Citizen Cohn

"Citizen Cohn" (1992): James Woods plays intense characters. This may be his best. Roy Cohn (Woods) was the pit bull dog of a lawyer for Senator Joe McCarthy during the Commie Hunts of the 1950's and beyond. We follow Cohn's life – his self-righteous, contradictory, opportunistic, sleazy life – from childhood to death bed. Structured in flashbacks and flashforwards, we see his twisted points of view along with his victims and lackies. This is one of the best character studies ever made. It's disgusting, and true. Also starring Joe Don Baker, Joseph Bologna, Ed Flanders, Frederick Forrest, Lee Grant, and others. If you like Woods' job in this one (and you will), see "Another Day in Paradise" or the classic "The Onion Field".

This movie has the failing of many 'made for HBO' films, a tendency to distort the truth to hammer home its point. Its portrayal of Cohn's personality is accurate enough, and chilling to watch, and in general, it follows Cohn's life fairly closely. However, it gives Cohn a bit more credit (or blame) than he deserves. It would have you believe that Cohn drove Joe McCarthy to his anti-Communist pogroms, when in fact McCarthy was a very determined and headstrong man, who needed no unknown NY lawyer to make him into a demagogue. It also vastly overstates Cohn's role in the persecution of Congressman Cornelius Gallagher, persecution that was actually driven by J. Edgar Hoover. It also omits the bizarre role of right-wing nut Lyndon LaRouche in destroying Cohn's credibility in the last years of his life. It does stand as a good overview of the general events of Cohn's fascinating, if venal, life. But it also makes him seem far more influential than he really was.

Roy Cohn was truly a brilliant man. He graduated from law school before most people even graduated from college. During his prosecuting of the Rosenburgs and his stint as McCarthy's assistant, he was looked upon as a rising star, a "young Commie catching comet" as Walter Winchell called him. For all his panache, brilliane and theatrics, however, Cohn was nothing more then a liar and a crook and was disbarred shortly before his death from AIDs. It made me angry that this man was so brilliant and we could have reaped a great benefit from his talents if he had properly and honestly applied them to helping people. Like so many, however, Cohn was corrupted by power and greed. I have rarely seen an actor who can play a bad guy the way that James Woods can, this man is awesome in every way and they couldn't have picked a better man to play this real life meglomaniac and monster. Woods is so chilling as Cohn that you almost feel that his dying of AIDs is God's punishment. He is sneering in our faces all throughout this film. I see nothing wrong with calling Roy Cohn a monster, but he is like a Frankenstein monster because we made him and let him get away with it. He was a Jew who persecuted Jews and a gay man who persecuted gays. The most disturbing scene for me in the film is where the dying Cohn is literally "haunted" by the Rosenburgs, a victim of the Witch Hunt he drove to suicide and even Senator McCarthy and Joseph Welch (the lawyer who helped bring him down during the infamous Army-McCarthy hearings). Its hard to believe that we could have another Salem Witchcraft period of hysteria in our country but we did less then 50 years ago because of two demagogues named Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn. Joe Don Baker did a fine job as the infamous Wisconsin Senator but Peter Boyle was the one who did a masterful performance in the 1977 tv film Tail Gunner Joe. They re-enact the scene during the hearings (which were the first of their kind carried live on tv) where Joseph Welch called down the wrath of God on this tyrant in a way no one would ever forget "I don't think I ever really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness...if it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so...I like to think I'm a gentle man but your forgiveness will have to come from someone else...have you left no sense of decency sir?...at long last have you left no sense of decency? He could have easily said the same thing to Roy Cohn and the answer would have been no.

That rarest of birds, a TV-movie that's every bit as engrossing as any theatrical film. James Woods in a personal-best turn as ruthless McCarthy-era prosecutor Roy Cohn. If you didn't see it on HBO, get over having to pay for something you could have seen for free, and just rent it--you won't be sorry

I find this film, tv movie or not, to be absolutely incredible! James woods is great as always, and he gives us a sometimes scary look into the disturbed mind of one of the leaders of the McCarthy era. He's surrounded by an excellent cast, even Joe Don Baker turns out a good performance as the alcoholic McCarthy. A must-see for anyone interested in the early 50's or for those who have read Arthur Miller's "The Crucible".

The film is based on the book by the same name.