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August 12, 2005

Providence turns out for Buddy movie

The premiere of Buddy, Providence native Cherry Arnold's documentary on the city's former, now incarcerated, mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., may have been the event of the year. The buzz, the sense of anticipation in the Columbus Theatre on Broadway, rivaled any Hollywood gala, but nobody dressed up.

We had bought tickets in advance at ArtTixRI.com, and yesterday morning I received an email from ArtTix operations manager Richard DeFlumeri warning,

Response to this film has been exceptional and in the interest of helping to provide you with the best experience possible, it is suggested that you leave plenty of time to secure parking and easy entrance into the Columbus Theatre.

He wasn't kidding. Driving up Broadway shortly before 6:30, we were in a traffic jam. Lines stretched in both directions from the theater marquee. The driver dropped us off and went to park. I said, "We'll be in the line on the right."

Fortunately, that turned out to be the line for people who already had tickets. Familiar faces were everywhere -- or Providence faces that looked familiar, even if they belonged to strangers. That line hosted lots of sidewalk reunions last night.

Chris Nocera, whom I hadn't seen in a decade, walked by. Chris worked for the mayor at one time, but I knew him from the old neighborhood. His family's Nocera's Market, kitty-corner from LaSalle Academy on Smith Street, is among my earliest memories. (LaSalle Bakery occupies the space now, but Nocera's Liquors is still just a block away towards downtown.)

Jean Mollicone, with whom I went to high school, was about to introduce me to her husband but decided she'd better grab a place at the end of the line instead.

Harry Bilodeau, who shared my love of the old Met Cafe and manages apartments, including one near Wayland Square that housed my two white-gloved, blue-haired aunts for 40 years, stopped on his way to the end of the line.

Julia, who'd worked at Amara's Restaurant on Wickenden Street back in the early '80s, joined the folks just in front of us in line. She had last seen my daughter as a 6-year-old, 23 years ago.

Sheila Bentley, Buddy's ex-wife, arrived without fanfare and joined the line. She later sat on the aisle a few rows ahead of us.

Eventually, almost a half-hour after the movie's scheduled start time, the remarkably festive line began to move forward. Festival staffers came by explaining that they were letting in 20 people at a time, and we were to smile for the camera as we went by it. By the time we got to the front of the line, somebody must have decided this was slowing things down too much, or that enough people had been photographed. The line poured through without stopping.

We found seats and waited. And waited. There were two false starts when festival staffers took the stage and spoke into dead mikes to ask us to raise our hands if there were empty seats next to us. "Four hundred people are in line outside," the first one said. There was a palpable buzz, an excitement that turned unruly. We clapped, stomped our feet: Bring it on.

By the time the second staffer took the stage with the same announcement, the anticipation turned to groans, and shouts of "Start the film" arose. Fortunately, filmmaker Arnold took the mike and apologized for making us wait, which defused the crowd's impatience.

The movie began at 7:51 p.m., according to my husband's cell phone.

The power of primary sources drives this film. Told chronologically, largely through old footage and news clippings, Buddy's story proceeds through the years. To Arnold's credit, she included grainy, out-of-focus footage when its news value trumped its lack of quality. Sometimes, as in the arrival of Mayor and Mrs. Cianci to an inaugural gala, the blurry footage aptly turns it into a dream sequence.

The narration by actor James Woods, a Warwick native, is wonderfully unobtrusive.

The film's Greek chorus comprises familiar media spokesfolk -- my colleague Scott MacKay, interviewed in our newsroom; Providence Phoenix Phillipe & Jorge columnist Rudy Cheeks, in his kitchen with a big cigar; Brown professors Darrell West and Jim Morone, URI professor Maureen Moakley and Channel 10's Jim Taricani.

Portions of the tape showing Providence businessman Antonio Freitas, wired by the FBI, giving a bribe to Buddy's top aide and chief fundraiser, Frank Corrente, in City Hall were shown; this was the tape Taricani broadcast in 2002, in defiance of Judge Ronald R. Lagueux's court order, that earned him a sentence of six months home confinement when he refused to reveal who gave it to him.

There are many priceless moments -- Cianci speaking at the 1976 Republican convention, and sitting with President Gerald Ford (who would lose that year to Democrat Jimmy Carter). Ford's plaid suit drew guffaws last night.

At another point, Cianci asks a staffer who is marrying a woman 16 years older if he's marrying for love. The staffer says, of course, what other reason is there. Buddy pauses, and says philosophically, "There's lot of other reasons."

Arnold, who hopes for national distribution of the movie, walks a line here between pleasing us who lived through it all and those who may only have seen Buddy on Don Imus -- a cameo moment in the film -- or through the eyes of 60 Minutes. Will it play in Peoria? It's a helluva story, a straightforward history told through primary sources, of charisma and hubris, of a man who thought he could be mayor for life and crushed all opponents like a jealous lover. Ruthlessness and optimism, boosterism and cronyism are all documented. Cianci emerges as a man with thousands of fans but few friends.

The film ends outside the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix, N.J., in the snow in December 2002, as Buddy began serving a 64-month sentence after being convicted on a single charge of racketeering conspiracy.

The last shot should have been a photo from prison. Instead, Buddy ends with a title screen noting that local TV stations were competing for Cianci's services as a talk-show host on his release.

Arnold has about 100 hours of footage. We saw only 88 minutes last night. I hope she'll eventually release the rest on the Web.

Catch Buddy if you can.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 1:25 PM | Permalink

Comments

well, living in Florida, I hope BUDDY does get some national distribution...I, too, want to see it!

Posted by: susan mills on August 13, 2005 8:22 AM

Susan, does your interest stem from having R.I ties, or does Buddy just sound like a good movie to you?

Posted by: Sheila Lennon on August 13, 2005 2:23 PM

Being a Rhode Island native and now residing in Tampa FL, I gotta say I miss hearing the storys about "buddy" and seeing him on the news. and I dont meen that in a bad way.. Providence is only the it is now because of buddy and all his supporters. Growing up in Silver Lake going downtown was all we had.. And buddy made downtown the place to be.... It was a pleasure and honor to live and grow up in "THE BUDDY ERA".. we love ya buddy,,, p.s. wish i was there to see the film.... & can I get it on DVD?

Posted by: Jim Paliotti on August 13, 2005 6:29 PM

I, too, am a former Rhode Islander living in Florida. I hope this movie makes it down here. When I get homesick, I read Mike Stanton's book, "The Prince of Providence." It works every time.

Posted by: Mike Hart on August 13, 2005 9:04 PM

How long is it running? I'll come down from Swampscott, MA for this one.

Posted by: Anthony Amore on August 14, 2005 8:18 AM

I,also am a former Rhode Islander living in Florida. When I left Providence I was ashamed of the city I grew up in. When people asked me where I was from I would say, New England. Thanks to Buddy by the late 80's early 90's I was proud to say I was from PROVIDENCE. During one of my trips back to Providence I remember a very special opening of the Fleet Ice Skating Center. That night I stood in the cold to watch
the Mayor speak of the children and adults that could enjoy this beautiful addition to Providence. A tear came from my eye, expressing my feelings of joy for being raised in Providence, Thanks to Buddy Cianci. No person loves Providence more than Buddy. The residents of Providence should erect a statue of Buddy in
the city center. I will always be proud to say, I am a Friend of Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci.

Posted by: Larry Folgo on August 14, 2005 10:18 AM

"I am Providence" defines Buddy more than H.P. Lovecraft, who has it etched on his grave at Swan Point. The movie wouldn't be nearly so interesting if didn't document how he chose to use his nearly unlimited power.

We all have our Buddy stories, and those aren't in this film. I'd love to collect them.

Larry, Jim, the film uses lots of documentary footage and first-person, on-the-record anecdotes. It clearly praises Buddy's political skills, vision, dedication to Providence and the improvements in the city.

But it's not a campaign film, a puff piece. One businessman says a City Hall bribe of $5,000 trimmed $80,000 off his taxes over five years. If you lived here then, you may have paid his share.

A developer who had a disagreement with the mayor was told he'd better make up with him -- Buddy was using his power to have the police investigate him and ordered city departments to end all projects with him.

As FBI agent Dennis Aiken says in the film, "Did the city look nice? Yes. But do you have faith in your government? No." Afterwards, he told the Journal's Liz Gudrais, "The whole Buddy saga is a sad saga. He's an interesting character with a lot of talent but a lot of problems."

And some of the problems are shown or hinted at, too. I hope you all do get to see it.

Anthony, it's not playing anywhere yet. It was shown as part of the annual R.I. International Film Festival. I'm not aware of any more screenings unless it gets a distribution deal. So any DVD or theatre showings would come later.

Posted by: Sheila Lennon on August 14, 2005 11:07 AM

As a former Rhode Islander who lived many years in Providence I enjoyed reading the review of the article on the movie "Providence turns out for Buddy". It brought back memories of my youth. Hopefully the movie will be run nationally either on TV or in the movie houses.

So much of the media coverage was negative over recent years. My memory of Buddy is very positive. He did much to improve Providence by orchestrating the urban renewal of the lower East Side, Downtown and Federal Hill areas of the city as well as other sections of the City.

Cianci was also a catalyst for the changes now ongoing in Hartford. The mayor of Hartford emulated the changes Buddy enabled in Providence. In fact, both mayors met and shared ideas prior to the start of the Hartford renewal.
Like Providence, Hartford has a waterfront that was quite blighted and now supports recreational and entertainment events.

Most important to me was the support he provided to the senior citizens of Providence and all of the surrounding towns. Buddy always appeared at the senior events and provided support to the different centers and events. My late mother, Amelia Pina, and many of the others in her age group "Loved" Buddy because he made them feel special by attending their events. He was always there for them. They cheered when he made his appearance. He walked around and acknowledged them. He had a way of lifting up their self esteem. It was very important to them. They are an often ignored group of citizens in modern sociaty. There was no political gain to Buddy in doing this in the surrounding towns. These were not in his constituancy and could not vote for him. He just loved them. Many of them had grown up in Providence and had known his family.
He connected with the seniors in a way that no other politician of that era did.

It is too bad he negated his good deeds.

Posted by: CJ on August 15, 2005 4:41 AM