bob the moo Taking the events of September 11th as it's foundation, the film tells the tale of Rudy Giuliani's rise up the political ladder, his hard-line stance as Attorney and Mayor of New York. It also shows his affairs and the breakdown of his marriage despite the strength of the man in times of testing.As will now be an annual event, the television companies all rolled out films and documentaries on the 2nd anniversary of 9/11. The main commercial station's choice was this sort of bio-pic of Rudy Giuliani with the focus on September 11th widening to take in the 15 or so years prior to that moment. The manner of structuring the film in this way means that it could have been a flag waving salute to a man who become world famous (or more famous!) on that day. However, despite cutting back and forth, the majority of the film occurs before the attack. I found the attack scenes hard to watch as I was watching a film for entertainment – I suppose this was unavoidable, but I don't like seeing the pictures too often in case they stop shocking me and I get used to them.The back story to Giuliani is interesting as I admired his stance on crime when he was Mayor. I didn't know a lot of detail of his career as I'm not in the US but the film delivered a simplified version to good effect. Surprisingly the film didn't gloss it's subject too often and wasn't afraid to show his affairs, his tempers of his right wing views. This made it feel more worthwhile although the TV production values do make it feel a little tacky at times.Woods does pretty well to hold the screen for the whole film and not spin Rudy o be too sleazy or too heroic. I felt that he was a little animated for Rudy at times, as I always had the impression of him publicly as more controlled. The support cast (including Penelope Ann Miller) are all pretty good but do tend to seem more at home in TV land than Woods does.Overall this was an interesting film, even if it is very much a snapshot and is driven by Woods rather than the wider story. The framing of the story by 9/11 works well to set up the story, despite the strange feeling of seeing the real footage inserted into a movie in this way.

Theo Robertson 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 .

shp22 I'll start by saying I'm a fan of Mr. Giuliani and read his book, Leadership. So I was very disappointed by this movie for several reasons.The script is extremely flat. Yes, it does show that Giuliani had a temper, liked opera and loved the law. But in a way that made me think the writer had a checklist to work from. And one that did not include Giuliani's lighter side. The script barely allows him to smile or laugh or enjoy the people around him. For example, it could have included his appearances on Saturday Night Live, his second Mayoral race and the image problem he had to overcome or his friendship with Joe Torre and the Yankees. Indeed, SHOWING his relationship to the team, rather than just SAYING he loved them, would have done wonders for showing him as the proudest New Yorker. And making an effort to portray has relationship with his children would have been nice, too.The people around Giuliani rarely react to him. For example, on becoming the lead Federal Prosecutor in Manhattan, he tells a roomful of Federal Prosecutors that they have gotten fat and lazy and no one reacts in any way. He explains to a roomful of prosecutors how he will take down the Mafia on conspiracy to violate RICO laws (which he reminds them he wrote) and again, no one reacts. The most frequent reaction is silent bustling in response to the scripted tirades. He's often "right", but he's not even allowed to enjoy outsmarting the other guy (a la Jack McCoy of Law & Order).I've seen the movie twice now (hoping it would be better) and still don't know why the 9/11 events are done in flashback throughout the movie. My only guess is they couldn't figure out how to end it otherwise.Overall, I think that Rudy Giuliani deserved a much better biography. Hopefully someone will do it someday.

kadar A superficial puff-piece about a fascinating political character that stays so much on the surface that it verges on soft-core propaganda. Neither James Woods nor the script really bears a particularly close resemblance to Guiliani, both making him look better than he really was.One example that can symbolize many others: Guiliani is shown as a devoted Yankee fan, but there is no mention of his various overt and covert efforts to funnel millions of public dollars to George Steinbrenner and his baseball team.The director's and writer's point of view is not only essentially pro-Guiliani, but the narrative framework is also centered within his political cadre, rather than being informed by the insights of detached and balanced observers.I would have liked to have seen more about where Rudy came from -- geographically, socially, and psychologically -- to help understand how he became such a capable yet massively flawed figure on the New York political stage. This movie trivializes its subject matter, focussing on a two-dimensional cutout rather than a three-dimensional character within a complex context.