Ripping Rudy...

"Rudy Giuliani may want to do the same thing to a new documentary that he did to squeegee men while he was mayor.

Make it disappear.

"Giuliani Time," which opened Friday, makes the politician who was practically deified for his soothing statesmanship in the aftermath of 9/11 look like a vindictive demagogue who was unfairly credited with turning the city around in the 1990s.

Its release comes at an inopportune time for the man dubbed "America's Mayor." Giuliani recently began gearing up for the presidential race in 2008, and the documentary rehashes the controversies surrounding his political career and personal life.

"Anybody who is going to consider the political terrain for '08 has to see this movie," said "Giuliani Time" director Kevin Keating. "Because it's the only thing around about Giuliani that's even remotely critical. He gets a pass from everybody, and challenging the 'Saint of 9/11' means you've got to see this film if you're going to talk intelligently about Giuliani."

The film is playing at Manhattan's Landmark Sunshine Cinema and will expand to theaters across the nation later this month.

The two-hour movie touches on his Brooklyn boyhood, his time as associate attorney general in the Reagan administration and as Manhattan U.S. attorney.

The documentary focuses on Giuliani's "quality of life" and "zero tolerance" policies as mayor, which it presents as a continual trampling of First Amendment rights that turned the city into a virtual police state. Also shown is how Giuliani's responses to the police shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo and the torture of Abner Louima by cops polarized much of the city.
"We started out doing the film on just the First Amendment issues," says Keating, 61, a veteran documentary cinematographer who was commissioned to direct "Giuliani Time" by civil rights lawyer Michael Ratner in 1998. "But it quickly became deeper ... as things surrounding Giuliani cascaded, and it took us five years to finish it."

What may prove most damaging are the details of his tumultuous personal life - allegations of multiple adulteries during his messy divorce from Donna Hanover, plus his father's stint in Sing Sing prison for robbery.

Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel said the former mayor would not comment on the film. "He hasn't seen it, nor does he intend to see it," she said.

But Giuliani's supporters have already begun trashing the movie. A Chicago-based group, Draft Rudy for President, has asked for donations to "launch an extensive campaign to expose the inaccuracies in 'Giuliani Time' and defend 'America's Mayor.'"
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First of all, no one in their right mind will pay any attention to this B-documentary. But there IS the fact that Rudy didn't believe that a squeegee man had the Constitutional right to spit on your windshield then shake you down for a few bucks, and the Loons hate him for that. Rudy's a dichotomy in that he is so anti-crime his teeth must hurt when watching "Cops", but he's also pro-choice and wishy-washy on the 2nd Amendment. For Rudy, EVERYTHING needs a license, or a permit, or a note from your Mother, because he's positive that there's enough evil lurking within all of our souls that tracking you down and punishing you requires we know who you are, right down to your shoesize.

Not that he stands a snowballs chance in hell of beign elected to high office. He's bald. Unless his advisors play up the Italian-Connection deal, and turn him into some hot-blooded Romeo in waiting (which he'd most likely balk at), women will flock away from him in droves, because without pretty hair a modern candidate doesn't cut it from the distaff point of view. Eisenhower was the last hairless President, and without something AS attractive, we won't see another one any time soon.

Too bad, too. I'd consider him. And if convinced, would campaign for the guy 'till I dropped.