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Rating:  -
"The Hoax" was inspired by Clifford Irving's book of the same name in which he recounted his nearly-successful attempt to publish the infamously fraudulent "Autobiography of Howard Hughes" in 1971. As the movie tells it, Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) is a struggling novelist, down to his last dollars, when he conceives the idea to misrepresent himself to publisher McGraw-Hill as being chosen by the reclusive, mysterious billionaire Howard Hughes to write his autobiography. With the help of friend and fellow writer Dick Suskind (Alfred Molina), Clifford passes himself off as Hughes' confidant and tracks down information never before published, producing an "autobiography" that puts the Nixon White House on edge and induces Howard Hughes to make his first, and last, public statement in 15 years.
"The Hoax" is an entertaining and intriguing movie. But it's mostly fiction. Characters and events have been re-written. Clifford Irving had money and a 4-book contract. The film portrays him as a penniless failed novelist in order to establish motive. In reality, Irving seems to have conned the press, public, and publishing industry just for fun. Making Irving out to be desperate and deluded is not a bad story, but it begs the question: Why write fiction when the reality is more interesting and has far more commercial potential? Why make a preachy movie when you could make an energetic, irreverent one? The only explanation I have is that this is a conformist, authoritarian time in American history, and the real story of Irving's hoax isn't a lesson in how to be a good citizen. But that doesn't mean that audiences wouldn't prefer the unapologetic, iconoclastic version of the story. Of course we would.
The DVD (Miramax 2007): There are 2 featurettes, 6 deleted scenes with optional commentary, an extended "Business as Pleasure" restaurant scene (6 min), and 2 audio commentaries. "Stranger Than Fiction" (8 min) interviews director Lasse Hallstrom, cast, and others about Irving's motivations, the scam, and Hallstrom's directing style. "Mike Wallace: Reflections on a Con" (4 min) interviews Wallace, who interviewed Irving for "60 Minutes" in 1971, about his impressions of the man. The audio commentary by director Lasse Hallstrom and screenwriter William Wheeler is interesting and constant. They discuss what is true, embellished, or fiction, Irving's motivations, the script, the autobiography. An audio commentary by producers Leslie Holleran and Joshua D. Maurer talks about themes, the political angle, performances, what was fictionalized, and more. There is some overlap but also different historical information in the 2 commentaries. Subtitles are available for the film in English SDH, French, Spanish. Dubbing in Spanish.
Rating:  -
Just watched this movie and I must say that I enjoyed every minute of it. I had heard about it but couldn't get a real idea by the trailer if I would like it or not. I thought it was a great story and very funny. The acting and casting was also superb. I have heard some critics say that there was a lot of 'playing with the facts' but since I didn't know the facts I took it for what it was to me... entertainment.
I recommend it to everyone.
Rating: -
Clifford Irving (Fake, Trial, Final Argument, The Spring) became a sort of national hero when he contrived to publish 'The Autobiography of Howard Hughes', a 400 page phony but well researched book that, while it was never published, did cause enough of a stir among the New York publishing cognoscenti and those surrounding the then President Richard Nixon that it now is recognized as a HOAX of writing that triggered the final discovery of the Watergate Scandal and the subsequent dethroning of Nixon. Those facts alone make this sometimes rather tepid film interesting enough to sit through. Screenwriter William Wheeler has adapted Irving's book into a study of the 1970s and Lasse Hallström gives it just the right balance between soft crime and strange comedy to keep it afloat.
Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) is down on his literary luck, searching for the right kind of story that will set is publisher Andrea Tate (Hope Davis) on fire. Irving wife Edith (Marcia Gay Harden) is an active painter and doesn't give Irving the support he gets from his pal Dick Suskind (Alfred Molina), but on the messy floor of Edith's studio is a rag magazine with a cover picture of the mysterious Howard Hughes and bingo! up comes the idea for an 'autobiography' of the wizard as confided to Irving and researched by Suskind. That is really the plot then, how these two men squirm around lies and good luck to forge papers and gain the favor of the publishers. Of course it all caves in, but in the publicity about the book Nixon's secrets are revealed and the rest is history.
Gere, Molina, Harden, Davis, Stanley Tucci, Julie Delphy and Eli Wallach add immeasurably to the success of the film. No, it is not a heavy story, but the scandalous years of the 1970s are treated realistically and provide a lot of memories, both good and bad, about how we all changed in that post Vietnam time. Worth watching for that! Grady Harp, October 07
Rating: -
A struggling writer discovers that Hughes cannot appear in court to dispute a hoax because the reclusive billionaire is in a nasty dispute with TWA shareholders. So the hoax is born. Soon though, events turn raucous when the billionaire fails to appear to allegedly vouch for the autobiography, and then another hoaxed autobiography appears in print ahead of Irving's release. The mystery of who is hoaxing who surfaces when a box of scandalous files anonymously appears at the writer's home. The frenzied sensation draws the attention of darker forces in America. Apparently, someone has to know what would be included about Hughes and Nixon's brother, Donald, who had received unrepaid loans from Hughes in the 1960 campaign, and may have received more loans in 1972. Then suddenly the hoax unravels. Within within months, Nixon is re-elected, the Hughes-TWA dispute resolves, and Americans begin to learn of a third-rate burglarly called Watergate. The Hoax is an interesting chapter in American history.
Rating: -
Since anyone of A Certain Age remembers how this story turns out, I was expecting more of a documentary than a thriller. But the film does a great job of pacing, and literally races towards the unraveling of Clifford Irving's web of deception.
Richard Gere is excellent, with a smarmy self-confidence that almost explains how so many supposedly intelligent people could have fallen for what would seem to be a patently obvious hoax.
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