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Citizen Cohn (1992)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 1/20

CitCohn
1/20: This is James Woods at his most arrogant.

I had never heard of Roy Cohn until I saw Citizen Cohn. In retrospective, I feel blessed to have been ignorant. Wow, the guy is among worst Americans ever lived along with Joseph McCarthy, Richard Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton. Roy Cohn was Donald Trump's lawyer for twelve years; if this connection isn't sinister enough, I don't what else is.

"You knew when you were in Cohn's presence you were in the presence of pure evil" is how Victor A. Kovner described Roy Cohn. A closeted Jewish homosexual, he hated gays, women, Communists, and Jews, and died broke in 1986 from complications of AIDS, shortly after being disbarred. The whole time, Roy Cohn was misleading the public and himself that it was liver disease. Donald Trump immediately dropped him when he found out, prompting Roy to say that he "pisses ice water."

As for the famous case of his career, Roy Cohn engaged in judicial and legal improprieties that resulted in death penalty for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Although the former was actually guilty, the latter was somewhat involved. Alan Dershowitz wrote an article which stated "the FBI 'enhanced' evidence, got witnesses to 'improve' their stories and worked hand-in-hand with the judge." In other words, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were framed by the United States government.

Iva Schlesinger loaned Roy Cohn $100,000 at 8% annual interest on January 3, 1967, but he never paid her back until she sued him. It took full seventeen years before he started to, only because he was in the process of disbarment, which came to $127,584 when it should have been $370,002. That's what Roy Cohn was: a thief.

Anyway, James Woods gives the finest performance of his career. He's mesmerizing. Although Citizen Cohn was made for TV, a precedent should've been set by giving James Woods an Oscar nomination. His co-star, Joe Don Baker, is excellent and somewhat looks like the man himself: Joseph McCarthy.

All in all, Citizen Cohn is about evil with James Woods relishing every bit of it.