time to 53 days.
After almost four years in the prison, Billy is informed that his case will be reviewed again. Thinking he's being let go early for good behavior, Billy rushes to meet with Stanley Daniels, the representative from the US ambassador's office in the Turkish capital city of Ankara. However, Daniels has bad news; the High Court in the Turkish capital of Ankara has heard a different argument from the prosecutor who has appealed the four-year term verdict, and is seeking to charge Billy with smuggling hashish and make an example of him. Since double-jeopardy law does not exist in Turkey like it does in the US, any accused can be tried more then once for the same crime on appeal or should new evidence surface.
At another courtroom hearing, a distraught Billy rails against the three judges, the prosecutor, his own lawyer, the Turkish legal system, and the nation of Turkey itself. Speaking through a translator, with a mixture of anger and pity in his voice, the chief judge tells Billy that his hands are tied by Ankara and has no choice but to give him a life sentence. Billy is given a minimum sentence of 30 years, with time already served, for smuggling of hashish.
A saddened Billy sits in his cell with a sense of hopelessness that night, but now wants to go forward with Jimmy's original plan of escape. The stones used as walls in their section's kitchen are cemented in place with mortar that has weakened greatly in the dank conditions. Jimmy, Billy and Max discover two such stones and are able to remove them, finding a shaft behind them that leads to a system of flooded catacombs under the prison. The three of them spend two nights and hours searching for an escape route. However, once they do go underneath, it turns out the Turks have long since blocked off every tunnel. The three give up and replace the stones.
Rifki finds their secret in the kitchen the next morning after their unsuccessful escape attempt and immediately tells Hamidou. Hamidou suspects Jimmy of being responsible after what happened the first time and drags him off for punishment again, and is never seen from then on.
Billy and Max figure out a revenge scheme: they find Rifki's stash of hidden money and destroy it by burning part and boiling the other part. In retaliation, a raid is performed by Hamidou and Rifki plays a charade with Hamidou and frames Max for hashish possession. Hamidou has Max dragged off for punishment like Jimmy was. Billy loses it after all he's been through and savagely attacks Rifki in the washroom, chasing and beating the traitor until he bites out the man's tongue out. Billy is taken away by guards, beaten, and sent to the prison's insane asylum.
In October 1975, Billy has now been reduced to a catatonic and unkempt shadow of his former self in the prison's ward for the insane where he wanders in a daze among the other disturbed and catatonic prisoners, many of which look mentally incapacitated. His activities seem to consist solely of walking in a circle around a pillar with other prisoners. Max is running from guards for an unknown infraction and is grabbed by Hamidou and thrown across the place and severely injured. One day a prisoner, named Ahmet, a convicted child rapist and college-educated philosopher tries to talk to him about "bad machines" to no avail.
A group of men are doing their morning Muslim prayers and the guards hit the inmates with their sticks waking them up out of bed. Billy is hit, howls out of sleep, and horrified, making it evident he is suffering badly from PTSD.
After 5 years, Billy is visited by Susan, who tells him that US senators are trying to work on his case to get him out, pleads with him to put himself together and get out of there unless he wants to die, and passes him a photo album of his family and tells him it has a picture of his "good friend, Mr. Franklin, from the bank". Susan, feeling devastated at Billy's horribly bedraggled state, also opens her blouse so Billy can masturbate. A guard takes him away, leaving Susan even more devastated.
The next morning, Billy is walking the pillar in the opposite direction, which is forbidden in the Muslim code. Ahmet meets him telling him it's wrong that a good Muslim always walks right. His words seem restore some of Billy's sanity and Billy tells him that he himself is the man that makes the machines. Ahmet walks away horrified.
Billy goes into the filthy sanatorium washroom and inspects the album closely, finding numerous $100 bills hidden inside the cover lining totaling around $2,000 in cash. He passes by an almost dead Max to hold on and stay alive that he's leaving and will come back for him. Max wakes up and is somewhat conscious.
Billy sees Hamidou taking a restraining belt off a now dead inmate and about to leave. He approaches Hamidou with part of the money and tries to bribe his longtime enemy to take him to the sanitarium that Jimmy had spoken about where the guards are more lax in their duties. Hamidou accepts Billy's bribe but drags Billy past the entrance to the sanitarium, to a large dressing room filled with guard uniforms and with pegs set into the walls. Hamidou beats Billy, yells about how he's fed up with him, and attempts to rape him when Billy suddenly rushes Hamidou and pushes him forcefully backwards. Hamidou, flailing and trying to regain his footing, slams into the wall, driving a clothes peg into the back of his head, dying instantly. For a short time, Billy considers shooting the dead man with his sidearm but decides not to.
Billy dresses himself in a guard's uniform and reclaiming his money, walks through the prison unnoticed to the front door. As he walks down the stairs, another guard stops him and throws him the keys to the door telling him (in Turkish) to remember to lock up when he checks out. Billy walks out to the street, slowing down only briefly when a police jeep rushes past him. He runs away, the frame freezing on him as he takes a victorious leap. A title card tells us that on the night of October 4, 1975, Billy was able to cross the Turkish border into Greece and flew home to the United States three weeks later. The final shots of the film before the closing credits show Billy reuniting with his family and Susan. In the original version, it was stated after having shown the movie to the Cannes film festival, there was a demand for exchange of prisoners in Turkey to be brought to America.
Watch A Night to Remember (1958) Online Free Movie Streaming
- Title: A Night to Remember
- Year: 1958
- Duration: 2h 3m
- Rating: 7,9
- Genres: Drama, History, Biography
Summary A Night to Remember (1958)
On its maiden voyage in April 1912, the supposedly unsinkable RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean.
A successful attempt at an even-handed portrayal of the White Star Line's (later part of Cunard) luxury liner R.M.S. Titanic's sinking from the standpoint of 2nd Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller, himself the most senior of the ill-fated ship's Deck Officers to survive the disaster. (Lightoller later went on to distinguish himself as a line British Naval Officer during the First World War and served as a Senior Naval Staff Officer (convoys) during WWII. Between wars he owned and operated a successful family business producing pleasure craft.) His own survival of the sinking, along with several others, is shown atop one of the liner's two "collapsible" lifeboats which was capsized in floating off the liner as it sank. The picture depicts then known facts (c1958) as reported after the sinking; such as the woeful lack of adequate lifeboats, the ship's band playing true to the very end, White Star's co-owner Bruce Ismay's somewhat less than chivalrous departure from the sinking vessel -and- the Titanic's designer (Andrews, on-board) revelation that due to the severity of below-the-water-line damage and that the vaunted watertight compartments were not designed to nor sealed up to the weather deck, would only delay the inevitable as sea water spilled over the top of one to the next from the bows to the stern. It also addresses the mysterious ship seen from the Titanic's bridge stopped some 12-19 miles off and depicts it as being the S.S. Californian, whom - if that steamship had responded, the loss of life could have been far, far less. The Californian is seen stopped due to the ice warnings, the same alerts whose import were undervalued by the Titanic's Captain Smith. She herself had shut-down wireless operations, nominally at 11:00pm as her sole operator retired for the evening, this before the iceberg was struck and the 1st distress calls were made by Titanic. It also addresses somewhat the coal fire in one of Titanic's bunkers - apparently not uncommon back in those days, before her departure into the Atlantic and potential for damage to steel plates below the water line. (This picture predates the calling-into-question of the quality of rivets (metalurgy) which has since come to the fore.) The film also shows the class distinction and its impact as to whom - of the "women and children first," got a seat in a boat; the fact that the first/earliest lifeboats launched were not at full capacity; and that the boats launched from the port and starboard side held to different criteria as to loading. The latter allows the viewer an inference as to the importance for crew and passenger alike as to lifeboat drills which were then (1912) neither required nor ever held aboard Titanic. One of several movies on the subject, it stands well the test-of-time for its "just the facts" approach in the telling and avoidance of conjecture or added melodrama.
Reasonably accurate account of the sinking on April 14, 1912 of the RMS Titanic, the luxury ocean liner that struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage. The ship was the height of luxury - certainly by those traveling in first class - and was widely reputed to be unsinkable. The film focuses mostly on the ship itself and the issues faced by Captain Smith, his crew and the passengers. The ship carried only enough lifeboats for half of the passengers and crew but even at that little more than a third of them survived. The film also recounts the activity on the Carpathia, which sailed to the survivors' rescue and the California which failed to recognize their distress signal.
On its maiden voyage across the Atlantic, the British liner Titanic with 2200 people on board is gashed along 300 feet of its hull by an iceberg. As it starts to sink, the new invention of radio is used to try and summon help, although this is disastrously ignored by the closest vessel. With lifeboat places for only 1200 people, it is not only women and children first, but also First Class before Steerage.
Based on the best selling book by Walter Lord, this is the true story of the R.M.S. Titanic which struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Europe to New York in 1912.
It is 1912, and the White Star Line's new ship - the 'unsinkable' Titanic - is making its maiden voyage across the Atlantic from Southhampton to New York City. Unfortunately, the night of April 14-15, 1912 proves to be a night in which man's arrogant overconfidence in his technological creations was shaken to its core, as the legendary ship collides with an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The much-touted watertight compartment system that supposedly rendered it 'unsinkable' was never designed to cope with such extensive damage, and the Titanic is doomed. Focusing on the accounts of most of the real people who sailed on the ship, it centers largely on the experiences of the ship's 2nd officer, C.H. Lightholler. With these accounts come frightening revelations about the ship - not only are there way too few lifeboats, but people are loaded into them according to their class - First before Steerage. Based on the late Walter Lord's book of the same title.
Synopsis A Night to Remember (1958)
Watch Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) Online Free Movie Streaming
- Title: Good Night, and Good Luck.
- Year: 2005
- Duration: 1h 33m
- Rating: 7,4
- Genres: Drama, History, Biography
Summary Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.
In the early 1950's, the threat of Communism created an air of paranoia in the United States and exploiting those fears was Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. However, CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow and his producer Fred W. Friendly decided to take a stand and challenge McCarthy and expose him for the fear monger he was. However, their actions took a great personal toll on both men, but they stood by their convictions and helped to bring down one of the most controversial senators in American history.
Synopsis Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
The movie begins on Oct. 25, 1958, at a fancy dinner tribute to Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn). Its the usual gala affair, everyone is dressed up and looking expensive. Ed Murrow is introduced as a hero who fought against McCarthyism. Ed comes out and proceeds to make a speech about how journalism has become occupied with presenting only good news and how journalists have succumb to escapism, losing touch with the real world. This attack makes the audience uncomfortable and Fred Friendly (George Clooney) looks like hes having a good time.Flashback to 1953. Joe Wershba (Robert Downey Jr.) and Shirley Wershba (Patricia Clarkson) are alone in the copy room; someone walks in and jokingly asks what people might think. Joe takes Shirley aside and tells her about a loyalty (to McCarthy or the government) oath she must sign, or he may get fired. After some thought, she agrees and they kiss.
The newsmen are in a conference room, trying to decide news pieces for the next show. People mention some McCarthy related topics, but are immediately shot down given the controversy involved. Someone brings up the topic of an air force officer in Chicago, who was dismissed from the air force because his father was deemed to be a communist or have communist ties. At his trial, all charges and evidence were in a sealed envelope, which no one saw. The Air Force Officers rights to a fair trial were clearly violated, as he didnt even know the charges against him and was found guilty anyway. The newsmen are reluctant to pursue this, afraid of a backlash from McCarthy. They agree to send two people to Chicago to get some footage and decide from there. Later, the crew is watching footage of the Air Force Officer saying that he would not want his kids to be persecuted for the affiliations of their parents and have to denounce their own father. Ed, Fred, and a third man, are in a room, trying to decide whether to run the piece. Ed is completely for it, while the third man is opposed, mentioning their sponsorship from Alcoa, who is dependant on government contracts. Fred seems to be ambivalent, but trusting Ed. They decide to run it as a piece against the infringement of civil liberties and not mention McCarthy. Fred is met in his office by two Colonels, who proceed to berate him about jeopardizing national security, interfering with government business, etc. Fred asks the Colonels if they know the contents of the sealed envelope and they clearly dont. The story runs; Ed comments on the sealed envelope, and closes with his signature Good night and good luck. We see a bit of the show that runs after Eds, its Don Hollenbeck (Ray Wise) praising Eds courage and reporting. There is a tense moment as everyone waits for the phones to ring and none do. Someone in the back asks if he should turn the phones back on and the tension is eased. The phones start ringing off the hook.
Later, the crew, along with Don, is having drinks at a bar and decides to get the early edition newspaper reviews of the show. The first one comes out very good, the second one not. Some people look relaxed, some angry, but Don looks very uneasy.
William (Bill) Paley (Frank Langella), boss at CBS, summons Fred to his office and chews him out for the piece, mentioning their sponsorship from Alcoa. However, Bill doesnt actually ask Fred to stop reporting on McCarty issues; he seems to both enjoy yelling at Fred and also trust Freds judgment. Joe and Shirley are getting ready for work, before Joe leaves, Shirley reminds him to take off his wedding ring. It turns out that they are secretly married, which is against company policy. Later, Joe is approached by someone from the government, who warns Joe about running future McCarthy pieces, saying, "What if I told you that Ed Murrow was on the Soviet payroll in 1932?"
The crew decides to run a direct attack on McCarthy. McCarthy is holding a senate hearing on a woman who supposedly works in the Pentagon Code Room and is a Communist spy. Although the hearing isnt a real trial, they get the woman fired from her job. The woman in the hearing doesnt actually work in the Code Room and denies any Communist ties. Apparently, an FBI agent saw her name on a Communist mailing list and that is all the evidence they are going on. The news crew point out several things wrong with the hearing: the woman has the same name as three others in the phone book and McCarthy himself leaves the hearing after a few questions. All of these facts are brought to light in Eds show, and Ed volunteers to give McCarthy a chance to defend himself on the show.
McCarthy takes up the offer and basically uses the show to make a series of accusations about Eds ties to Communism: a writer with communist ties had dedicated a book to Ed, Ed was on the Soviet payroll in 1932 for some foreign exchange program, and Ed is a card carrying member of the International Industrial Workers association, which is known to be communist. Ed uses the next show to rebut: he was a friend of the author despite their different beliefs, he doesnt deny the second charge, and the third charge is untrue. Ed also says that since McCarthy didn't refute any facts Ed reported about him, the world can assume they are true.
The newsmen are sitting around and find out that the Air Force Officer from the first story was reinstated back to the army. At the same time, they also learn that Don Hollenbeck has committed suicide, apparently the pressure was too much for him. In other news, the Senate declares an investigation on McCarthy.
Joe and Shirley are called into the editors office and are told about an upcoming layoff. The editor mentions that it is against company policy for two employees to be married and everyone knows they are married. In a happy moment, the two put their rings back on and Joe decides to quit. Bill Paley calls Fred and Ed into his office tells them that CBS lost the Alcoa sponsorship and will have to lay a lot of people off. Ed yells at Bill for his trying to censor them, but Bill responses that he showed his reservations, but had never stopped them from running a piece. Bill tells Ed that his show will be cut from 1 hour to 30 minutes, moved to Sunday afternoon, and Ed will only do five more shows. Ed and Fred walk to the elevator and say that they might as well go out with a bang in their last five shows. Fred mentions that Joe and Shirley were married and Ed seems to be the only one who didnt know.
Cut back to Oct. 25, 1958. Ed finishes his speech saying that journalists are the ones with the responsibility to keep the public informed of the real world, regardless of its unpleasantness. Good night and good luck.
