Let's Get Frank is the story of one of America’s most well loved and outspoken politicians. It’s also a hilarious and insightful movie about modern politics, gay life and political hypocrisy.
Filmmaker Bart Everly spent 24 months following Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of the nation’s few openly gay politicians. With unlimited access to both his professional and personal life, Everly captured Frank doing what he does best - being frank! From Capitol Hill to Fire Island, Frank’s sharp wit, outspoken views and down home understanding of politics have made him popular and respected - on both sides of the political fence. After surviving his own sex scandal, Frank became one of President Clinton’s staunchest and most effective defenders.
“LET’S GET FRANK”
BEING FRANK ABOUT BARNEY
Amos Lassen
Barney Frank has always been one of our heroes and in “Let’s Get Frank” (First Run Features” he becomes a major hero. Bart Everly’s documentary on the gay Massachusetts congressman brings out Barney Frank’s wit, humor, honesty and intelligence. It shows why people love him and trust him and why he has continued as a member of Congress since 1981. The DVD is centered on the impeachment hearings of Arkansas favorite son, William Jefferson Clinton.
As a member of the judiciary committees, Frank was the sole provider of comic relief as we all watched aghast as Clinton went through one of the most difficult periods any president has had to endure. For that reason, the media loved Frank and when they needed a scoop on the impeachment they went after him; hence the title, “Let’s Get Frank”.
Let us not forget Frank’s own scandal. It was discovered that Steve Gobie, a male hustler, had used Frank’s apartment to turn tricks. Frank survived the hoopla and feels it is his survival that allowed him to serve on the panel which judged Clinton because he had nothing left to fear. Proving him correct, two other Congressman were outed as adulterers during the hearings---Representative Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) and Georgia representative, Bob Barr.
In the film we see Frank as a left wing super-liberal, a kind of free thinking Archie Bunker. Because he is not a hot looking man, the things he says seem to be funnier than they are. Frank is extremely truthful in his mutterings and the line that blew me away was. “Most Americans are nearly as homophobic as they were brought up to think they were supposed to be.”
Although not a comedy, per se, “Let’s Get Frank” is very funny and very enjoyable. This is because we find America’s attitude toward sex to be droll indeed. It is interested to see so much sex scandal in a country=try that was built on puritanical ideals but that’s what we have. Barney Frank learned to deal with and watching this film shows us how to do the same.
