America’s Mayor

Hearing last week’s commentaries on the 9/11 tragedy in New York City, I marveled how much can change in twenty-two years. Back in 2001 the nation hailed Rudy Giuliani as a hero for how he led the city’s response to attacks on the World Trade Center. Today the former mayor faces felony prosecution for his efforts to overturn a presidential election.

The rise and fall of his career hold enough dramatic tension for a fictionalized film, based on Giuliani (let’s call him “G” for now) the way Citizen Kane is based on William Randolph Hearst. Highlights:

1. Scary opening scene of a New York City mugging or mafia killing.
2. After G successfully prosecutes mafia leaders, Five Families debate a hit on him.
3. G incites police riot against controls on police misconduct.
4. G elected tough-on-crime mayor; bits from his speeches alternate with fatal police shooting of unarmed immigrant from Guinea, savage beating of Haitian immigrant.  
5. 9/11 attacks; G called a hero for city’s response; Time’s 2001 Person of the Year.
6. Quick flip through increasingly controversial/shocking headlines or photos showing G’s growing immersion in Republican politics, run for president, advisor to Trump.
7. Meeting where Trump puts G in charge of lawsuits to overturn 2020 election, tells him “go wild” and “do anything you want.”
8. Jan. 6 speech and attack on Capitol; visual parallels with #3 above.
9. During arrest or imprisonment, G reflects on his squandered heroism. Tying the film together like Rosebud in Citizen Kane, his action here comes solely from the writer’s imagination. Everything else in these nine points is based on fact or news reports.

If you write the script, I’ll watch the movie!

Photograph by Gage Skidmore (Wikimedia Commons).