Before entire networks were built on populist personalities; before reality morphed into a TV genre; the masses fixated on a single, sociopathic star: controversial talk-show host Morton Downey, Jr. In the late ‘80s, Downey tore apart the traditional talk format by turning debate of current issues into a gladiator pit. His blow-smoke-in-your-face style drew a rabid cult following, but also the title “Father of Trash Television.” ÉVOCATEUR: THE MORTON DOWNEY JR. MOVIE , screening at Springville Center for the Arts on Thursday, September 5 at 8pm, with Director Daniel Miller in attendance, dissects the mind and motivation of television’s most notorious agitator.
Lower the safety bar for a rollercoaster ride through Downey’s euphoric ascent to fame and nauseating plummet to infamy. ÉVOCATEUR features interviews with Herman Cain, Pat Buchanan, Chris Elliott, Gloria Allred, Sally Jessy Raphael, Alan Dershowitz, Curtis Sliwa, and Richard Bey. Never-before-seen footage reveals Downey’s behind-the-scenes fistfights and foibles. Animation recreates the legends of Downey that bounce between executive nightmare and schoolboy fantasy.
ÉVOCATEUR also features an exclusive interview with Steven Pagones, the white assistant district attorney accused in 1988 of raping black teenager Tawana Brawley. Brawley advocate Al Sharpton refused to be interviewed for ÉVOCATEUR, but there is shocking footage of him taped during a Morton Downey Jr.
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Directors Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, and Jeremy Newberger of Ironbound Films were rabid and now recovering Mort fans. They directed the critically acclaimed, Emmy-nominated documentaries The New Recruits and The Linguists, which premiered at Sundance. ÉVOCATEUR premiered at Tribeca. Miller will present the film and answer questions about the production and subject.
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