Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Client 9: The Rise and fall of Eliot Spitzer is a documentary film which premiered in 2010.

 

Here is some basic information about it:

 

** Written and directed by Alex Gibney

** Produced by Alex Gibney, Jedd Wider, Todd Wider, and Maiken Baird

** Distributed by Magnolia Pictures

** Run time: 116 minutes

 

Part one

This film covers the life and career of the American politician Eliot Spitzer, who was born in 1959. 

 

Spitzer was Attorney General of New York for eight years (1999-2007) and Governor of New York for less than one year (2007-2008).

 

Since he was a public person, his private life was carefully scrutinized by the media: he married Silda Wall in 1987 and he has three daughters.

 

In 2013, three years after this film was released, he announced that his marriage to Silda had ended.

 

While he served as attorney general, he was known as “the Sheriff of Wall Street,” because he was going after big bankers if he thought they were breaking the law. 

 

When he became governor of New York, he continued this approach, which some people found too aggressive.

 

In March 2008, shortly after beginning his term as governor, he resigned, because he was involved in a sex scandal concerning an escort service.

 

While identified as “Client 9” in the indictment against the people who had run the escort service, he was never arrested and never charged with any crime.

 

More than twenty persons - including friends and enemies, as well as Spitzer himself - are interviewed for the film.

 

Here are the names of the participants (listed in the order of appearance):

 

** Eliot Spitzer – former attorney general, former governor

** Hulbert Waldroup, artist, painter

** Lloyd Constantine, former Spitzer advisor

** Peter Elkind, reporter, author of the book Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (hardcover 2010) (the main title of the paperback version (also 2010) is Client 9)

** Darren Dopp, communications director for Spitzer while he was attorney general

** Zana Brazdek, worked for the Emperor’s Club VIP

** “Natalia,” a former escort

** David brown, staff lawyer for Spitzer while he was attorney general

** Noreen Harrington, former executive, Stern Asset Management

** “Angelina,” a former escort, the Emperor’s Club VIP (In the film, this person is portrayed by actress Wrenn Schmidt, but the words spoken are from the real “Angelina”)

** Ken Langone, Chairman and CEO of Invemed Associates

** Richard Beattie, legal counsel for the directors of AIG

** John Whitehead, former chairman, Goldman Sachs

** Jimmy Siegel, media consultant

** Kristian Stiles, National Finance Director to Eliot Spitzer

** Fred Dicker, New York Post state editor

** Joe Bruno, NY Senate majority leader, 1994-2008

** Mike Balboni, Deputy Secretary for Public Safety while Spitzer was governor

** Wayne Barrett, senior editor, the Village Voice

** Roger Stone, political consultant

** Karen Finley, performance artist

** Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, former Chairman and CEO of AIG

 

Throughout the film, short clips from contemporary television reports are used to show what was going on with Spitzer’s life and career.

 

Part two

His enemies hated him and I think they still do. They celebrated when he had to resign in 2008. His friends and supporters were disappointed. I think they still are. 

 

They believed in his crusade against the bankers of Wall Street. And they were sad to see him fall because of what was (in their opinion and in legal terms) a minor transgression.

 

Spitzer himself does not blame anyone for bringing him down. He says he did it all by himself. If anyone must be blamed, he blames himself.

 

When asked why he did it, why he used an escort service, which is illegal in the US, he says he has no real answer, except to say that he is a human being and human beings make mistakes.

 

As the film points out, the timing of his downfall is very significant. Spitzer was “outed” and forced to resign in March 2008. The economic crisis of 2008 broke just a few months later. When Spitzer had to resign, the bankers on Wall Street celebrated:

 

“We are not doing anything wrong. We do not need a sheriff to police us. We have our own system of checks and balances and it works just fine.”

 

A few months later, when the crisis broke out, it was clear to the world that the bankers on Wall Street had been totally out of control and that Spitzer’s attempt to police them had been fully justified.

 

However, at that point it was of course too late to stop them. The damage had already been done. Not by Spitzer, but by the bankers who claimed his crusade was unfair and completely unnecessary.

 

Many witnesses who appear in this film support Spitzer’s crusade against the bankers of Wall Street, but this does not make this film a one-sided defence of the former attorney general and the former governor.

 

His enemies are allowed to speak as well, and some of them use very strong words when they talk about him. In fact, some of the words used to describe Spitzer are so strong that I do not want to repeat them here!

 

The viewers can listen to the statements offered by friends and enemies as well as the additional facts provided by the director and then make up their own minds about the whole case: Spitzer’s crusade against Wall Street and the circumstances surrounding his downfall.

 

As pointed out in the film, several US politicians have been caught with their pants down (so to speak), but nothing really happened to them. There was a brief scandal, but they were allowed to continue in office. They did not have to resign.

 

Perhaps the most obvious example is Bill Clinton, who remained as president after the whole country - indeed the whole world - had been informed about his “special meetings” with an intern in the Oval Office.

 

But for Spitzer, things were different. Once he had been identified as Client 9, there was no mercy, no support from anyone. There was only one way for him to go and it was out.

 

Conclusion

What do reviewers say about this film?

 

Here are some results:

 

68 percent = Meta

73 percent = IMDb

83 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

90 percent – Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

 

On Amazon there are at the moment 38 ratings of this product, 30 with reviews.

 

The average rating is 3.9 stars which corresponds to a rating of 78 percent.

 

As you can see, the ratings are quite good. But if you ask me, they are not good enough. 

 

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent). As far as I can see, this film is what I call an ABC product:

 

** Accurate,

** Balanced, and

** Comprehensive

 

It is highly recommended.

 

PS # 1. Alex Gibney is the director of several important documentary films, including the following:

 

** Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)

** Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2012)

 

PS # 2. Zipper is a political thriller based on the scandal connected with Eliot Spitzer (2015).

 

Positive reviews of this movie are few and hard to find. Rotten Tomatoes offers a rating of 27 percent (from the audience) and 20 percent (from the critics)!

 

*****

Rough Justice:

The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

By Peter Elkind

(Hardcover 2010)

(Paperback 2010)

 

*****

The American politician

Eliot Spitzer

(born 1959)

Former Attorney General of New York

Former Governor of New York

 

*****