Mr. Blue-2 Reviews

Citizen Cohn (1992 TV Movie)

James Woods is Spectacular!

[4/10 · 26 July 1999]

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.

JFK (1991)

Great Actors Caught Up in the Big Lie!

[2/10 · 21 July 1999]

"JFK" features some of the best actors of our time. Costner, Bacon, Lemmon, Tommy Lee Jones, Pesci, et al are fantastic. But the actors aren't the problem.

Oliver Stone is a liar. He has created a movie in which he wants you, as the viewer, to believe his version of the JFK assassination. He wants you to believe that a massive conspiracy was responsible for JFK's death, and that Oswald was a "patsy."

Why didn't Oliver Stone address the following:

How did Oswald get the job at the Book Depository? The Quaker woman with whom Marina Oswald and the children were staying, asked a friend if she knew where Lee Harvey Oswald could get a job. She said her brother worked at the Book Depository. The Quaker woman called and set up an appointment for Oswald to be interviewed for the job. The superintendent hired Oswald at minimum wage (Oswald lied during the interview and said he was honorably discharged from the USMC). Now let's see, does this mean all of the above people were part of Stone's conspiracy?

What was in the package Oswald carried into the Depository on the morning of the assassination? We know he lied to a co-worker when he said the package was "curtain rods" for his room at the boarding house.

Why was Oswald the only employee of the Depository who fled following the assassination?

How did the conspirators arrange for the motorcade to pass in front of the Depository? Were the Secret Service agents part of the conspiracy?

Take my advice, view this movie as pure fiction! Oliver Stone should be ashamed of himself.

The Untouchables (1959–1963)

Greatest TV Show Ever!

[12 July 1999]

Hollywood doesn't make TV shows like this anymore.

A period piece set in the late 20's and early 30's, Treasury Agent Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) usually triumphed over evil. The actors and sets were all first rate. Bruce Gordon stole the show as Frank Netti!

The File of the Golden Goose (1969)

U.S.Secret Service and Scotland Yard Smash International Counterfeit Ring!

[7/10 · 6 July 1999]

Yul Brynner (yes, Yul Brynner, believe it or not) plays a U.S. Secret Service agent assigned by Washington to investigate an international gang counterfeiting $100 bills in Europe. He teams up with a Scotland Yard detective played by Edward Woodward ("The Equalizer" in a future life).

The movie opens with the gang attempting to assassinate Brynner near the United Nations building in New York, because he has developed too much evidence. The gang misses, of course, but his girl friend is killed. Brynner travels to London, works undercover, and gets in good with the gang.

I gave this movie a 7 out of 10, if only because they got the right American law enforcement agency (Secret Service) investigating counterfeit.