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LET'S GET FRANK
Produced & Directed by: Bart Everly.
Edited by: David Dawkins.
Music by: The Angel.
Released by: First Run.
Country of Origin: USA. 75 min. Not Rated.
DVD Features: 2006 Interview with Barney Frank. Filmmaker bios. Trailers.

Most laudable about this 2003 look at the political career of Democratic U.S. Representative Barney Frank is its footage from the Congressional impeachment hearings of Bill Clinton (whom Frank almost worshipfully supported). The array of videotaped testimony interspersed within the narrative of the life and work of Frank, one of the first openly gay congressmen, at times almost places Let’s Get Frank in the territory of Emile de Antonio’s Point of Order, the standard-setting (if somewhat manipulative) 1964 documentary of the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings – scenes of which have become associated with the reckless persecution of that era. Indeed, one feels that if Frank had concentrated on the Republicans’ political machinations, it would have been much more effective, possibly similarly penetrating the cultural lexicon.

While entertaining, it focuses on a public official whose entrance into the social consciousness is currently nowhere near as influential as Senator Joe McCarthy’s would become (alas). Seemingly made for niches (policy-wonks and the gay community), those respective crowds would already know much of the material. Not that the documentary doesn’t have its moments, including the recounting of Frank’s joke to Tipper Gore about how, if her husband won the presidency, gays would get dressed in drag as her. Also, there are great shots of Frank’s mother (she has since passed away), whose subtle pin-up model pose on a couch makes her seem every bit as flamboyantly intense as her son. Additionally, Frank is hilarious outwitting his adversaries, especially during his merciless skewering of special prosecutor Ken Starr during the latter’s testimony.

Nevertheless, while it does not shy away from Frank’s own 1990 escort scandal and his short-fused temper, director Bart Everly fails to properly press him about such issues, not really prying into Frank’s experience as an initially closeted gay man in government, and not exploring how Frank feels about the process of compromising one’s own values, or those of his constituents, in order to win elections, when Frank discusses Senator Trent Lott’s position on gay rights. All in all, though Frank comes off as an undeniably great civil rights advocate, it’s a bit iffy as to whether Let’s Get Frank is entirely worth voting for.

DVD Extras: The sole significant feature is the June 2006 interview. Among the more thought-provoking topics Frank opines on is the disparity between how much George W. Bush has been allowed to get away with, as compared to what he feels Republicans would do to Clinton under similar circumstances. He feels the former president’s impeachment was, in the long run, strategically unsound, as was proven by the 1998 midterm election results. Interestingly, Frank feels national security has gone from being a Republican strength to being a weakness in the wake of the ongoing Iraqi war and the global war on terrorism. More personally, Frank is no longer with Sergio, with whom he was in a relationship during the film’s making. Reymond Levy
September 19, 2006