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If you’re doing due diligence about possible presidential candidates, this is a good time to take a look at Giuliani Time (2005, CinemaLibre), an in depth look at the origins of the man who gained fame as New York’s number one hero following 9-ll.

What is Giuliani Time?

Actually, unless your head has been buried in sand for the past decade, you probably won’t find the information revealed in Kevin Keating’s 2005 documentary particularly surprising, but the film certainly it provides a credible summation of news reports and pointed analysis of the legacy of New York City’s former mayor.

The 118-minute film, subtitled “The Man Who Would be President,” relies on commentary by notable New York politicos and entrepreneurs—David Dinkins, Ed Koch, Ralph Nader, Al Sharpton, Norman Siegel, Mary Brosnahan, William Bratton, Donald Trump and other talking heads (47 of them, in all)—interspersed with well-selected archival footage, to trace Rudy Giuliani’s evolution from a Mafia-connected kid and Catholic school super-student to his meteoric rise in the Reagan-led Republican party and, finally, his ascension to his high profile post 9-11 post as “America’s Mayor.”

You may be somewhat surprised, however, to learn that the film’s title, Giuliani Time, is still New York cop slang for the period of power and largess enjoyed by the NYPD during the reign of Mayor Rudy, whose aggressive law and order agenda encouraged widespread police roundups of minority males, and fomented abusive “stop and frisk,” “zero tolerance” and “broken windows” strategies—which are alleged to have led to the shocking killing of Amadou Diallo and other alarming incidents, with subsequent federal investigations of Giuliani’s policies and initiatives.

The Mayor's Bumpy Ride

Keating's well-researched and well-documented expose isn't just a historical probe--it still has great value in helping to evaluate current events. In tracking Rudy’s roller coaster ride downwards through the notorious Brooklyn Museum fiasco and his aborted Senate race, and soaring upwards again following the catastrophic terrorist attacks that transformed a lame-duck Giuliani into a secular saint, the film presents a "lest you've forgotten" scenario. Giuliani rose phoenix-like out of the horror that was 9-11 and became a universally-acclaimed hero, hailed as Time Magazine’s Man of the Year, knighted by Queen Elizabeth and using his celebrity status to raise huge contributions for the Bush/Cheney camp's coffers.

Giuliani Time presents an entirely engrossing perspective on the man who would be president.