The Hoax

Miramax Films

Alfred Molina and Richard Gere in “The Hoax.”

‘Hoax’ looks at Clifford Irving swindle

“The Hoax” takes place in 1971.
I suspect with all of the makeup and hair dye, lead Richard Gere looks in this film about the way he really did in that year.
Well, maybe not quite. Gere is 58 today. He was 22 in 1971.
But that’s the first thing that strikes you about “The Hoax.”
Gere does a fine job in the part, but couldn’t they have found a younger actor to play questionable writer Clifford Irving?
The film is directed by Lasse Hallstrom, best known for “Mitt liv som hund” (”My Life as a Dog”), “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and “The Cider House Rules.”
Irving was a slack writer who thought he had the perfect book. The people at Time-Life assured him he had a hit. He went out and bought his wife a new car.
Then the ax fell. He’s told a company bigwig didn’t like it. But if he had another book idea, the company would consider it.
It’s then that Irving hatched the idea of faking an authorized biography of billionaire recluse Howard Hughes.
Hughes, who made his money in aeronautics, had not been seen in years.
Marcia Gay Harden plays his beleagured wife, who has the talent of copying Hughes’ handwriting. She’s so good that when Clifford Irving presents his idea to his publishers, they take the hand-written note ‘authorizing’ the autobiography to have it analyzed. The experts come back and say its is genuine!
Alfred Molina, who started his career as a fatality in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” plays Irving’s friend, Dick Suskind. Suskind is brought kicking and screaming into the hoax.
He carries classified materials about Hughes out of a federal building in his pants, pulling it off even after being searched.
At one point, Irving and Suskind visit a former Hughes aide, who has written his own book about his former employer. The Irving character agrees to read the manuscript in the man’s living room while he is taking a swim. Instead, Suskind dashes to the local drug store to make copies.
Irving quickly tells the man the manuscript is no good and they run out with their copy.
A lot of the hoax is skin-of-the-teeth scenes like this where the pair dig up enough Hughes information to make their story sound plausible.
In one instance, Irving negotiates for a $1 million advance, having convinced the publisher he indeed speaks for Hughes. But then it hits him, how is he going to cash a check for $1 million under the name Howard Hughes?
The answer is yet another elaborate scheme, this one with his wife, who suspects rightly he is having an affair. She is sent to Switzerland to cash the check under “Helga R. Hughes.”
Irving is able to convince people he knows Hughes because after reading so much about Hughes, he starts recording Hughes-like statements, using the billionaire’s staccatto voice.
Gere does a nice job playing Irving, as does Molina as his friend. The storyline keeps twisting and turning, manipulating us with every curve.
One interesting aspect the movie points out deals with Richard Nixon. It was rumored Nixon, through his brother Donald, accepted bribes from Hughes in the 1950s. Nixon was so paranoied the Irving book was true, it lead to the break-in at the Democratic headquarters at Watergate.
The film has a banner ending, if only because it includes nearly the entire song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones. Yes, Irving’s world crashes around him.
It’s a fun film that will keep you thinking.
“Hoax” works on many levels.

THE HOAX
• Directred by Lasse Hallstrom
• Runtime 116 minutes
• Released by Miramax
• Rated R
• 3 1/2 stars
This appeared in WEEKENDER March 7, 2008