Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story (2003)
Biographic movie of the witty, overachieving, hot-tempered Rudy Giuliani, spanning from his rising days as a New York district attorney in the early 1980s to his marriage to part-time actress Donna Hanover, to his candidacy for mayor of New York City and his controversial methods to tackle the city's crime and urban problems, as well as his romance with his assistant Cristyne Lategano which lead to the failure of his marriage, to his battle with prostate cancer, all leading up to the terrible day of September 11, 2001 which Guiliani himself narrowly escaped death after suicide terrorists hijacked and crashed two passenger airliners into the twin World Trade Center towers leading to their collapse in which Guiliani's toughness and spirited personality help calm the city's residents to face the chaos on that day which made him a national hero.
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Best movie of this year hands down!
Slow pace in the most part of the movie.
Just perfect...
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Apparently it was his admiration for the prurient right-wing mayor that led James Woods to play the part. But the portrayal remains wholly unconvincing, particularly as James Woods is such a familiar Hollywood actor. It would have helped a great deal in my opinion to have used a virtually unknown actor for the part, and Woods admiration for the man in no way justifies him being cast for the role. And surely there's no need in my pointing out the fact that the two men share no physical resemblance whatsoever? The quality and style of the film is sub-standard TV movie. The September 11th section of this film switches from actual original camcorder footage of the collisions - to scenes of Woods pretending to be the mayor, back and forth. Back and forth. Whether the use of original footage was due to low budget, or 'experimental' reasons, I'm not quite sure, but whatever the reason - it sure looks tacky.In many ways I admire the mayor, in particular for his calm and measured response in the days following 9/11 (in stark contrast to Bush). But I do feel the man is a philistine and does not support freedom of expression, at least within the arts (as evidenced by his banning of an art exhibition in New York simply because it offended his very catholic religious sensibilities). But of course this hagiography of a film does not explore this side of the man - only those aspects which depict him as heroic, saintly, yet redemptive and human.
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 .
I was at first worried that this movie would both capitalize on September 11th and Rudy Guiliani, but after watching it I was surprised greatly. This is probably the best biographical movie I've ever seen, which is saying a lot for most biographical movies, especial original TV movies. I believe there was a lot of respect in presenting September 11th and Rudy Guiliani, which also does not frequently occur in TV movies. Even my level of respect for the man has increased since I watched the movie. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to hear a tale about an unlikely hero who wanted to change the world.
I think that "Rudy!" is a great depiction of the former New York mayor. It balances his good points with his bad. There were so many things I didn't know about the man that this piece shed light on. This alone makes me want to become more involved in politics and the writers and producer should really give themeselves a pat on the back for this one.