Citizen Cohn (1992) (TV)

Director:

Frank Pierson

Writers (WGA):

Nicolas von Hoffman (biography)
David Franzoni (written by)

Release Date:

22 August 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

He was McCarthy's loyal partner. The Kennedys' worst enemy. The F.B.I.'s best friend. The country's greatest nightmare.

Plot:

As lawyer and power broker Roy Cohn lies dying of AIDS in a private hospital room, ghosts from his past visit him as he reflects on his life and loves.

Plot Keywords:

AIDS | Senator Joseph Mccarthy | Senator | Bribery | Ethics

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 8 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

James Woods	...	Roy Marcus Cohn
Joe Don Baker	...	Sen. Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Bologna	...	Walter Winchell
Ed Flanders	...	Joseph N Welch
Frederic Forrest	...	Dashiell Hammett
Lee Grant	...	Dora Cohn
Pat Hingle	...	J. Edgar Hoover
John McMartin	...	Older Doctor
Josef Sommer	...	Albert Cohn
Daniel Benzali	...	Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman
Tovah Feldshuh	...	Iva Schlesinger
John Finn	...	Sen. Charles Potter
Frances Foster	...	First Annie Lee Moss
Allen Garfield	...	Abe Feller
David Marshall Grant	...	Robert F. Kennedy

Runtime:

UK:107 min | USA:115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Carnegie Mellon University - 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Breakheart Films

Trivia:

When a tape is played from bugging Martin Luther Kings hotel room, the sounds of people having sex are the same sounds from the sex scene between Jack Nicholson and Sally Struthers in Five Easy Pieces (1970).

Goofs:

Factual errors: As he is scattering ashes into what is purportedly the East River, Cohn says he consigns his mother to the waters of New Jersey, where she did not live. The East River does not border New Jersey.

Quotes:

Roy Marcus Cohn: If you are a friend of Americas enemies, then you're an enemy too.

Disturbing and funny

This film is an amazing study in self-loathing. As Cohn himself puts it in the movie, he was "a Jew who persecuted Jews; a gay who persecuted gays." Always trying to prove something to himself or his parents, he recklessly smashed lives and helped create the paranoia of the McCarthy era.

In the midst of the tragedy there are some very funny moments such as when Cohn eats off the plates of everyone he is dining with including Cardinal Spellman of New York. He was indulged and self-indulgent.

There is a Shakespearian quality to some of the scenes in which Cohn speaks to himself or to the ghosts of people he hurt. This is a disturbing look at human ego as well as a bitterly funny movie.