User Reviews

I find this film, tv movie or not, to be absolutely incredible! James woods is great as always, and he gives us a sometimes scary look into the disturbed mind of one of the leaders of the McCarthy era. He's surrounded by an excellent cast, even Joe Don Baker turns out a good performance as the alcoholic McCarthy. A must-see for anyone interested in the early 50's or for those who have read Arthur Miller's "The Crucible".

The film is based on the book by the same name.

This is a top notch cable film about one of the dark moments in our history and the man who profited from it. There are some exaggerations and innacuracies but the point is made.

Lets hope we learned something from history.

This film is an amazing study in self-loathing. As Cohn himself puts it in the movie, he was "a Jew who persecuted Jews; a gay who persecuted gays." Always trying to prove something to himself or his parents, he recklessly smashed lives and helped create the paranoia of the McCarthy era.

In the midst of the tragedy there are some very funny moments such as when Cohn eats off the plates of everyone he is dining with including Cardinal Spellman of New York. He was indulged and self-indulgent.

There is a Shakespearian quality to some of the scenes in which Cohn speaks to himself or to the ghosts of people he hurt. This is a disturbing look at human ego as well as a bitterly funny movie.

Saw it last night on HBO. While it's true that Cohn was gay that was a minor part of what the movie was about. I would say the film shows what happens when radical right wing idiots get too much power and start a crusade against everyone who disagrees with them.

Woods is excellent in this film playing a total a-hole so convincingly that as a viewer you want him to get run over by a bus about 10 minutes into the movie. When an actor can make you intensely emotional, whether positively or negatively, towards a character he portrays that is great acting.

It's a good movie to watch in these times of extreme right wing conservatives dominating the American government, the airwaves and book sales. The rhetoric and the despicable way of going about achieving their misguided goals reminds me very much of what I see today. They harass people, don't let them talk when they try to defend themselves, use intimidation tactics, etc. These are truly disgusting, disturbed, completely misguided people with absolutely no sense of what's right and wrong.

A great favorite of many conservatives, Ann Coulter, not only defended McCarthy in her latest book, but with her views could be a proud member of his staff. People need to see this film to realize how dangerous people like Coulter are. I also wonder what's up hers? I'm sure she has an interesting past and upbringing. Maybe it's time someone looked into it.

There are many conservative pundits who are simply stupid, ignorant and misinformed people. Coulter is not dumb and she knows exactly what she's doing just like Cohn. These are the ones we have to watch out for.

This film shows why.

While the movie is well acted and the primary HUAC drivers were opportunists with dirty laundry, the fact remains they did expose true communists and traitors to the United States. The Rosenbergs did give the Atomic secrets to the Soviets. President Roosevelt was a Socialist who got the ball rolling. Finely done movie with Liberal propaganda.

see The New York Times: September 12, 2008 Figure in Rosenberg Case Admits to Soviet Spying

By SAM ROBERTS In 1951, Morton Sobell was tried and convicted with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges. He served more than 18 years in Alcatraz and other federal prisons, traveled to Cuba and Vietnam after his release in 1969 and became an advocate for progressive causes.

Through it all, he maintained his innocence.

But on Thursday, Mr. Sobell, 91, dramatically reversed himself, shedding new light on a case that still fans smoldering political passions. In an interview, he admitted for the first time that he had been a Soviet spy.

And he implicated his fellow defendant Julius Rosenberg, in a conspiracy that delivered to the Soviets classified military and industrial information and what the American government described as the secret to the atomic bomb.

"Citizen Cohn", a Woods tour-de-force, tells of the adult life and career of a ruthless and unscrupulous top New York attorney whose career was tortuously intertwined with such notorious events as the Rosenberg trials and McCarthy "witch hunts". Although Roy Cohn was a figure of some historical significance, the screenplay takes considerable creative license for dramatic and entertainment value including scenes of Cohn dying from AIDS while talking to the ghosts of people from his past. The usual made-for-tv fare, "Citizen Cohn" will be most enjoyed by Woods fans and people interested in post-WWII American political history.

In the 50's, the ambitious and unscrupulous Jewish prosecutor Roy Marcus Cohn (James Woods) convinces Senator Joseph McCarthy (Joe Don Baker) to be his Chief Counselor in his hunting against communists. The arrogant Cohn destroys careers and lives and becomes a Jew hunting Jews and a gay hunting gays. In 1986, he dies of AIDS in a hospital in New York.

"Citizen Cohn" tells the rise and fall of an unscrupulous, arrogant and despicable Roy Marcus Cohn through flashbacks. I saw this film in the early 90's and the performance of James Woods is outstanding. This is the third time that I see this magnificent movie. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Cidadão Cohn" ("Citizen Cohn")

That rarest of birds, a TV-movie that's every bit as engrossing as any theatrical film. James Woods in a personal-best turn as ruthless McCarthy-era prosecutor Roy Cohn. If you didn't see it on HBO, get over having to pay for something you could have seen for free, and just rent it--you won't be sorry

This movie has the failing of many 'made for HBO' films, a tendency to distort the truth to hammer home its point. Its portrayal of Cohn's personality is accurate enough, and chilling to watch, and in general, it follows Cohn's life fairly closely. However, it gives Cohn a bit more credit (or blame) than he deserves. It would have you believe that Cohn drove Joe McCarthy to his anti-Communist pogroms, when in fact McCarthy was a very determined and headstrong man, who needed no unknown NY lawyer to make him into a demagogue. It also vastly overstates Cohn's role in the persecution of Congressman Cornelius Gallagher, persecution that was actually driven by J. Edgar Hoover. It also omits the bizarre role of right-wing nut Lyndon LaRouche in destroying Cohn's credibility in the last years of his life. It does stand as a good overview of the general events of Cohn's fascinating, if venal, life. But it also makes him seem far more influential than he really was.

Very, very good movie.

This movie is about Roy Cohn, a prosecutor in the McCarthy trials. And let me tell you, Cohn made McCarthy look pretty darn good.

The movie was frightening and it's hard to believe that it's true, but alas it is. The movie is downright bizarre! Also, the acting is excellent and believable. There were also a few good laughs despite the serious matter.

Definitely watch it, especially if you're into history and politics.

If Nicholas Von Hoffman wrote Citizen Cohn on which this made for television film is based as a novel, he would be hooted down for lack of verisimilitude. It isn't possible for a writer to have created such an unbelievable character of fiction. But Roy Marcus Cohn was quite real, quite dangerous, and for better or worse left his mark on 20th Century America.

James Woods does a masterful job in creating Roy Cohn, cynical manipulator, shyster par excellence, and master of the behind the scenes fix. If you retained Roy Cohn as your attorney, you didn't retain him for his courtroom skills. You retained him because he knew where all the bodies were buried in any given situation and could put the right word in the proper places for justice to work his client's way. His motto was "Just Tell Me The Name Of The Judge".

Cohn was some piece of work, a closeted gay man who persecuted other gays, a Jew who harassed other Jews for differing opinions. You've got to love the way he sold himself to Joe McCarthy played here by Joe Don Baker. You need a Jew on your side because you're going to be subpoenaing a lot of people of that faith in your anti-Communist crusade. He sure played no favorites there.

Throughout his life Cohn maintained an air of innocence and feigned persecution. In the end it was a self fulfilling prophecy, everybody was out to get him. I remember hearing him way back in the Sixties when Barry Gray had him as a frequent guest on his radio show. Even with Joe McCarthy disgraced and dead from alcoholism, Cohn was still going strong, involved in all kinds of cases from organized crime to political fixing at all levels.

I actually knew someone who knew him. When I worked at NYS Crime Victims Board one of my claimants was a man who ran a catering business and who occasionally got drunk and did stupid things like pick up the wrong people. I had two cases almost exactly alike with him. One of his clients had been Roy Cohn who entertained frequently at his New York townhouse which also doubled as his law office. He was the only gay man I ever knew who said something nice about Cohn. Roy was a man generous to a fault who spent money like water would do anything for a friend.

After Cohn died this man got in trouble for assaulting a cab driver and did a few months in jail for said crime. He maintained until the day he died that if Roy had been alive he would have gotten him off. I do believe he was probably right.

In the end Cohn sure couldn't hide from the virus which entered this country from Africa via a gay man. Outted in the worst way possible Cohn died unloved and unmourned for except by retainers. He had no friends or family left. Rock Hudson couldn't say that. Woods is probably at his best in those horrific hospital scenes.

Citizen Cohn is quite the written and cinematic achievement, try never to miss this if broadcast.

I have to admit that I really dislike most made-for-TV movies, but this was a really good movie.

The acting and the overall production measures up to a good lower budget feature film.

"Citizen Cohn" is a dramatization on the life of one of the most contradictory and controversial American characters ever, the infamous attorney Roy Cohn (1927-1986) here played by a furious and excellent James Woods, in one of his best roles ever. Cohn is played in two ways: the hypocrite guy who sentenced to prison or death many innocent people, destroying private lives; and the madman who sees in his deathbed, dying of AIDS, the ghosts of all the people he met and died before him, judging his acts as a public man, denouncing possible Communists.

Frank Pierson's film shows us this: a closeted gay man persecuting other gay men; a Jewish condemning another Jewish; a man enlisted in one political party but who join forces to the other; an idealist in knowing what America needs, blaming invisible enemies and supporting Senator McCarthy's (played by Joe Don Baker) red scare. A multifaceted figure that is very difficult to give a good definition and to each viewer it might vary such definition. Woods great performance goes to show that we must hate this guy but for certain reasons we end up liking him for a few moments (his scene with his mother, so proud of his work while his father doesn't even care because Cohn is damaging lives and reputations).

The movie knows how to present numerous historical and political facts, attached with many good fictional moments and artistic licenses (such as Cohn's dying and seeing visions of McCarthy, Ethel Rosenberg, Bobby Kennedy and so and so). It never gets boring, it never gets highly educational, is very informative without being excessive. As for Roy Cohn presentation as a gay man we only get what we could possibly know about his life in other medias, he was very discreet and the moments are very light, so few to see, nothing so compromising which can be viewed as something disappointing in terms of plot, more could've been done.

Woods is not alone here, he has some outstanding actors along like Lee Grant, Joseph Bologna, Josef Sommer, Joe Grifasi, Pat Hingle, Peter Maloney, Jeffrey Nordling, David Marshall Grant and many others. "Citizen Cohn" is a powerful film, very memorable, an important document for those who have interest in seeing who Cohn was and his part during the HUAC activities. HBO nails it again! 10/10.

James Woods never disappoints the viewer. He is one of the best actors in Hollywood. Roy Cohn comes alive with Woods. He portrays Cohn as a liar, thief, hypocrite and egomaniac - a brilliant man who wasted his talent. You feel his death from AIDS is his "punishment" for the outrageous nature of his life.

There is, however, a BIG problem with this film. The writer, Nicolas von Hoffman, is allegedly presenting a biography. I "learned" from von Hoffman that Ethel Rosenberg was framed by Cohn and the government, she really didn't spy for the Soviets. I also "learned" that J. Edgar Hoover and Clyde Tolson lived together as "man and wife" for over twenty-five years and that Hoover and Tolson sought out fellow queer Cohn to help smear Robert Kennedy. Please - where is the historical evidence?

The movie was entertaining. Just call it fiction, and not a biography. I don't need some some super liberal Hollywood writer trying to change history for me.

Roy Cohn was truly a brilliant man. He graduated from law school before most people even graduated from college. During his prosecuting of the Rosenburgs and his stint as McCarthy's assistant, he was looked upon as a rising star, a "young Commie catching comet" as Walter Winchell called him. For all his panache, brilliane and theatrics, however, Cohn was nothing more then a liar and a crook and was disbarred shortly before his death from AIDs. It made me angry that this man was so brilliant and we could have reaped a great benefit from his talents if he had properly and honestly applied them to helping people. Like so many, however, Cohn was corrupted by power and greed. I have rarely seen an actor who can play a bad guy the way that James Woods can, this man is awesome in every way and they couldn't have picked a better man to play this real life meglomaniac and monster. Woods is so chilling as Cohn that you almost feel that his dying of AIDs is God's punishment. He is sneering in our faces all throughout this film. I see nothing wrong with calling Roy Cohn a monster, but he is like a Frankenstein monster because we made him and let him get away with it. He was a Jew who persecuted Jews and a gay man who persecuted gays. The most disturbing scene for me in the film is where the dying Cohn is literally "haunted" by the Rosenburgs, a victim of the Witch Hunt he drove to suicide and even Senator McCarthy and Joseph Welch (the lawyer who helped bring him down during the infamous Army-McCarthy hearings). Its hard to believe that we could have another Salem Witchcraft period of hysteria in our country but we did less then 50 years ago because of two demagogues named Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn. Joe Don Baker did a fine job as the infamous Wisconsin Senator but Peter Boyle was the one who did a masterful performance in the 1977 tv film Tail Gunner Joe. They re-enact the scene during the hearings (which were the first of their kind carried live on tv) where Joseph Welch called down the wrath of God on this tyrant in a way no one would ever forget "I don't think I ever really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness...if it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so...I like to think I'm a gentle man but your forgiveness will have to come from someone else...have you left no sense of decency sir?...at long last have you left no sense of decency? He could have easily said the same thing to Roy Cohn and the answer would have been no.

Having read through the negative comments regarding this movie one sees the same politically blind allegiance to power and hate as are reflected in this film. If I had a time machine I'd go back and write my masters thesis on hard core conservatives and the strange way in which they assimilate information, it is not unlike the way Roy Cohen interprets his world of the 50's: through a personal filter of extremest ideology where the end justifies the means. Reviews for this film often refer to the time when they were written: seemingly around 2003. The Right Wing has become logarithmically more strident since '03, making the behavior of Cohen et al seem almost tame by comparison. Scarry stuff. Thank God for Europe and Canada. Even 50 years ago they didn't have nuts like those so masterfully exposed in this film.

I loved this movie. I saw it years ago and I have been trying to find a copy of it to purchase. I can not find it.

Two weeks ago I was flipping through the channels and saw the last two minutes of the movie. I was so upset that I missed it!

James Woods is the finest actor I have ever seen. He is so passionate. I adore his gruffness. I find him to be sexy, electric and ruggedly handsome. What an actor!!

He is so magnetic in everything I have seen him in. I adore him. I am far too old to be in a fan club but for him I would do it.

James Woods has proved his talent time & again. I myself having been a huge fan of his since years now, have noticed tremendous growth & commitment in the acting-legend. In 'Citizen Cohn', Woods delivers an Astounding Performance as Roy Cohn. He portrays the real-life controversial figure with absolute magic.

'Citizen Cohn' Synopsis: As lawyer and power broker Roy Cohn lies dying of AIDS in a private hospital room, ghosts from his past visit him as he reflects on his life and loves.

'Citizen Cohn' depicts Roy Cohn's controversial & condemned life with brilliance. The Screenplay is pretty intense & the sequences in the court-room are no-holds-barred. Also, it projects Cohn's rise & fall without any inhibitions, which acts as its trump card. Frank Pierson's Direction is highly competent. Cinematography is neat.

Performance-Wise: Woods deserves to be complimented again & again. His performance here is among those terrifying turns that happen very, very rarely. His performance is a Masterpiece!

On the whole, 'Citizen Cohn' is an absorbing watch, with an unforgettable leading performance.

This TV-movie was one of the worst pieces of cinema I have ever had the misfortune to see. The story was "based upon" Roy Cohn but the details were wholly made-up and false. The whole Rosenbergs issue was beyond stupid. The fact is that the Rosenbergs were guilty and the recently released Venona documents support that fact.

I happened to see this movie again but it was on the "History" Channel and they had asked some people who knew of and who knew Roy Cohn directly to appear for commentary reasons and they verified between commercial breaks that the movie was a complete farce and that the description of Roy Cohn was false.

Parts like when in the movie Cohn was in a courtroom and he was standing on the table screaming, were verified by other people who happened to be in the room at that time as being false. That's right, it never happened. Or, consider Cohn's relationship with his dad in the film. That was a lie as well. Cohn had an excellent relationship with his dad but the movie would lead you to believe otherwise.

There's a reason why they waited until Cohn was dead to make this movie. The film is full of libelous nonsense that would have cost the studio who made this trash alot of money after they got sued by Roy Cohn.

So there you have it. The movie was a big lie so the next time you choose to watch it, just remember that it is nothing more than some left-wing screenwriter's idea of what Roy Cohn was about. To everyone associated with this production, I say: "Have you no shame? At long last, have you no shame?"

"Citizen Cohn" (1992): James Woods plays intense characters. This may be his best. Roy Cohn (Woods) was the pit bull dog of a lawyer for Senator Joe McCarthy during the Commie Hunts of the 1950's and beyond. We follow Cohn's life – his self-righteous, contradictory, opportunistic, sleazy life – from childhood to death bed. Structured in flashbacks and flashforwards, we see his twisted points of view along with his victims and lackies. This is one of the best character studies ever made. It's disgusting, and true. Also starring Joe Don Baker, Joseph Bologna, Ed Flanders, Frederick Forrest, Lee Grant, and others. If you like Woods' job in this one (and you will), see "Another Day in Paradise" or the classic "The Onion Field".

Some original HBO movies are excellent. This is one of them. I wasn't familiar with Roy Cohn, but I had heard of McCarthy. I also hadn't seen Citizen Kane when I first saw this, so I didn't get a lot of the homage.

But this is an excellent film. See it.

Where I live, HBO showed Citizen Kohn in the same week it launched into the mini-series "Angels In America". So I can't help but compare James Woods' portrayal of Roy Kohn with Al Pacino's in "Angels.." Of course, Woods had more scope, since his movie was all about Kohn, from childhood to death, whereas Pacino got to play him only in the last part of his life. So we get to see Woods at the army hearings that brought about Kohn downfall and he's at his brilliant best there as he's outmaneuvered and humiliated. But in the final analysis, I'd say the two portrayals were remarkably similar and we got a sense it was exactly the same man. To answer my own question, I think Pacino and Woods were equally good!

Apparently my last review of this film was offensive----so much for freedom of speech. If you are winning an argument with a leftist, their response is to silence you.

But Warner Brothers and Time Warner, long known for their leftist politics (i.e. CNN, Ice-T's "Cop Killer" et al.), amazingly tried to sell the Rosenbergs as poor victims of "McCarthyism". The Rosenbergs were guilty! No less than an American icon like the great Eisenhower sentenced them to their demise.

Arthur Miller (who was by the way, a member of the CPUSA) attempted to convince the gullible that "The Crucible" was an allegory for McCarthyism. Well, the only problem with that analogy was that there WERE Communists working in our government (i.e. Alger Hiss) unlike "The Crucible" where there weren't any witches.

James Woods has to be one of my favorite American actors. I read an article on him once and he told the interviewer what his impressive SAT score was. Along those lines, he is intelligent enough to make his own political decisions, and doesn't follow the other misinformed Hollywood crowd like sheep.

His work in this film was exemplary. I wish he gets an Oscar one day.