Where’s My Roy Cohn? is a documentary film which premiered in 2019. It is a biopic of the famous or infamous American lawyer and political consultant Roy Cohn (1927-1986).
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Director: Matt Tyrnauer
** Run time: 97 minutes
Several persons are interviewed in the film. Here are the names of the participants (listed in alphabetical order):
** Ken Auletta – journalist – The New Yorker
** Marie Harriet Brenner – journalist – Vanity Fair
** Robert Cohen – lawyer
** Thomas Doherty – historian
** Joseph Epstein – publisher
** David Cay Johnston – journalist – author of several books
** David Lloyd Marcus – Roy Cohn’s cousin
** Sam Roberts – journalist – New York Times
** Anne Roiphe – Roy Cohn’s cousin
** Roger Stone – political consultant – Roy Cohn’s protégé
** Peter Sudler – former US attorney
** John Vasallo - lawyer
** Adam Wallace – Roy Cohn’s boyfriend
** Jim Zirrin – lawyer – author of several books
Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to support and supplement the statements made by the talking heads. Archive footage allows us to meet Roy Cohn himself.
In this film, we follow the life and career of Roy Cohn from the beginning in 1927 to the end in 1986. Here is a summary in five basic points:
# 1. Roy Cohn was a lawyer.
# 2. In the 1950s, he was one of four prosecutors in the case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in New York. After winning a high-profile case such as this, Cohn was suddenly an important lawyer and an influential person.
# 3. In the 1950s, he was chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy in Washington, DC. While McCarthy lost his power and influence in 1954 and died in 1957, Cohn moved back to New York where he was able to reinvent himself as a power broker and a political consultant.
# 4. In the 1960s, he was a political consultant working for different clients.
# 5. In the 1970s, he was a mentor of Donald Trump who was at the time a young businessman with high ambitions.
What about the title of the film? What does it mean? The title is inspired by an anecdote about President Donald Trump.
Whenever he was in a difficult situation, he would look at the people around him and call out in desperation:
“Where’s my Roy Cohn? He was always ready to help me. He always knew what to do. Now he’s gone. Who’s going to help me now?”
The poster of the film shows Roy Cohn sitting is a chair with a cup of coffee in his hand. On the wall behind him five words are written in large red letters:
** RUTHLESS
** UNSCRUPULOUS
** POWERFUL
** FLAMBOYANT
** NOTORIOUS
These five adjectives are used to describe Roy Cohn. When we listen to what the participants have to say about him, it seems these words are very appropriate; they are well-chosen.
What do reviewers say about this film? Here are the results of three review aggregators:
68 percent = IMDb
70 percent = Meta
77 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
87 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
On Amazon there are 73 global ratings and 16 global reviews. The average rating is 4.6 stars which corresponds to a rating of 92 percent.
If you ask me, the first two ratings (IMDb and Meta) are too low, while the rating on Amazon is too high.
This film is good, but not great. The ratings on Rotten Tomatoes are appropriate. The ratings are 77 and 87. The average is 82. Neither too low nor too high.
I think this film deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
PS # 1. Bully. Coward. Victim.The Story of Roy Cohn is a documentary film which premiered on HBO in 2019.
** Director: Ivy Meeropol.
** Run time: 98 minutes.
PS # 2. Citizen Cohn is a television movie which premiered in 1992. It is a biopic of Roy Cohn starring James Woods in the leading role.
** Director: Frank Pierson
** Run time: 111 minutes
REFERENCES
# 1. Articles available online
Steve Appleford,
“The ‘Where’s My Roy Cohn?’ Documentary Director Reveals Trump’s Machiavelli”
Los Angeles Times, 24 September 2019
Gary Kramer,
“Closeted Roy Cohn the Subject of an Eye-Opening New Doc”
San Francisco Bay Times, 2019
# 2. Books by David Cay Johnston
Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich – and Cheat Everybody Else (2005)
Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) (2008)
The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family (2021)
# 3. Books by Jim Zirrin
The Mother Court (2014)
Supremely Partisan (2016)
Plaintiff in Chief (2019)
# 4. The case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Secrets, Lies and Atomic Spies
A documentary film which premiered in 2002. It is an episode of the long-running program NOVA which is devoted to science and technology (season 29 episode 13).
** Writer, producer and director: Tug Yourgrau.
** Narrator: Liev Schreiber
** Run time: 56 minutes
*****
Roy Cohn (1927-1986)
*****
No comments:
Post a Comment