Trump Unauthorized

I'm looking forward to the sequels, Trump: America's Dictator, and The rise and fall of 45.

(Some Spoilers) Made for TV Movie about the rise and fall and then rise again of the famous "The Donald" Donald Trump, Justin Lewis, during the turbulent years of the 1970's through the early 21th Century.

Starting in the mid 1970's Donald Trump surprised everyone including his New York real estate baron Father Fred, Ron Malarty, in his ability to master not only the world of building skyscrapers and promoting himself but his talent of navigating the maze of NYC politics. As we see Trump battling over building permits with the then NYC Mayor Edward Koch,Richard Partnow, to get what he was after that no one ever before him ever even tried.

New York was on the verge of bankruptcy back in 1975 and was quickly turning into a ghost town like Detroit and Newark back in the 1960's. It was Trump who had the foresight and drive to turn that felling of despair around by buying up cheap and unwanted plots of land in the city and turning them into gold mines for himself and those who believed and invested in him. By the late 1980's Trump was one of the most admired feared and recognized men in America with a fortune worth in the billions of dollars.

Handsome witty with a beautiful wife and children Trump had everything that a man could want and it was also rumored that he would run for president in 1988 or 1992 with the outcome, of him winning, of the election being a forgone conclusion. Three thing happened to Donald Trump in the late 1980's and early 1990's that knocked him off his pedestal and left him an almost totally destroyed man in business and in his marriage to his wife Ivan,Katheryn Winnick.

In 1988 his best friend and personal adviser Peter Winnik,Saul Rubinek, together with three members of his staff were tragically killed in a helicopter crash in the wilds of New Jersay. That followed with the real estate market being hit with the worst crash since the collapse of that market back in the spring of 1929 just six months before the great stock market crash on October 29, 1929. Trump was caught flat-footed with him heavily leveraged in his majestic, as well as costly, Atlantic City casino the Taj Mahal. The real estate collapse market had Trump not only losing all the wealth he accumulated over the last ten years but put him some 800 million dollars in debt. On top of all that Trump's marriage fell apart when it was revealed through the major New York newspapers and TV tabloids that he was having an affair with beautiful actress and model Marla Mapels, Jennifer Baxter; or Marla Mapoo as his wife Ivan sarcastically called her.

The second half of the movie "Trump Unauthorized" is far better the the first half because it shows what "The Donald" is really made of. We get to see how he picked himself up and not only recovered from the disastrous events that he went through. We also see how he gained the respect and admiration of those who up until then looked at him as only a spoiled rich boy who never really knew what it was to be able to pick himself up off the ground like he did in the movie as well as in real life.

I never really knew this about Donald Trump until I watch the film "Trump Unauthorized" and that is that he personally dislikes firing people. This came as a real shock to me from watching him on his top rated TV show "The Apprentice" where the phrase "Your Fired" has become his trademark.

Thoward the end of the movie we see Trump talking to a TV executive about the show "The Apprentic" and how he's to fire people that work for him on it. Hesitant at first Donald Trump finally agreed to do the show when the executive assured him that it was not at all real since everything that's on TV shows don't reflect the reality of the real world; Trump then finally agreeing to do the show got a real chuckle out of that statement.

I once watched the reality show 'The Apprentice' for a period of time. That was when I first head of Donald Trump. Soon later on, I began to learn more about his personal life as well and how his visions for the city he love grew into what it is today.

And yeah, and also learning about the reality show 'The Apprentice' too.

It was quite an insight to 'The Donald' (as some may call him) I didn't really knew, far from the world of reality TV we all aware of how he's like. It's kind of a surprise that firing people was not in his nature.

Justin Louis almost perfected the Donald Trump mannerisms well that it is almost very convincing. Katheryn Winnick as Ivana Trump, she is quite convincing too.

A made-for-TV movie which can be quite an insight to the Donald Trump we did not know much about.

Justin Louis did a good job showing us a man who thought very highly of himself. What he didn't always achieve was showing us a man who had a reason to. This Donald Trump didn't seem all that confident or capable of doing all that the real Trump actually did. Early on, when he kept having to turn to his father for help, this was probably realistic. Perhaps the real man wasn't as self-assured as we have been led to believe, but if so, how did he do everything?

By contrast, Katheryn Winnick displayed confidence and intelligence and did a great job overall as Ivana, a woman certainly capable of being The Donald's equal and of making things happen (it's no wonder a man like The Donald might feel threatened by her). And her accent was beautiful, if the actress doesn't really talk that way in real life. AND she was gorgeous.

Fred McLarty also made an impact, as Trump's demanding father. It's easy to see where the younger Trump got his drive. Also, Saul Rubinek was effective as Trump's partner.

As for Jennifer Baxter as Marla, I'm not sure whether this was a good performance, but Marla came across as not having a brain in her head. This was probably the intention.

Louis' hairdresser is to be commended. Trump is known for his bad hair, and while I'm a straight guy who doesn't really know good or bad hair on men, Trump usually had some version of the sloppy look, especially in the 70s (I think I looked like that back then, though). In my opinion, Trump's hair looked good in some scenes.

As for the storyline, I think I learned a little about Trump and got some idea of how he got where he is today. A little too much emphasis on the tawdry media circus, though occasionally that part was fun.

I have always viewed New York City mayor Ed Koch positively, but this movie made him look evil. This was certainly a negative for me.

I can't say how accurate this movie was, but if I had to bet on one funny line not being real, it would have been Trump saying he didn't like firing people. But since it was used twice, maybe it's true.

This was a typical TV-movie biography--not really anything special.

Too boring. Take the Trump element out and you're left with a mundane film.

'Trump Unauthorized' is a Donald Trump biopic, way before his time as president of the United States; it even precedes his time on 'The Apprentice'. As a biographical film, it's alright. It details the early years of Trump with interest, even if it more than likely exaggerates/uses creative licence - as the majority of biopics tend to do.

Louis Ferreira (formerly Justin Louis) is fairly decent as the titular character. I don't know much about Trump from this era, yet I still recognized the little traits and mannerisms that Ferreira brings. He's solid in the role. None of the other cast standout at all, though it's hard to ignore Katheryn Winnick as Ivana - mainly thanks to that awful accent.

I have no idea if it's a too complimentary on Trump or the opposite, I only judge a film as a film. In those terms, it's very forgettable despite not being absolutely terrible.