"In the movie, Murrow, played by David Strathairn, decides to expose the tactics of McCarthy by using senator's own words. Murrow's boss, William Paley, the legendary head of CBS, is by turn supportive and plenty worried about the impact the report will have on his network. But Paley would relent and the program aired, intensifying a public outcry against McCarthy. In late 1954, the senator was censured by his colleagues in the U.S. Senate. There is inevitably a political side to a film that looks at a period of history in which many Americans then and now believe civil liberties were threatened in the hunt for communists."

"The issues raised in the film, where to draw the line between reporting and editorializing, and the balance of news and entertainment in the media company, are still with us today."

"Murrow and his reporting staff discovered Senator McCarthy was exploiting U.S. Air Force Reserve Lieutenant Milo Radulovich. Lieutenant Radulovich’s father, John, and his sister, Mrs. Margaret Fishman, were labeled communist sympathizers; and their close association with him caused a backlash. Without a trial, Radulovich was labeled a security risk by Senator McCarthy’s committee and lost his commission in the Reserves.Murrow and his staff found Senator McCarthy’s tactics and methodology questionable and decided to interview Lieutenant Radulovich on Murrow’s news documentary television show “See It Now.” Murrow’s broadcast drew attention to Radulovich’s plight and he was reinstated into the Air Force Reserves. McCarthy was given an opportunity for a rebuttal on “See It Now.” During the March 1954 episode, McCarthy questioned Murrow’s loyalties and labeled him a Communist sympathizer as well. Murrow’s staff was placed under close scrutiny. Faced with pressure from the CBS network to let the matter rest or lose sponsors, he and his staff decided it was imperative they point out the errors in McCarthy’s claims. McCarthy’s support waned after Murrow’s broadcast."

"Robert Downey Jr. — Joseph Wershba"

"Frank Langella — William S. Paley"

"Ray Wise — Don Hollenbeck"

"George Clooney — Fred Friendly"

"David Strathairn — Edward R. Murrow"

"They Took On The Government With Nothing But The Truth"

"In A Nation Terrorized By Its Own Government, One Man Dared to Tell The Truth"

"We will not walk in fear of each other."

"There's a Knickerbocker game tonight, I've got front row seats. Are you interested?"

"My cards. You lose, what happens? Five guys find themselves out of work. I'm responsible for a hell of a lot more than five god damned reporters. Let it go. McCarthy will self-destruct."

"I'm with you today Ed, and I'm with you tomorrow."

"Might as well go down swinging."

"Turn the phones on!"

"There's no news, boys, so go out there and make some news. Rob a bank, mug an old lady, whatever - just do something."

"Now, ordinarily--I would not take time out from the important work at hand to answer Murrow. However, in this case, I feel justified in doing so because Murrow is a symbol,a leader and the cleverest of the jackal pack which is always found at the throat of anyone who dares to expose individual Communists and traitors."

"Good evening. Mr. Edward R. Murrow, Educational Director of the Columbia Broadcasting System, devoted his program to an attack on the work of the United States Senate Investigating Committee, and on me personally as its chairman, and over the past four years he has made repeated attacks upon me and those fighting Communists."

"We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it, and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late."

"Referring to a line from Julius Caesar recited by Senator McCarthy: Had Senator McCarthy looked just three lines earlier he would have found this: "The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves...”"

"Funny thing, Freddie, every time you light a cigarette for me, I know you're lying."

"The actions of the Junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And who's fault is that? Not really his; he didn't create this situation of fear, he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right: the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. Good night, and good luck."

"This is no time for men who oppose Sen. McCarthy's methods to keep silent or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of the republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom where ever it still exists in the world. But we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."

"We will not walk in fear, one of another…. We are not descended from fearful men — not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular…."

"The line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one, and the junior senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly…. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law."

"No one familiar with the history of his country, can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating."

"We're going with this story. Because the terror is right here in this room."

"We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."

"Thank you for your patience."

"Stonewall Jackson, who is generally believed to have known something about weapons, is reported to have said, "When war comes, you must draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." The trouble with television is that it is rusting in the scabbard during a battle for survival."

"This instrument can teach; it can illuminate; yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it's nothing but wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance, and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful."

"To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent, and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse, and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost."

"Believing that potentially the commercial system of broadcasting as practiced in this country is the best and freest yet devised, I have decided to express my concern about what I believe to be happening to radio and television. These instruments have been good to me beyond my due. There exists in my mind no reasonable grounds for any kind of personal complaint. I have no feud, either with my employers, any sponsors, or with the professional critics of radio and television. But I am seized with an abiding fear regarding what these two instruments are doing to our society, our culture, and our heritage."

"All of these things -- All of these things you know. You should also know at the outset that, in the manner of witnesses before Congressional committees, I appear here voluntarily -- by invitation; that I am an employee of the Columbia Broadcasting System; that I am neither an officer nor any longer a director of that corporation; and that these remarks are strictly of a "do-it-yourself" nature. If what I have to say is responsible, then I alone am responsible for the saying of it. Seeking neither approbation from my employers, nor news sponsors, nor acclaim from the critics of radio and television, I cannot very well be disappointed."

"I have no technical advice or counsel to offer those of you who labor in this vineyard, the one that produces words and pictures. You will, I am sure, forgive me for not telling you that the instruments with which you work are miraculous, that your responsibility is unprecedented, or that your aspirations are frequently frustrated. It is not necessary to remind you of the fact that your voice, amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other, does not confer upon you greater wisdom than when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other."

"Next time you see me, I should be riding in a Rolls Royce giving interviews on success...So long you wage-slaves...When you're crawling up fire escapes and getting kicked out of front doors, and eating Christmas dinners in one-armed joints, don't forget your pal, Hildy Johnson!..And when the road beyond unfolds..."

"John Qualen - Earl Williams"

"Helen Mack - Mollie Malloy"

"Frank Orth - Duffy, Morning Post copy editor"

"Abner Biberman - Diamond Louie"

"Regis Toomey - Sanders, reporter"

"Frank Jenks - Wilson, reporter"

"Roscoe Karns - McCue, reporter"

"Clarence Kolb - Fred, the Mayor"

"Cliff Edwards - Endicott, reporter"

"Ernest Truex - Roy V. Bensinger, Tribune reporter"

"Porter Hall - Murphy, reporter"

"Gene Lockhart - Sheriff Peter B. 'Pinky' Hartwell"

"Ralph Bellamy - Bruce Baldwin"