Bully. Coward. Victim: The Story of Roy Cohn

This 2020 documentary is a terrific look at this very hated, yet very successful high society lawyer. Cohn got his teeth cut on the Ethel and Julius Rosenberg treason trial and as Counsel to the infamous Joseph McCarthy. Cohn went on to private practice representing such figures as Donald Trump, Fat Tony Salerno, The Gambinos, and the owners of Studio 54. The film is centered around the Rosenberg sham and talks about how this was the basis for the character created to be Roy Cohn, a guy who was well connected but almost universally thought of as a "evil" person. There is great footage, interviews, news clips, and more. A good documentary.

In its attempt to show Cohn from various angles, I felt this film treated Cohn with kid gloves and danced around the edges. While the filmmaker is a granddaughter of the Rosenbergs, whom Cohn had put to death, it seems she worked out of need to humanize the madman. It's a commendable, especially given the circumstances, however I really wanted this film to slice him to ribbons. I don't fault her. The film was good and I learned a couple new things I hadn't before (duPont fracass, for one), it just ended before I was sated. I had a different set of expectations going in.

An interesting documentary with a caveat that has been too prevalent lately. There appears to be lots of personal opinion and hearsay not necessarily backed by facts. It was, however, very important to bash President Trump.

"Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn" (2020 release; 98 min.) is a new documentary about the life and times of Roy Cohn, albeit with a different twist. As the movie opens, we see a young girl talk about pictures of her grandparents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in the 1950s for selling the atom bomb secrets to the Soviet Union. That little girl is of course Ivy Meeropol, the writer-producer-director of this documentary. It's not long before we understand that Roy Cohn, then a young District Attorney, was pivotal in ensuring the death penalty for the Rosenbergs. Meeropol uses this historical fact as a stepping stone to look at Roy Cohn's life and times. "To call him evil, it's true, but it doesn't explain everything", comments someone early in the movie.

Couple of comments: this new documentary is a labor of love by longtime documentarian Ivy Meeropol. You may recall that just last year there was another documentary about the life and times of Roy Cohn called "Where's My Roy Cohn?" which was worth seeking out. So how does this new documentary set itself apart? Several factors: first and foremost, there is of course the deeply personal connection between Ivy Meeropol and the fact that Cohn basically sent her grandparents to their death. The movie examines what exactly happened in those dark days of the early 50s (including extensive interview clips with her dad/the Rosenberg's son) and how Cohn used it as a stepping stone in his career. Second, while it is alluded to in "Where's My Cohn?", this documentary goes into far greater detail about Cohn's split personality (the public "Mr. Fix-It"/Republican Party figure vs. the private Jewish gay man). Third, this documentary spends more time on Cohn's mentoring of the then-young Donald Trump, who has never forgotten Cohn's first and foremost advice to never, ever, ever admit to anything and instead deny, deny, deny, and attack, attack, attack. Yes, the pupil of Roy Cohn is now in the White House. That is how far this country has sunk... Bottom line: while both "Bully. Coward. Victim." and "Where's My Cohn?" are worthwhile, "Bully. Victim, Coward." is the better of the two by a nose, as its deeply personal connection resonates and also the timing of this film (in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election) is perfect.

"Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn" premiered this week on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and other streaming services. If you have any interest in politics and/or want to better understand how events from decades ago still influence what is happening to this very day, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.

Well, this is indeed an enlightening documentary given the current state of the USA. Trump has emulated Cohn's playbook. And it's starkly obvious. The amount of corruption in USA politics is nothing new. But it is interesting to see how people can so easily manipulate it using money, power and influence. Cohn was an awful human being. And the people trying to say this documentary is biased or slanted, are the same people who will excuse felons in the White House. This documentary showed how easily people are manipulated. People love proximity to power and to see people openly admit they were friends with Cohn because it benefited them, is just an echo of history we see today. Unless corruption affects them, they don't care. Fascinating.