Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

This two hour depiction of the rise and sudden fall of a dedicated public servant is built around two interviews: one with Eliot Spitzer himself, post-resignation, the other with a young actress playing the part of one "Angelina", a high class prostitute. Angelina claims to have had many "appointments" with Gov. Spitzer in many cities, while it was a mere one night stand with "Kristin" who got all the publicity.

Here we see the first of several, perhaps unavoidable, flaws in the documentary: reliance on weak sources whose statements cannot be independently verified. As no one is talking, not the FBI, the federal prosecutors nor Spitzer himself, you cannot know if "Angelina" is making the whole story up. However, her account does not defame the ex-Governor, paint him as sexually perverted or even ungentlemanly. She also voices harsh skepticism of "Kristin" and other girls in the life who claim victimhood currently or in the past.

The format is the standard Talking Heads with some news footage thrown in. Documentarian Gibney cannot resist resorting to lurid shots of scantily dressed women and a hip hop soundtrack when exploring the half-world of high end prostitution. Guess he felt he needed to sex it up in order to sell the film but to me this seemed cheap and frivolous.

With its evident bias in favor of its subject, the film mentions only in passing how Elliott Spitzer's own self-righteousness and abrasive behavior during his year as Governor may have left him without a friend in Albany when he badly needed friends. Admittedly, the State capital was a sinkhole of corruption and waste, but Spitzer's demeanor, like Christ come to cleanse the Temple, was probably the wrong way to go about reforming it.

There is an ample cast of villains -- though why these agreed to be interviewed for this documentary remains a mystery -- including former chairman and c.e.o. of insurance giant A.I.G., Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, Joseph Bruno, former Majority Leader of the New York State Senate (later convicted on federal corruption charges) and even a few words from Wall Street mega-millionaires Ralph Langone and Richard Grasso, bitter and powerful enemies from when Spitzer as Attorney General tried to rein in their insatiable GREED.

The film implies that the current fiscal crisis might have been averted had former Sheriff of Wall Street Spitzer remained in the Governor's mansion. This is doubtful, as doubtful as the claim by Hank Greenberg that A.I.G. would be a solvent company today instead of in federal receivership had he not been kicked out by his own board of directors following revelations by Attorney General Spitzer of accounting irregularities. The abuses Spitzer went after, such as executive compensation and price fixing, were not what caused the fiscal crisis of 2008. That was a result of risky loans and overvalued real estate which, ironically, was what the Spitzer family money was based on.

The ex-governor is shown to be repentant, chastened, fit to return to public service even if the White House now is out of reach. His vices, the documentary seems to say, are only those natural to a man. That Eliot Spitzer can be arraigned for hypocrisy, having himself prosecuted prostitution rings, gets perhaps twenty words in the whole film.

Film manages to maintain interest without seeming overtly like a propaganda piece which is what i honestly thought it would be going in. *honestly why else would the ex governor have even participated if it wasn't for the opportunity to rehabilitate his image went my logic--an idea i'm sure many other people have thought when wondering if they should bother checking this one out. I can't really say whether you should check it out or not---it will help if you have a tolerance for smirking, and self justification (and yet somehow Spitzer doesn't indulge in the latter--remaining completely on point that he had no one to blame but himself for his own actions...what can i say? i was hoping for someone who sees conspiracy theories everywhere.)

Can't help but wonder how this is going to hold up in the coming decade or two. Will it hold together as a film? will it hold as a narrative that years from now people whom have never heard of Spitzer will be able to watch this and have interest in it?, sadly i think it probably will to a certain extent---not so much because of Spitzer's fall from grace (that will inevitably repeat itself in another high ranking politician and this will if anything just seem like business as usual.) but because of the various people--wall streeters, and gov. officials interviewed throughout who take delight in seeing Spitzer smeared. Its all kinds of creepy to see these guys and gals taking such glee in being interviewed about Spitzer as well as defending themselves from Spitzer's previous accusations against them when he was a crusading governor/state attorney---you kind of start to wonder what kind of documentary these guys thought they were being interviewed for exactly.

I mean in what capacity did these guys rationalize themselves into being interviewed for this doc? Was it this same rationality that led to Spitzer thinking he could continue seeing these prostitutes indefinitely without any ramifications? Why do such high ranking guys of both the governmental kind and the wall street kind think they can rationalize every action they take away as if they had a perfectly logical reason for doing what they do?) If anything can be taken away from this documentary, its not that you should be careful how you conduct yourself, its not that you should be careful whose feathers you ruffle (in the metaphorical sense of course), its not even that you shouldn't have sex with prostitutes if you're a government official (you especially shouldn't have sex with prostitutes who recognize you from the news)---its that very successful high ranking people of all professions can sell themselves on anything, especially when they really shouldn't. Throughout the film the director keeps coming back to an interview with the giggling young woman who ran the prostitution ring in the first place...and she still so obviously thinks that she did nothing wrong running such a business and making a lot of money doing so. Perhaps that's even why these people are so successful in the first place. That they're such good salesmen, that they can even fool themselves into thinking they can do anything and get away with anything because they'll always be able to rationalize it away. That they're such good salesmen that even after getting caught, they can still feel like they didn't do anything wrong at all. Overconfidence kills. (also a potential question---why are all the super successful people in this movie all seem to be sociopaths as well? and what is that supposed to mean?)

I am going to be your escort to my review of the documentary "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer". OK, maybe wrong choice of words, and I probably won't rise to the documentary movie review occasion; please don't say "you called it". Anyways, Alex Gibney's documentary is a provoking look at the former New York Governor whose scandal of being a preferred customer of "The Emperors Club" escort service cost him an uprising political career that could have landed him a future presidential seat in the White House as this country's first Jewish President. This documentary could have been easily called "The Last Emperor" but I am sure Oscar-winning Director Bernardo Bertolucci would have taken issue. "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer" shows many facets of the scandal and its underlying pants, I mean parts, that sure do not defend Spitzer's whorish actions but do reveal that he was a marked man by several Republican political enemies. Gibney excels in revealing Spitzer's shining political moments in bringing down Wall Street corruption geezers. However, he does not glamorize Spitzer at all; even the former Governor speaks and presents himself in the documentary with a remorseful demeanor by not externalizing his downfall on others. The documentary does showcase that other elected officials have been in similar scandals and are still in their political seat, and Spitzer is not. Gibney also reveals the fact that the "15 minutes of fame" Spitzer Emperess gal was not so much Ashley Dupre (he only traveled Ashley's waters one night at the Mayflower Hotel), but it was another Emperor escort named Angelina who was requested by Spitzer several times. Angelina does not appear in the documentary but does reveal info to Gibney; an actress was used in representing to reveal what Angelina had to say about their Elliot & Angelina jolly close encounters of the $10,000 a night kind. The most colorful character of this documentary is not Spitzer, not the call girls, not the Wall Street geezers; but it was a political consultant named Roger Stone who was hired by one of Spitzer's main enemies to help bring Eliot down. The flamboyant Stone is not a bit stone-faced in boldly revealing his swinger lifestyle and his large tattoo of Richard Nixon. Alex Gibney is an Oscar-winning documentarian, and he continues to prove his worth by fully revealing issues and subjects as he does in this engaging documentary. Spitzer did have sexual relations with "that woman, and that other woman, and that other woman", but at least Spitzer spits out his regrets with earnest humility in this insightful documentary. So yes, call it in and book it as a must-see documentary. **** Good

Eliot Spitzer is elected Governor of New York in 2006. He had been Attorney General for 8 years taking on everybody including the masters of the universe on Wall Street. He had enemies at the highest levels. He struggled to take down the labyrinthine corrupt politics of Albany. Then in 2008, he is taken down by a sex scandal. He has been seeing high price escorts. Jersey girl Ashley Dupré would promote herself as his call girl. However, it's only the surface of how he was singled out in the prosecution and the public shame of his secret life.

This is informative and has a slant to the story. It's part bio and part investigation. His cases as AG are interesting but may need some simpler expositions. My biggest complaint is that there is an effort to minimize prostitution and its inherit corrupting nature. It is no doubt that his outing is part of a political campaign but it could never excuse his weakness.

As it's become so common with most political figures it's one scandal after another. You name it bribes, payoffs, abuse of power and corruption. But most of all the sex scandal is what the public loves. As in this case the sex scandal brought down a hard working and likable politician New York governor Eliot Spizer. Director Alex Gibney paints the film as two sides as the interviews revealing from staff members, political rivals, and even Spitzer himself prove he had affairs with hookers that being New York's elite escorts and call girls.

Aside from that it begins with Eliot's days as attorney general in the Empire state when he took on the big boys of wall street and dirty investment companies who were defrauding millions. Eliot was the new political golden boy who seemed to do right and fight for the common man! This would later propel him to be elected New York governor only along the way he made many business world and political grudges in the New York statehouse which would later bite him as investigations were launched.

Spitzer like all political pricks in my opinion felt he was above the law and as is so common gives into the oldest vice around sex with a hooker. Really no big deal yet Eliot showed he was a hypocrite as he once prosecuted the big time New York city call girl rings now he's a John! Still it's not the worst thing as Spitzer will still be remembered for some good by taking on the corrupt companies of wall street.

Gibney's doc is refreshing, informative, and revealing it shows the political and business world is so intersected with scandals of sex and greed with political pricks from both sides. Still Spitzer will be remembered yet his story is a tragic and Gothic one a real rise and fall of a good leader. As the vices of sex, money, and power abuse will always dominate society especially the political world it's just too bad that a hard working politician like Eliot Spitzer got to be the showcase for a dramatic fall. Clearly this is one social and political doc that's not to be missed.