Gibney's Spitzer Doc Surprises

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It was known, of course, that Alex Gibney's Untitled Eliot Spitzer Film, which screened earlier this evening via the Tribeca Film Festival, would focus on the sudden and scandalous fall of Eliot Spitzer, the former New York Governor, due to his involvement with prostitutes. What I didn't anticipate, and what in fact surprised the hell out of me, is that the doc unfolds and holds like a masterful political suspense drama.

Untitled Eliot Spitzer Film director Alex Gibney during post-screening q & a; former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.

I was expecting a smart and comprehensive recap of the Spitzer saga -- a kind of PBS Frontline-type deal. What I got instead was a totally gripping nest-of-vipers thing with a complex and self-destructive anti-hero and a great supporting cast including an assemblage of powerful, politically connected bad guys worthy of Sidney Lumet or Scott Turow or John LeCarre even, and all of them real as hell.

Gibney has always been a first-rate documentarian. But in Spitzer and his psychology and the forces that conspired against him he's found a great political melodrama that not only matches but enhances his abilities, resulting in a beautiful synchronicity. This movie is going right into my list as one of the best films of 2010.

What a dirty, stinking story this is -- a balding oddball hero with the right ideals and goals brought down by a fatal flaw, but whose public exposure and ruin is orchestrated by his powerful enemies, and not just any enemies but some of the same financially speculating, double-dealing Wall Street scumbags whose actions brought this country to the brink of financial ruin. Goodness falls, evil triumphs -- great movie material!

It is always the mark of a top-notch film when you think you know what it's going to do plot-wise, and it more or less does that in terms of what it "tells" but with so much more punch and pizazz and intrigue than you expected. And you come out of it going "wow, damn good!"

One analogy is Fred Zinneman's The Day of the Jackal (1973), a thriller about a man hired to assassinate former French president Charles DeGaulle. You know going in that he won't succeed, but the film holds you regardless. Another similar work is Lumet's Prince of the City (1981) -- a movie packed to the gills with cops, attorneys and prosecutors but which finally delivers a moralistic tale about dark urges, choices, alliances and a New York City demimonde.

One of Spitzer's enemies, Home Depot co-founder Kenneth Langone, talks to Gibney for the film, and is quite the fascinating character. Sptzer's other foes included former NYSE chairman Richard Grasso, former Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney analyst Jack Grubman, former Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget, former AIG honcho Hank Greenberg and Canary Capital Partners' Edward Stern, to name but a very few.

I'm being kicked out of the Starbucks I'm sitting in so that's all she wrote, but this is a stellar knockout documentary. It's actually called Client-9 in the opening credits, but that title is just a temp, Gibney said. Distribution ought to happen by the fall. It's too early to say, of course, but this looks to me at the very least like a prime contender for the 2010 Best Feature Documentary Oscar, whatever the competition. Because it's sharp and true and riveting as hell, and that's what gets the gold.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 24, 2010 at 6:21 PM

comment #1

Eloi Manning says ...

Spitzer's hair is a disgrace. Just shave it if you're balding like that. I used to vomit every time I flew Continental because their former CEO, Larry Kellner, would introduce the safety video on each flight with his aggressively awful hair-do.

Posted by Eloi Manning at April 24, 2010 8:31 PM

comment #2

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Great hijack!

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at April 24, 2010 9:09 PM

comment #3

hiviper says ...

Eloi, firstly it's nowhere's near as bad as Giuiliani's comb-over back in the day.

I also agree with Wells, it's more interesting that he was ultimately taken down by Wall Street scumbags with a vendetta (not to excuse Spitzer's dumb-ass actions). My interest level on this doc just went up 100%.

Posted by hiviper at April 24, 2010 9:59 PM

comment #4

lawnorder says ...

I can't believe you A-holes who hide behind your internet anonymity and take potshots at someone else's looks - as if any of you are god's gift to man. When Spitzer's nostril hairs are down to his upper lip, we can all file a mass grievance, but until then, so the fuck what? The man's balding - who cares? This isn't a film about his male pattern baldness. I think once the world does away with internet anonymity and you're forced to post with your driver's license or passport picture next to your real name, we'll see some civility restored to human interaction.

Posted by lawnorder at April 24, 2010 10:36 PM

comment #5

vansmith says ...

lawnorder...from my anonymous bunker somewhere in the US i say...fuck you....

Posted by vansmith at April 24, 2010 11:25 PM

comment #6

scooterzz says ...

it appears that lawnorder might be losing his hair (as well as his mind)....

Posted by scooterzz at April 24, 2010 11:50 PM

comment #7

AH says ...

lawnorder: re. pics with postings, idealistic thought but not gonna happen. also, people who criticize often are the most thin-skinned.

back to the film: when is this thing supposed to come out?

Posted by AH at April 25, 2010 3:32 AM

comment #8

DeeZee says ...

I guess ruining music wasn't enough for Hanson, and they decided to move on to ruining classic movies, too.

Posted by DeeZee at April 25, 2010 3:41 AM

comment #9

Hip Hop Homey says ...

"forces against him?"

So, if he hadn't been a scumbag cheating on his wife with whores, he'd still would've gotten taken down by the baddies?

Posted by Hip Hop Homey at April 25, 2010 4:08 AM

comment #10

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to Hip Hop Homey: Don't be a moralistic scold. As we all know, many politicians across the spectrum routinely indulge in debauchery outside the bonds of marriage. Sometimes this comes out in the press, and sometimes it doesn't. But if your enemies are powerful and numerous enough, the odds greatly increase that your private peccadilloes will be exposed...if you catch my drift. This, the doc says, is almost certainly what happened to Spitzer. And oh, what a particular tragedy in a larger sense, it's also saying, because this self-destructive hero was the enemy of some very serious Wall Street bad guys whose criminal practices and shenanigans have since made us all suffer. Get it? The movie is not about Eliot Spitzer's marriage vows -- it's about a much bigger and darker picture.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at April 25, 2010 5:46 AM

comment #11

Circumvrent says ...

I really hope Spitzer can mount some sort of a comeback - he's a smart guy with the right ideas who knows how to elucidate them to everyone at large (and perhaps that last part is the most important).

But Jeff, wouldn't you say that if you were in Spitzer's position, you'd do everything in your power to not walk around with a target on your back? Being brilliant shouldn't excuse you from policing your own moral behavior - especially when you're dealing with people who will do anything, find out anything, to take you down.

Posted by Circumvrent at April 25, 2010 6:18 AM

comment #12

Eloi Manning says ...

Sorry for hijacking, Wells.

On topic: we need more bachelor politicians. I have never understood why people need the illusion of monogamy to cement their vote for a candidate. Women seem to love it; photos of the family all together. Yet since the dawn of time politicians have philandered. So why pretend that a family makes any difference to the person's character? At least some bachelor politician can bang around as he pleases without hurting anyone. Instead, ambitious dudes lock themselves into marriages to further their career goals, and eventually come unstuck because of it.

Posted by Eloi Manning at April 25, 2010 6:28 AM

comment #13

Hip Hop Homey says ...

See, that's where i goes wrong. A man without backbone has no place in public office. Too many spineless ninnies already screwing this country up.

Posted by Hip Hop Homey at April 25, 2010 6:39 AM

comment #14

Michael says ...

many politicians across the spectrum routinely indulge in debauchery outside the bonds of marriage.

True, Wells, but there aren't a lot of politicians out there who are in a position to prosecute and jail people (re: other men) who frequent prostitutes, just as Spitzer did. Has he ever been asked how many people his office prosecuted for crimes he, too, committed? And walked on, by the way?

Some congressman cheats on his wife with a hooker, who really cares. Some prosecutor prints the names and photos in the paper of johns who were caught, then he's doing the same thing? He got off light.

Posted by Michael at April 25, 2010 8:29 AM

comment #15

George Prager says ...

Hip Hop Homey is Mo'Nique Walz.

Posted by George Prager at April 25, 2010 9:36 AM

comment #16

Manitoba says ...

I've put the film on my must see list for 2010. I also find it great that Spitzer is making a bit of a comeback as a scandal survivor. It is nice to see him turn up on the news channels offering comment and a voice still worth listening to. The first time I saw him I had to check for a scarlet letter A medallion around his neck. But now I'm getting used to it and it is nice to have him back.

Posted by Manitoba at April 25, 2010 9:40 AM

comment #17

corey3rd says ...

Gibney has a great 1-2 punch with Spitzer and Jack Abramoff docs. The question is will he wait till next year to release Spitzer or will he have two horses going for Best Doc Oscar in 2010?

Posted by corey3rd at April 25, 2010 10:08 AM

comment #18