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.
Review of Citizen Cohn
