Where's My Roy Cohn?

While I DID SEE THE Army- McCarthy Hearing on tv in 1953 I did not know of Roy Cohn's later deeds and misdeeds, since I had left NYC. It was eye opening to see that such worthies as Barbara Walters, Ronald Reagan, Ed Koch, and even Cardinal Spellman were in his corner and his cronies. Learned a lot about our urban elites, quite different from what I had thought. And the way Donald Trump modeled his life on Cohn, including the weird family influences, was most welcome..

Don't miss this exhaustively comprehensive look at the odious Roy Cohn, who in spite of living only 59 years did decades' worth of damage to the U.S.

Tyrnauer's finest film.

As someone who followed Cohn's career in real time it's clear that the film tells real truths about a complicated and fascinating man with no moral boundaries or bottom. And the lesson of Cohn's life, never admit anything, never apologize, and always hit back harder than you were hit, is abundantly demonstrated. Even his own relatives understood the truth. You will not lose interest in this film.

Humans like all animals try to save energy, for us we call it laziness. Ignorance is one manifestation. Cohn was the opposite - intelligent, relentless, and he knew how to take advantage of that human condition, "It is the use of the big lie ... accusation ... in the name of Americanism ... political value of wrapping yourself in the flag ... and always when meeting with reporters say 'God bless America'". Cohn stoked fear from McCarthy & the communists to N.Y. mobsters then eventually to N.Y. real money - real estate & the Trump family. Even when the Justice Dept. went after the aforementioned he still won by taking advantage of ignorance & as he taught Trump - change the discussion by attacking your opponents.

At the time of my review (February 2020) the IMDB score is 6.2/10 which is unfair; it should be much higher. The rating of 6.2 is due to angry republicans upset at the connections made to their heroes Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, and others. You may disagree with the conclusion; which is hard to do because these are all facts and all this happened as detailed; but if you don't agree with the conclusions drawn it is wrong to write a review and give it a low rating. This film is balanced and interviews people who liked Roy Cohn and thought he was a great guy. The film tries to find answers to why he was so successful and why people gravitated to him. It's balanced and nuanced. It is well written, well researched, and easy to watch. It's interesting, it's good, I score it 8/10. No way in any universe is this film a 3/10. Only for someone upset with the conclusions and lashing out in anger with ad hominem attacks. If you can get the DVD watch the Q&A with the director and producer in the bonus features. I'm glad I found out about this film and that I was able to watch it.