Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story (2003) (TV)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Robert Dornhelm

Writers (WGA):

Wayne Barrett (book)
Stanley Weiser (written by)

Release Date:

30 March 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

He divided a city. He united a nation.

Plot:

Biographic movie of the witty, overachieving, hot-tempered Rudy Giuliani, spaning from his rising days...

Plot Keywords:

September 11 2001 | Mayor | New York City | Politics | Troubled Marriage

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

James Woods	...	Rudolph 'Rudy' Giuliani
Penelope Ann Miller	...	Donna Hanover
Michelle Nolden	...	Cristyne Lategano
John Bourgeois	...	Peter Powers
Kirsten Bishop	...	Judith Nathan (as Kirsten Bishopric)
Mark Camacho	...	Tony Carbonetti
Maxim Roy	...	Beth Petrone
Mariah Inger	...	Carrie Foster
Sam Stone	...	Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik
Michael Jeffrey Woods	...	Sam (as Michael Woods)
Brian Wrench	...	Bill Simon
Alan Fawcett	...	FDNY Chief Peter Ganci
Philip Pretten	...	FDNY Commissioner Thomas Von Essen
Philip Spensley	...	Howard Safir
Francis X. McCarthy	...	Jim Kossler (as Francis-Xavier McCarthy)

Also Known As:

Rudy! (USA) (working title)
Rudy's Wars (New Zealand: English title)

Runtime:

120 min | Argentina:104 min | UK:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Netherlands:MG6 | Finland:K-7 | Argentina:13 | UK:PG | Norway:11

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Carlton America

Trivia:

Real footage of the 11 September 2001 attacks was used.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where Giuliani is telling his wife about going after the crime bosses, as she approaches, he lifts up the cigar in his left hand, but in the next shot, the hand with the cigar is back on the table and never lifts it up.

Quotes:

Rudolph 'Rudy' Giuliani: God I love this city.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Kirsten Dunst/Eminem (#27.19)" (2002)

Well Done, realistic, but overdramatized Giuliani

Rudy is the TV film shown recently on USA starring James Woods as Rudolph Giuliani. It begins on September 10th, 2001 and then when the tragedy hits we go to flashbacks starting in 1982 when Rudy was associate Attorney General. The back and forth between the present (September 11th) and his past is a hard to pull off editing job that works well.

The 911 scenes go back and forth between actual footage Woods' portrayal, which again is effective and realistic. To his credit Woods didn't try to assume the mannerisms of Rudy too much so avoided the danger of lapsing into parody, but rather played the role as intense high drama...which wasn't exactly appropriate to Rudy's more low key reality.

Other flashbacks we get are 1984 when he's the US Attorney in New York who cracks down on the Mafia, 1989 when he loses the Mayoral race to Dinkins, 1992 when he grandstands for racist cops, 1993 when he wins the Mayoral election, as well as his marriage and his 2 extramarital relationships.

Overall a sympathetic portrayal of 2 decades of public office which of course culminates in 911, which is really what most of the film appropriately points towards. You will come away respecting Rudy if perhaps not agreeing with him.

Finally it's significant that James Woods got this role, as he noticed the highjackers on previous "test flights" and he reported his suspicions to the flight attendant. He reported it to the FBI post-911 and they confirmed they were the highjackers on his flight.