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

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 | New York City | Mayor | World Trade Center New York City | 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)

Don't get the angle of this movie....

My main question regards the motivation behind this story. Firstly, does it aim to provide an informative account of Rudy or simply cash in on September 11? Moreover, if his biography is intended to be paramount , I am not sure whether it glorifies or condemn his character.

On the whole, i thought this movie was poor. The production values were terrible, to say the very least. As was the handling of the events of September 11. To include such emotive footage of that day is dangerous, especially when Rudy exclaims "what have these bastards done to my city?". From an objective standpoint this line was simply ectopic in the context of the movie, almost adding light to the situation. The following "women and children first" dialogue seems misplaced in the terror and hysteria of the situation.