Giuliani Time (2005)

85% of critics liked it
(26 reviews)
69% of users liked it
(542 ratings)

After September 11, 2001, when terrorist attacks leveled New York City's World Trade Center towers, mayor Rudolph Giuliani's public bravery and pluck in the midst of his city's greatest crisis made him a hero across the country and around the world. However, while Giuliani's actions after 9/11 made… More After September 11, 2001, when terrorist attacks leveled New York City's World Trade Center towers, mayor Rudolph Giuliani's public bravery and pluck in the midst of his city's greatest crisis made him a hero across the country and around the world. However, while Giuliani's actions after 9/11 made him seem like a champion, there has been significantly less attention paid to his record before the attacks. Documentary filmmaker Kevin Keating focuses on Giuliani's early years in politics, his often controversial and uncharitable stands on civil rights, social services, education, and law enforcement, and his political ambitions after leaving the mayor's office in Giuliani Time. Featuring newsreel footage and extensive interviews with political analysts and people who worked with Giuliani, the film offers an overview of the totality of the former mayor's career than has been absent in most recent profiles of his life. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 58 min.
Directed By: Kevin Keating
Genres: Documentary, Drama, Special Interest

In Theaters: May 12, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Feb 20, 2007
Studio: Cinema Libre

Critic Reviews

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
While Giuliani Time offers a wealth of important information that many might have long forgotten, its impact is diluted by its heavily biased nature and lack of balance.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
With the former mayor currently enjoying one of the rare second acts in American political life, Giuliani Time does a strong job of reminding us what the first one was like.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Plays more like a rant, and a poorly focused one at that.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
The trouble with Giuliani Time is that Keating, as a filmmaker, wants to give power to the people but in his every perception he takes it away from them.
Michael Powell, Washington Post
I wanted more of those press conferences where he lashed at 'actually really jerky' questions before turning on his heel and exiting stage right. When Giuliani Time gives us a taste of this Rudy, it's mesmerizing.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
To his credit and his film's benefit -- Keating also interviews Giuliani's friends and supporters, who praise his accomplishments (while acknowledging his occasional abrasiveness).
Prairie Miller, WBAI Web Radio
The embedded corporate media has worked itself up into a frenzy against the filmmaker, in a rather exhilarating David and Goliath showdown in which truth will hopefully and logically be the victor.
Prairie Miller, WBAI Web Radio
Keating makes the case that a Giuliani presidency would be an exceedingly bad idea, juxtaposing the politician's public persona and veneer of fake charm, with his vicious dark side that periodically peers through.
Phil Hall, Film Threat
A chilling record of a politician whose modus operandi includes incessant lying, taking credit for other peoples' achievements, blatant racism and imperious governing.
Kam Williams, EURWeb
Damning documentary indicts the ex-mayor as deserving to be remembered not for the clean-up of the Twin Towers, but for his utter lack of compassion for the impoverished and working classes.
Kam Williams, AALBC.com
A damning documentary which seeks to remind viewers how Mayor Rudy Giuliani ruled New York City with an iron-fist, bitterly dividing it along ethnic lines by implementing policies which favored whites and the rich over minorities and the poor.
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
Keating may [be] too intent on touching on every aspect of the mayor's vicious careerism; at two hours, the film might have benefited from some pruning....But the film is never dull...
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly
Giuliani Time energetically deflates one trumpeted myth after another about Giuliani's success at turning the city around from its doldrums in the 1970s.
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
The first chip has been knocked off the shoulder in the 2008 presidential horse race.
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
It is impossible to downplay the man's role in events following the September 11 attack...But, his track record prior to that terrible event cannot be ignored.
Chris Barsanti, Film Journal International
Giuliani Time ultimately includes much useful information ... [but] anybody who reads The Village Voice will find nothing here to surprise them.
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
While Keating's motives may have the public interest at heart, his methods undercut his message.