Citizen Cohn (1992) (TV)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

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
Joe Grifasi	...	Gerald Walpin
Daniel Hugh Kelly	...	Congressman Neil Gallagher
Karen Ludwig	...	Ethel Rosenberg
Peter Maloney	...	Ray Kaplan
Novella Nelson	...	Second Annie Lee Moss
Jeffrey Nordling	...	G. David Schine
Fritz Weaver	...	Sen. Everett Dirksen
Chuck Aber	...	Sen. John L. McClellan
Lamont Arnold	...	Male Nurse
Steve Aronson	...	Judge Kaufman
Nigel Bentley	...	English Reporter #2
Bernard Canepari	...	New York Judge
Phillip Cook	...	Monroe
Sam Coppola	...	Carmine Galante
Brandon Danziger	...	Young Roy Cohn
Patricia Dunnock	...	Female Nurse
David Early	...	Chauffeur
Dick Feagler	...	Newsman
Jeff Gally	...	FBI Man
Fanni Green	...	Juror #9
Alan Haft	...	Disbarment Court Bailiff
Lance Lewman	...	Young Doctor
Larry John Meyers	...	Frank Raichle
Zachary Mott	...	Sam Garfield
Vito Pisani	...	Court Bailiff
Marty Roppelt	...	German Reporter
Joe Petruzzi	...	Peter Frazer (as Joe Salter)
Joseph Scoren	...	Milo Gandini (as Joseph Scorsiani)
John Seitz	...	Secretary of the Army Robert Stevens
Jack Skelly	...	New York Waiter
Pip Theodor	...	English Reporter #1
Robin Thomas	...	Reporter
Daniel von Bargen	...	Clyde Tolson
Don Wadsworth	...	English Reporter #2
Anthony Walsh	...	Sen. Karl Mundt
Rick Warner	...	Robert Morgenthau Jr.
Kate Young	...	French Reporter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nikolai Bulganin	...	Himself (salutes parade) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Gary Cooper	...	Himself (testifies before HUAC) (archive footage) (uncredited)
John W. Iwanonkiw	...	Courtroom Reporter (uncredited)
Lyndon Johnson	...	Himself (with JFK at inauguration) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Jacqueline Kennedy	...	Herself (with JFK) (archive footage) (uncredited)
John F. Kennedy	...	Himself (campaigns) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Douglas MacArthur	...	Himself (salutes parade) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Georgi Malenkov	...	Himself (salutes parade) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Adolphe Menjou	...	Himself (testifies before HUAC) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Vyacheslav Molotov	...	Himself (salutes parade) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Pat Nixon	...	Herself (with Richard) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Richard Nixon	...	Himself (campaigns) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Dave Petti	...	Senator (uncredited)
Earl Warren	...	Himself (swears in JFK) (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Frank Pierson

Writing credits (WGA)
Nicolas von Hoffman		(biography)
David Franzoni		(written by)

Produced by
Doro Bachrach	....	producer
Linda Gottlieb	....	executive producer
Alan Haft	....	associate producer
Mark Rosenberg	....	executive producer
Daniel Schneider	....	associate producer
Paula Weinstein	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Thomas Newman

Cinematography by
Paul Elliott

Film Editing by
Peter Zinner

Production Design by
Stephen Marsh

Art Direction by
Gary Kosko

Set Decoration by
Diana Stoughton

Costume Design by
Jill M. Ohanneson

Makeup Department
Rachel Kick	....	makeup artist
Matthew W. Mungle	....	makeup artist
Linda Williams	....	hair stylist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Michael DeMeritt	....	dga trainee
Richard Oswald	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Paul Bucciarelli	....	scenic artist
Chris Call	....	property master
Thomas J. Garrigan	....	assistant property master
Gregory Jones	....	lead set dresser
Eugene Pope	....	carpenter
Bob Smith	....	set dresser
Chris Stavrakis	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Anna Behlmer	....	sound re-recording mixer
Peter Bergren	....	sound effects editor
David A. Cohen	....	sound editor
John Pritchett	....	sound mixer
Dan Wallin	....	sound re-recording mixer

Stunts
G.A. Aguilar	....	stunts (as George Aguilar)
Danny Aiello III	....	stunts
Andy Armstrong	....	stunt coordinator
Dana D. Bertolette	....	stunts (as Dana Bertolette)
Peter Bucossi	....	stunts
Jeff Jensen	....	stunts
J.T. Lannen	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Robert Bender	....	electrician
Daniel Casey	....	camera intern
Steve Cohagan	....	best boy electric
Louis DiCesare	....	gaffer
Richard Eliano	....	assistant camera
Richard Foreman Jr.	....	still photographer (as Richard Foreman)
John S. Moyer	....	best boy grip
Ethan Phillips	....	electrician
Rich Schutte	....	assistant camera
Bubba Sheffield	....	key grip

Casting Department
Donna M. Belajac	....	casting: Pittsburgh
J. Ben Sykes	....	casting assistant

Editorial Department
Omneya 'Nini' Mazen	....	post-production executive
Marcelo Sansevieri	....	associate film editor

Transportation Department
Frank A. Serrao	....	driver

Other crew
Steve Battaglia	....	set production assistant
Brian Hartman	....	production assistant
Valerie E. Norman	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Breakheart Films
• Spring Creek Productions
• Viacom Productions

Distributors

• Home Box Office (HBO) (1992) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) (1993) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Elizabeth Bardsley & Associates  script annotation
• Otto Nemenz International  camera equipment provided by

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:

German reporter: [in German] Mr. Cohn, you believe Hemingway is a Russian agent?

a frightning film about a true American monster.....

Roy Cohn was truly a brilliant man. He graduated from law school before most people even graduated from college. During his prosecuting of the Rosenburgs and his stint as McCarthy's assistant, he was looked upon as a rising star, a "young Commie catching comet" as Walter Winchell called him. For all his panache, brilliane and theatrics, however, Cohn was nothing more then a liar and a crook and was disbarred shortly before his death from AIDs. It made me angry that this man was so brilliant and we could have reaped a great benefit from his talents if he had properly and honestly applied them to helping people. Like so many, however, Cohn was corrupted by power and greed. I have rarely seen an actor who can play a bad guy the way that James Woods can, this man is awesome in every way and they couldn't have picked a better man to play this real life meglomaniac and monster. Woods is so chilling as Cohn that you almost feel that his dying of AIDs is God's punishment. He is sneering in our faces all throughout this film. I see nothing wrong with calling Roy Cohn a monster, but he is like a Frankenstein monster because we made him and let him get away with it. He was a Jew who persecuted Jews and a gay man who persecuted gays. The most disturbing scene for me in the film is where the dying Cohn is literally "haunted" by the Rosenburgs, a victim of the Witch Hunt he drove to suicide and even Senator McCarthy and Joseph Welch (the lawyer who helped bring him down during the infamous Army-McCarthy hearings). Its hard to believe that we could have another Salem Witchcraft period of hysteria in our country but we did less then 50 years ago because of two demagogues named Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn. Joe Don Baker did a fine job as the infamous Wisconsin Senator but Peter Boyle was the one who did a masterful performance in the 1977 tv film Tail Gunner Joe. They re-enact the scene during the hearings (which were the first of their kind carried live on tv) where Joseph Welch called down the wrath of God on this tyrant in a way no one would ever forget "I don't think I ever really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness...if it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so...I like to think I'm a gentle man but your forgiveness will have to come from someone else...have you left no sense of decency sir?...at long last have you left no sense of decency? He could have easily said the same thing to Roy Cohn and the answer would have been no.