Madoff

I was so pleased to hear that the A List actor Richard Dreyfuss (American Graffiti, Jaws, and The Goodbye Girl) signed on to play the U.S.A.'s biggest investment fraudster, the Ponzi scheme master, Bernie Madoff. From the beginning of the biographical film, Richard Dreyfuss narrates the Bernie Madoff biography and he walks us through his "modus operandi" how he conned so many smart and wealthy investors starting in 1960 when his accountant father-in-law introduces a young Bernie Madoff to his own circle of clients, as well as many elderly people who entrusted Bernie Madoff with their life savings.

Bernie's method of convincing investors to continue investing with him was to tell his clients that he was prepared to immediately cut them a cheque for their entire investment plus interest but then they would not be allowed to invest with him again. Madoff had his brother, wife and sons working in his firm and as the story progresses we really are left to wonder whether or not they knew anything about the Ponzi scheme, or did they just believe in Bernie Madoff the investment guru, who was their husband, father or brother.

Also agreeing to play in this non-sanctioned autobiography film "Madoff" are Blythe Danner as Bernie's wife, Peter Scolari as Bernie's brother Peter, Michael Rispoli as the behind the scenes book fixer, Charles Grodin as Carl Shapiro, Frank Whaley as a competitive broker named Harry Markopolos who figures out Bernie's secret method which is simply a fraud. Richard Dreyfuss's real life son Ben Dreyfuss plays the younger Bernie Madoff which makes it easier to believe the evolution of Bernie Madoff over the decades.

Slowly the film peels away each layer of skin one by one, on this onion and we get to see the real Bernie Madoff as the scammer that he really is and then how the S.E.C. (Securities and Exchange Commissions) closes in on him to eventually stop the bleeding and the U.S.A.'s biggest Ponzi scheme. Since the film was originally released as a two part story and it was deluged with commercial breaks I look forward to purchasing the DVD version and watching the film the way it should be seen, without any commercial breaks.

It is an excellent film with great insight into how easily thousands of investors were scammed for decades as long as the return on investments continued to be high and as Bernie would say "we need to continue to grow and find new investors". I give the film two thumbs up. Definitely worth investing your movie viewing time in, but not your money with Bernie Madoff who will remain in prison for his 150 year sentence.

Bernie Madoff (Richard Dreyfuss) was a trusted member of Wall Street and the chairman of Nasdaq. It shocked almost everyone when he's revealed to have run a giant Ponzi scheme. His wife Ruth (Blythe Danner) is clueless to the scheme and even his extra-marital affairs. He even cheats money out of his secretary Eleanor Squillari (Erin Cummings). His brother Peter (Peter Scolari) is troubled about his role as Chief Compliance Officer. His older son Mark is angry that he's not allowed to be involved in the company investments. His younger son Andrew also works for him and gets sick. Harry Markopolos (Frank Whaley) warned the SEC over and over again about the possible fraud at Madoff to no avail.

This two part network TV mini-series 2 x 2 hours is a bit too extended. As a drama, this would work much better compressed in half. The most important moment for me is back in the '29 when a young Madoff covered his client's losses. It explained how he started and the essence of what he's about. He's a confidence man. I don't need any more reveals about Madoff. That scene is eureka to Madoff and a perfect explanation of his character. The Harry Markopolos part provides some fun tension but that also gets played out. The rest about Bernie is a bit repetitive. I do not bemoan the secretary wanting a scene showing her being taken by Madoff. However, these self-serving scenes do pile up. The middle is a bit extended. Through it all, there is Dreyfuss doing great work.

Out of all of the great TV shows, mini series and TV movies this year, this has got to be the best one this year bar none, Richard dreyfuss in one of the best performances since the goodbye girl back in the 70's, where he won a Oscar for that role, plays Bernie Madoff a man who was sentence to 150 years in prison for tax for running a Ponzi scheme, the teleplay is one of the best teleplays in recent TV history and the performances are all wonderful as always, the writing is crisp, the pacing is great and the editing is marvelous, it's a shame that he wasn't nominated for a emmy for his whole, because he should have been, nevertheless this is definitely the best TV of 2016 bar none I give it my highest rating A+

For a movie about Madoff the main thing is the story has to be linear, non confusing and thorough and this 2 part miniseries succeeds. It introduces enough characters one by one to show the major players in the scandal, how the business duped clients and how it came crashing down. It isn't too complicated so non finance people can roughly understand what happens. Madoff is made to be the narrator of the movie and it helps to make things clear. Victims, clients, whistle blowers, the SEC dropping the ball, and the perpetrators in Madoff's company are all shown. The look at what happened in Madoff's own family is quite fascinating. His wife kids brother niece are all shown to be unknowing victims. The tragic suicide of his son Mark is quite moving. Would have liked a bit more about the recovery of the stolen money at the end.

The acting is fine. With so much going on in the story the main thing is that they should resemble the real people sufficiently. Richard Dreyfuss looks enough like Madoff and his benign slightly jovial approach actually is quite right. It keeps things flowing and not too depressing. Blythe Danner is physically suited to the role of Ruth. The actors who play his sons are don't look like them much - not great casting there. The supporting cast are good too especially those who play his staff.

Will be interesting to compare to to the upcoming HBO movie with Robert DeNiro as Madoff.

There was a follow up ABC documentary with interviews called "Bernie Madoff after the fall" that aired after the end of part 2 that is worth watching.

An interesting story based on Bernie Madoff the so called wizard of Wall Street, well played by the entire cast, and informative of what people are willing to do acquiring your money, Madoff may have started out simply trying to impress his friends and family as they stated he had it all before the Ponzi affair, so either he did it and it spun out of control or he became wrapped up in the illusion of his vain wizardry, maybe both, in either case its sad people become so wrapped up and taken so easily by money, never satisfied with what they got, and need something to fill their void of unhappiness, don't pity the poor man, pity the fool, and delusional wizards, the domino effect of the fallout was a atrocity to all the victims, hopefully a lesson to save others in the Madoff's of the future.