DICK STEEL Not all biographical films on politicians are made equal. Some try to tell a sprawling tale of someone's political life, such as Oliver Stone with his Nixon and W, while others capture a momentous slice of an historical event, such as Roger Donaldson's Thirteen Days which was gripping from start to end. Then there are those like Rudy, which tries to do both, but don't really get there, undoubtedly having the story mooted since Rudy Giuliani (James Woods) was the mayor of New York during the fateful event of September 11 2011, and having this film weave a glimpse of his political career culminating in that horrendous disaster.Granted this had a limited budget, and in many ways that showed in the film, having some scenes crafted in sparse studios, although looking like a million dollars when Robert Dornhel, whose experience and filmography point to a lot of made for television films which this one also belonged to, had deliberately opted for the documentary look and feel for the event of September 11. Everything else looked indoors and not on location, removing that sense of authenticity of filming it all in the Big Apple.There's also very little on his political and professional career before Mayorship, and what I thought was a very interesting bit in his life during his Attorney General days as he locked horns with the mafia, was grossly glossed over, which was a pity because there's so much narrative potential there to be explored, but I guess writer Stanley Weiser, who based this film on the book by Wayne Barrett, didn't find it interesting enough for a big screen treatment. Much instead is preferred to focus on the man's incredibly bad temper behind closed doors, demonstrating that Giuliani is a man who doesn't mince his words, and shoots very fast from the hip without due care whether it'll hurt anyone at all with his pointed, loud barbs.With 9/11 stock footage mixed with its own documentary presentation, the story unfolds in flashbacks, as we glimpse into Rudy's marriage to newscaster Donna Hanover (Penelope Ann Miller) who had once interviewed him and begun a whirlwind romance, before his suspected infidelities and indiscretion led to breakdowns in both his marriage and almost always threatening his political career, isolating him from strong, key advisers who don't quite see eye to eye with his blind trust of his communications director. I suppose Robert Dornhelm prefers to tell the age old story of how the strong almost always fall prey to the advances of the fairer sex, and in some ways become the seeds to their downfall, in more ways than one.James Woods puts in a riveting performance as the go-getter in the titular character, but ultimately got let down by the weak narrative that didn't get to dig deeper into what made the man, skimming only on the surface and focused on his anger management issues. Supporting cast didn't outside Woods in his role, and that may be attributed to the more caricature like treatment the supporting characters had to deal with since a biopic that's about 90 minutes long doesn't leave a lot of room for the spotlight to be shared with others.For a man who was to provide a leadership beacon in what would be one of the most tragic terrorist attacks in human history, Rudy had all the potential to paint a more complex, detailed picture of just who the man was, someone whom most had seen on their television screens in the aftermath of that attack, but you're likely to come out from this just a wee bit more knowledgeable about the man himself, if at all, no thanks to its summarizing of key milestones in the man's life, and the indecision to just want to focus on an episode, or be a little bit more ambitious to cover a whole lot of ground.

bob the moo Taking the events of September 11th as it's foundation, the film tells the tale of Rudy Giuliani's rise up the political ladder, his hard-line stance as Attorney and Mayor of New York. It also shows his affairs and the breakdown of his marriage despite the strength of the man in times of testing.As will now be an annual event, the television companies all rolled out films and documentaries on the 2nd anniversary of 9/11. The main commercial station's choice was this sort of bio-pic of Rudy Giuliani with the focus on September 11th widening to take in the 15 or so years prior to that moment. The manner of structuring the film in this way means that it could have been a flag waving salute to a man who become world famous (or more famous!) on that day. However, despite cutting back and forth, the majority of the film occurs before the attack. I found the attack scenes hard to watch as I was watching a film for entertainment – I suppose this was unavoidable, but I don't like seeing the pictures too often in case they stop shocking me and I get used to them.The back story to Giuliani is interesting as I admired his stance on crime when he was Mayor. I didn't know a lot of detail of his career as I'm not in the US but the film delivered a simplified version to good effect. Surprisingly the film didn't gloss it's subject too often and wasn't afraid to show his affairs, his tempers of his right wing views. This made it feel more worthwhile although the TV production values do make it feel a little tacky at times.Woods does pretty well to hold the screen for the whole film and not spin Rudy o be too sleazy or too heroic. I felt that he was a little animated for Rudy at times, as I always had the impression of him publicly as more controlled. The support cast (including Penelope Ann Miller) are all pretty good but do tend to seem more at home in TV land than Woods does.Overall this was an interesting film, even if it is very much a snapshot and is driven by Woods rather than the wider story. The framing of the story by 9/11 works well to set up the story, despite the strange feeling of seeing the real footage inserted into a movie in this way.

Theo Robertson 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 .

shp22 I'll start by saying I'm a fan of Mr. Giuliani and read his book, Leadership. So I was very disappointed by this movie for several reasons.The script is extremely flat. Yes, it does show that Giuliani had a temper, liked opera and loved the law. But in a way that made me think the writer had a checklist to work from. And one that did not include Giuliani's lighter side. The script barely allows him to smile or laugh or enjoy the people around him. For example, it could have included his appearances on Saturday Night Live, his second Mayoral race and the image problem he had to overcome or his friendship with Joe Torre and the Yankees. Indeed, SHOWING his relationship to the team, rather than just SAYING he loved them, would have done wonders for showing him as the proudest New Yorker. And making an effort to portray has relationship with his children would have been nice, too.The people around Giuliani rarely react to him. For example, on becoming the lead Federal Prosecutor in Manhattan, he tells a roomful of Federal Prosecutors that they have gotten fat and lazy and no one reacts in any way. He explains to a roomful of prosecutors how he will take down the Mafia on conspiracy to violate RICO laws (which he reminds them he wrote) and again, no one reacts. The most frequent reaction is silent bustling in response to the scripted tirades. He's often "right", but he's not even allowed to enjoy outsmarting the other guy (a la Jack McCoy of Law & Order).I've seen the movie twice now (hoping it would be better) and still don't know why the 9/11 events are done in flashback throughout the movie. My only guess is they couldn't figure out how to end it otherwise.Overall, I think that Rudy Giuliani deserved a much better biography. Hopefully someone will do it someday.