Citizen Cohn Review

Citizen Cohn

by Kim Newman |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1992

Running Time:

107 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

Citizen Cohn

A made-for-cable biopic of Roy M. Cohn, one of the slipperiest characters in post-war American history, with James Woods outstanding as the crooked lawyer.

As Cohn dies of AIDS, he flashes back to a career as Joe McCarthy's lawyer, which included railroading Ethel Rosenberg into the electric chair, ruining McCarthy's anti-commie crusade by pettishly feuding with the army when his boyfriend was drafted, clashing with Attorney General Robert Kennedy and welshing on personal debts.

Woods makes this truly evil man quite amusing in his mix of canniness and near-idiocy, and you get great performances from Joe Don Baker, Frederic Forrest, Lee Grant and Pat Hingle.

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