ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

Clifford Irving believed that he was destined for greatness. Burdened with delusions of grandeur, he decided that there was no need for trivial matters like truth and ethics to impede his pursuit of glory. The story of his amazing rise and fall is the basis of The Hoax, an engaging, well-paced yarn in which Richard Gere gives one of the best performances of his thirty year career.

Desperate to impress publishers who had shown little previous enthusiasm for his work, Irving (Gere) decided to make them sit up and take notice. He claimed to have won the trust of Howard Hughes and was now collaborating with the reclusive billionaire on his explosive, tell all memoirs. The price for the book of the century was an advance of one million dollars. Hughes had not been seen in public for twelve years and was known to be eccentric. The claim was so flagrantly outrageous that everyone assumed it was true. Delivering the goods sent Irving and reluctant associate Dick Susskind (Alfred Molina) on an epic journey of skullduggery in which they managed to fool most of the people most of the time.

Told with a great deal of pace and confidence, The Hoax is a great yarn and Gere uses his arrogant con man charm to convincing effect. It is a commanding performance with enough vulnerability to make Irving seem as flawed and tragic as a figure from Shakespeare. There are constant references to President Nixon and his faltering relationship with reality as America lurched towards the crisis of Watergate. In some way Irving is symptomatic of a nation that had lost its innocence and that adds a further dimension to a well-acted, thoroughly absorbing recreation of true events.

Nationwide release
© Allan Hunter, 2007

Director: Lasse Halstrom
Stars: Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, Stanley Tucci, Eli Wallach,
Screenwriters: William Wheeler from the book by Clifford Irving
Certificate: 15
Running time: 115mins
Country: USA
Year: 2006