'Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn' offers insight into the contradictory persona of Trump's mentor
At the height of the Cold War in 1953, a married couple, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed after being convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The Rosenbergs were accused of sending top-secret information about technologies such as radar, jet propulsion engines, and nuclear weapon designs. The prosecutor for the case, Roy Cohn, had later claimed that his influence led to Judge Irving Kaufman presiding over the trial with Assistant US Attorney Irving H Saypol. He also claimed that Kaufman had imposed the death penalty based on Cohn's personal recommendation.
While the Rosenbergs were the subject of an earlier documentary by their granddaughter Ivy Meeropol, 'Heir to an Execution', her latest documentary, 'Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn' explores the other side of the prosecution. The title of the documentary comes from a panel on the AIDS Memorial Quilt that Meeropol and her father, Michael Meeropol, had stumbled upon. Michael had taken on the name of his adoptive parents after his parents were executed.
Roy Cohn was a staunch ally of Senator Joseph McCarthy during his hunt for Communists in the 1950s. Cohn was also regarded as a mentor for current President Donald Trump and helped the latter rise. Meeropol interviews playwright Tony Kushner, director John Waters, gossip columnist Cindy Adams, actor Nathan Lane, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, journalists, politicians and historians, and even members of her family. That the filmmaker resents the late lawyer comes as no secret to those who watch the documentary.
For those interested, 'Bully Coward. Victim' gives a fascinating look at Cohn, whose strategy was to never pay his bills despite being wealthy, as a result of which he was always getting sued. When Cohn threw dinner parties in Provincetown, he would always place a bowl of cocaine next to each plate, and a capsule of the barbiturate Tuinal next to that in case his guests got too high. Cohn's strategy as a lawyer was to play out to the media, thereby settling 60 to 75 percent of his cases out of court. The documentary starts with footage of a young Ivy Meerpol being told of the Rosenbergs' story by her father. It is this personal connection to the cold, harsh lawyer who lobbied for her grandparents' death at just 24 years old, which makes it stand out.
“To call him evil — it’s true. But it doesn’t explain 100 other things about Roy Cohn,” says author and journalist Peter Manso in the film. 'Bully. Coward. Victim.' focuses on Cohn through that epitaph. As a closeted gay man who constantly denied his AIDS diagnosis -- though it was publicly known -- Cohn was shunned in the latter days of his life by his famous friends. He also constantly targeted gay men in his prosecutions.
Cohn was a contradictory man. Perhaps this may be why the documentary feels a bit haphazard as it tries to explore the many facets of who the man was. Nevertheless, 'Bully. Coward. Victim.' provides an insightful look at the man, while keeping in mind the case that got him the stepping stone to fame.
'Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn' will be available on HBO Max from June 19.