New documentary explores the life of notorious lawyer Roy Cohn
This riveting documentary attempts to unravel the mass of contradictions and complexity that were at the heart of Cohn’s life.
By HANNAH BROWNROY COHN (photo credit: MARY ELLEN MARK/HOME BOX OFFICE/CELLCOM TV AND YES)
Roy Cohn, an ambitious lawyer who made a name for himself as chief counsel to red-baiting US Senator Joseph McCarthy in the ‘50s, went on to become a kind of ultimate fixer for high-profile clients such as Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, assorted mobsters and hundreds of others. He might have been little more than a footnote to 20th-century history if not for two facts, which are explored in depth in the excellent new HBO documentary Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn, which premieres on Yes Docu on June 22 at 10 p.m. as well as on Yes VOD, Sting TV and Cellcom TV.The first and most obvious reason to look at Cohn’s life and legacy today is that he was a mentor to President Donald Trump. The two were both aggressive New Yorkers, with a similarly confrontational style and a willingness to use the legal system as a weapon. Journalist David Lloyd Marcus, Cohn’s cousin, who is interviewed in the film, notes that Cohn “had to be the tough guy always in the room. He had to be the one who was the most macho,” and Trump was drawn to the strength that Cohn projected.Their partnership was born when Trump was sued by the government for violating the Fair Housing Act and illegally discriminating against black tenants in 1973. He took Cohn’s advice, which was to counter-sue to the tune of $100 million. They ended up working together in a number of ways and Trump learned from Cohn.Cohn was notorious for never paying for anything – New York Post columnist Cindy Adams, who was a longtime friend of Cohn’s, tells the story of how he stiffed an art dealer she introduced him to – and Trump has been named in countless lawsuits for not paying contractors, architects, plumbers and dozens of others who have done work for him. Cohn cut corners in other ways, too, and shortly before his death he was disbarred for professional misconduct.The second issue that has continuing relevance today is Cohn’s homosexuality. His sexual orientation was widely known among his social circle – he went everywhere, including the legendary disco Studio 54, with young male companions – but he never acknowledged it publicly.When he was dying of AIDS in the mid-80s, he claimed to have liver cancer and most of his so-called friends, among them Trump, abandoned him. Part of the film’s title, Bully. Coward. Victim, comes from the words that someone stitched on the AIDS quilt for Cohn.The documentary is by Ivy Meeropol, whose paternal grandparents were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. She takes a personal interest in Cohn because he was one of the lead prosecutors from the Justice Department in their trial.The Rosenberg case has been covered in more depth elsewhere, including in Meeropol’s own Heir to an Execution. But here she grapples with her feelings about Cohn, who has often been described as evil, and finds that as a gay man who feared to come out of the closet, and who died isolated and almost friendless of the plague ravaging the gay community, was a victim himself. Tony Kushner famously made Cohn a character in his play Angels in America, portraying him as an angry hypocrite haunted by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg as he lay dying of AIDS.This riveting documentary attempts to unravel the mass of contradictions and complexity that were at the heart of Cohn’s life. It may not be possible to explain everything about a conflicted and controversial figure like Cohn, but Meeropol makes a valiant effort.
