Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story (2003)

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

September the 11th 2001 was a day when I was ill with a really bad chest inflammation . I was having a cup of tea watching the end credits of NEIGHBOURS when a BBC newsflash came up . I instantly thought The Queen Mother had died untill the newsreader said two planes had crashed into each of the twin towers of the WTC building and I spent the rest of the day with a shocked expression on my face as the events in New York unfolded . The world changed that day and not for the better RUDY : THE RUDY GIULIANI STORY is the first filmed dramatisation of the events of 9/11 . It`s also a biopic of the legendary Mayor of New York on that day , but I found this to be uninformative . Mayor Rudy took on the mafia ? Well I knew that already . He drastically cut the crime rates in NYC ? I knew that already . He was a bit of a lad and cheated on his partner ? I didn`t know that but is infidelity all that interesting ? As a big James Woods fan I was also disappointed with his performance in the title role and couldn`t help thinking Woods was slightly miscast , Woods is in his element playing manic , intense bad guys and I`ve never thought of Giuliani as a manic , intense bad guy . As one reviewer has already pointed out Robert Duvall would have been perfect in the role .The biggest problem with this TVM is nothing to do with the actors or anyone`s opinion of Mayor Rudy , it`s probably more to do with the events on 9/11 . The reality of something so shocking , something that set so many wheels in motion for both good and bad for many years to come completely overwhelms something as unimportant as a movie made for television .

The film is obvious a Hollywood capitalization on a persona. It is definitely overdramatized, but it does play out some of the more important moments in Giuliani's career. Consequently, if one has an even minute understanding of his political career, the film allows a person to reflect on it a bit more easily. This film is not a political analysis of any sort, nor is there a real vestige character portrayal. It's much more a docudrama than anything else, and that is to be expected from a "movie of the week."

Rudy is the TV film shown recently on USA starring James Woods as Rudolph Giuliani. It begins on September 10th, 2001 and then when the tragedy hits we go to flashbacks starting in 1982 when Rudy was associate Attorney General. The back and forth between the present (September 11th) and his past is a hard to pull off editing job that works well. The 911 scenes go back and forth between actual footage Woods' portrayal, which again is effective and realistic. To his credit Woods didn't try to assume the mannerisms of Rudy too much so avoided the danger of lapsing into parody, but rather played the role as intense high drama...which wasn't exactly appropriate to Rudy's more low key reality. Other flashbacks we get are 1984 when he's the US Attorney in New York who cracks down on the Mafia, 1989 when he loses the Mayoral race to Dinkins, 1992 when he grandstands for racist cops, 1993 when he wins the Mayoral election, as well as his marriage and his 2 extramarital relationships. Overall a sympathetic portrayal of 2 decades of public office which of course culminates in 911, which is really what most of the film appropriately points towards. You will come away respecting Rudy if perhaps not agreeing with him. Finally it's significant that James Woods got this role, as he noticed the highjackers on previous "test flights" and he reported his suspicions to the flight attendant. He reported it to the FBI post-911 and they confirmed they were the highjackers on his flight.

A superficial puff-piece about a fascinating political character that stays so much on the surface that it verges on soft-core propaganda. Neither James Woods nor the script really bears a particularly close resemblance to Guiliani, both making him look better than he really was.One example that can symbolize many others: Guiliani is shown as a devoted Yankee fan, but there is no mention of his various overt and covert efforts to funnel millions of public dollars to George Steinbrenner and his baseball team.The director's and writer's point of view is not only essentially pro-Guiliani, but the narrative framework is also centered within his political cadre, rather than being informed by the insights of detached and balanced observers.I would have liked to have seen more about where Rudy came from -- geographically, socially, and psychologically -- to help understand how he became such a capable yet massively flawed figure on the New York political stage. This movie trivializes its subject matter, focussing on a two-dimensional cutout rather than a three-dimensional character within a complex context.