CLIENT 9: THE RISE AND FALL OF ELIOT SPITZER (VSC, 2010) D: Alex Gibney. Rating: NNNNN DVD package: NNNN Rating: NNNNN
Remember Eliot Spitzer? He was the New York governor who resigned when he was outed as an habitual john for high-end hookers.
There’s more to Spitzer’s story than that. Elected attorney general in 1999, he went after Wall Street years before the subprime meltdown. He won some big cases and made important enemies, notably Hank Greenberg, CEO of AIG, the world’s largest insurance company, and Ken Langone, chair of the New York Stock Exchange.
As governor, his attempts to reform corrupt NY state politics made him more enemies, including house majority leader Joe Bruno.
Why did a man who by all accounts was an upright crusader driven by a sense of fairness take to hiring prostitutes? Why did the FBI make it easy for journalists to work out Client 9’s identity?
Alex Gibney injects narrative drive and solid structure into his extensive interviews with Spitzer, his enemies, the escort agency owners and workers and other key players. The result is an engrossing tale packed with fascinating characters and devious doings.
You’ll get more story and character detail from Gibney’s commentary, along with his musings on some of the many questions the movie raises and his approach to constructing the movie as a mystery/thriller.
EXTRAS Commentary, director interview, extended interviews, deleted scenes. Widescreen. English audio. Spanish subtitles.