Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story is an American television film produced and broadcast on March 20, 2003 on the USA Network. The movie stars James Woods as former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and depicts the life of Giuliani, focusing primarily on his mayoral career and response to the September 11 attacks. The film was based on the 2000 biography Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani by Wayne Barrett. It has been broadcast in several countries.

Cast

The real Rudy Giuliani makes a cameo in the film as a construction worker.

Reception

John Leonard of New York Magazine gave it a negative review and wrote: "Rudy seems to suggest that such passionate mood swings are nothing more than lint in the navel and wax in the ears of a Great Man being grandly operatic." MaryAnn Johanson of Flick Filosopher thought the film came too soon after September 11, 2001 for real perspective and said the film "suffers from a shallowness and a rushed kind of hagiography". In November 2020, thousands of social media users rediscovered the film and began mocking it, both for its poor quality and in light of Giuliani's career since its release. In a 2006 interview with PARADE, Woods reported that Giuliani met with him after the network premiere and praised his performance in the film.

Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards Satellite Awards Writers Guild of America Awards