A great look at Morton Downey Jr and his place in social history. Its a place that is either one of honor or hatred depending on how you look at things.
Morton Downey Jr was the son of a well respected singer. Despite trying his best to get his own singing career off the ground, Downey bounced from job to job until he ended up with a "talk" show on channel 9 in New York. His confrontational style and right wing leanings hit a cord and forever changed TV as we know it.
A mix of archival footage, new interviews and animation, Evocateur drops us into the world and life of Downey. We get to know the man who was a friend of the Kennedy's, who had father issues, who loved woman, and in many ways just wanted to sing. Its the story of a man who was good at pushing buttons and who managed make, and lose a fortune in a short period of time. Despite what you may think Downey's hey day was only about 2 years before the freak show got out of hand and everyone abandoned him.
One of the better films that is screening at this years Tribeca this is a film that tells you more about the world than its subject. You understand how program like Downey's could end up on TV. You also understand how it created a world that we are still living with. As for it's subject here is a film that makes Downey more than just a loud mouth, it shows him to be a complex individual, who had more going on than any of us suspected.
I really like this film a great deal and I hope that it gets some sort of wide release since I'm looking forward to seeing it again and sharing it with friends, both Downey fans and haters.
Worth tracking down.
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