Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie (2013)

When CNN advertised that they were showing this film, I was very interested and excited. I was in my late 20's when this show was aired, and thought it was terrible, but watched parts of a number of shows, as it was like watching a train wreck. Still, since Mort was so out-of-control, I thought this would make a fun and interesting documentary to watch. Uh-uh. About half way through, I was bored, although I continued to watch it until the end. At 90 minutes, the movie was way too long, and would have worked more effectively as a one hour show on HBO, or even CNN for that matter. There were weird animation scenes, and weird flashbacks, particularly of his father, who was a famous singer of an earlier era. In short, I didn't think it was possible to have an uninteresting, uninspired documentary on Morton Downey Jr., but guess what? That's what the filmmakers did.

Actually, the storyline was about what you'd expect, told in an interesting manner. Each narrator had conflicting thoughts about this tortured man.The MDJ talk/insult show was a precursor to the brawls of today's reality shows. Downey also paved the way for the uncivilized anti-PC campaign of the 2000s. It was interesting to see Rev. Al Sharpton and Ron Paul making spectacles of themselves. What did they expect to happen? Or maybe that was the point. It is a fast track to celebrity status.I unexpectedly enjoyed the narrative of Pat Buchanan, especially his characterization of the Tea Party members. If you like documentaries, television, or reality TV, this is a good one to see.

Like the other reviewer, I had never heard of this guy's show until this doc. I'd heard the name, but didn't know what it was associated with. Having seen this I can only say I wish it had more insights into WHY he's the man he is. It comes across as more summary than commentary, and that's always a shame to see in a documentary.He didn't innovate anything, as we find out that they were just copying the format of an old 1960s show, so no points for him there either. With that gone Downey Jr is just another angry middle aged man ranting on TV against people who can't actually change anything anyway. Just like it still is, it was all about the ratings more than the content.All in all, an entertaining movie for a mere budget of $300k, but could have been so much more...

I had never heard of Morton Downey Jr. before this documentary, having been in diapers when it was on the air, and from the impression this documentary gave, I'm glad I was. Downey's show pre-dated the Jerry Springer madhouse-style talkshows that are fairly ubiquitous now and were absolutely huge in the mid-90's. Morton Downey's show only lasted a few years and was before the cusp of that type of T.V. becoming popular, it was well ahead of it's time.One of the interviewees in the movie mentions, I think accurately, that it was America's first taste of the blatant rudeness and confrontation that reality TV shows like The Real Housewives of ( ) have on them. The documentary itself has a bizarre, strange tone to it, critical of Downey, who was a polarizing figure, but not entirely hateful or against him. At points, it's view is like I mentioned, critical, but at others it's almost pitying, sympathetic, with interesting animated segments scattered throughout. I suppose the pity sensation was the one I felt the most after the piece ended, he was a man who struggled with many parts of himself but also did make something, whether that something was bad or good, of himself. So if you can manage to be entertained by watching train/car wreck style stories (even though this is far from the worst of that type I've ever seen) and you're interested in the history and progenitors of a section of our current media culture, I would say that Evocateur is worth your time, but not quite a must see.