One of the most controversial and influential American men of the 20th Century, Roy Cohn was a ruthless and unscrupulous lawyer and political power broker whose 28-year career ranged from acting as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Communist-hunting subcommittee to molding the career of a young Queens real estate developer named Donald Trump.
Cohn formulated his playbook in the 50s, but it is all too familiar today: always attack; never admit blame or apologize; use favors and fear to ensure support for your objectives; expertly manipulate the media to gain advantage and destroy your opponents; lie shamelessly, invalidating the idea of truth; weaponize lawsuits; evade taxes and bills; and, most importantly, inflame the prejudices of the crowd by scapegoating defenseless people.
Both for those who remember Cohn and those who were too young to have any awareness of him, Matt Tyrnauer’s “Where’s My Roy Cohn?” lays out who Cohn was and how his lessons to his apprentice Donald Trump have shaped contemporary American politics.
“Where’s My Roy Cohn?” tells Cohn’s story from his birth in 1927 to his death in 1986, a picaresque journey that carries us from the Depression, through the Red Scare of the 50s, to the 70s and 80s New York high life of wealth, celebrity, and Studio 54.
Even those who think they know everything about Roy Cohn will find much that is new in this deeply researched film, which utilizes a great deal of material never publicly seen. Those with little previous knowledge of Cohn’s story will have their eyes opened to the sizeable impact he continues to have on us, despite being dead for decades. By showing how America’s current divisions are rooted in dark areas of our past, “Where’s My Roy Cohn?” offers an illuminating portrait of where we are today.
“Endlessly fascinating. Impossible to look away. A ferocious, fast-paced account of a real-life supervillain.” — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
“A delectable look at a despicable person.” — The Wrap