If the title character weren't an actual historical personage, the made-for-HBO movie "Citizen Cohn" would be unbelievable.
Even though it's based on the life of Roy M. Cohn, it's sometimes difficult to comprehend that such a monster actually existed.He was an anti-Semitic Jew. A homosexual who persecuted homosexuals. A right-wing extremist who was a registered Democrat and son of a liberal judge.
And James Woods is brilliant in his portrayal of this monster, who mastered the arts of arrogance and intimidation.
Cohn made himself a name in the '50s, first as a member of the team that prosecuted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, then as chief counsel for Communist-hunting Sen. Joseph McCarthy (Joe Don Baker). Along the way he used, was used by or abused the Kennedys, J. Edgar Hoover, New York's Cardinal Francis Spellman, gangsters and socialites.
Screenwriter David Franzoni uses the familiar flashback device, but with a twist. As Cohn lies dying of AIDS in a New York hospital in 1986, ghosts from his past appear, including his father, Bobby Kennedy and Ethel Rosenberg.
She asks, "Why did you do it? You were a Jew who persecuted Jews, a homosexual who persecuted homosexuals. Why?"
"I did it for the headlines," Cohn responds.
"Citizen Cohn" telescopes some events and misplaces some others - it's not scrupulously accurate from a historical point of view. But, despite a choppy script that bounces around too much, it presents a fascinating view of a remarkable villain.
"Citizen Cohn," if released theatrically, would be rated R for frequent use of strong language. Although it makes it clear Cohn was a homosexual, there are no sex scenes.A MEASURE OF REVENGE? Lee Grant, who plays Roy Cohn's mother in "Citizen Cohn," was herself blacklisted from 1952 to 1964. (Her blacklisting did not, however, come as the result of Cohn's activities.)
"So, when (director) Frank (Pierson) called and said, `There are two parts you can play if you want to in this - Ethel Rosenberg or Roy Cohn's mother," it was such an ironic gift," Grant said.
And it didn't take her any time at all to decide which part she wanted to play.
"Of course, I didn't want to be the victim, Ethel Rosenberg," Grant said. "I wanted to be the monster mother."