 | |
List Price: $9.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 14257
Released: January 27, 2004 |
| Our Price: $4.41 |
| Used Price: $3.63 |
|
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
Screenwriter David Mamet's script combines real people with fictional characters in an attempt to portray the important people in Jimmy Hoffa's life. Danny DeVito's and Armand Assante's characters are actually composites of numerous Hoffa associates.
Director/co-star Danny DeVito's unforgettable epic stars Jack Nicholson as Jimmy Hoffa, the legendary Teamster boss whose mysterious disappearance has never been explained. The film traces Hoffa's passionate struggle to shape the nation's most influential labor union, his relationship with the Mob, and his subsequent conviction and prison term at the hand of Robert Kennedy.
Description of Hoffa:
A titanic performance by Jack Nicholson powers this fact-and-fiction biography of Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa. From the opening moment--Hoffa sitting alone in the back of a car--Nicholson's performance is one of his best, and a rare role as a historical person. The sweeping all-American story of a common worker who reaches the highest pinnacle in the world's most powerful union is sweepingly told with wondrous detail, in wardrobe, sets, and trucks. The better-documented facts of Hoffa's life, including his struggle against Attorney General Bobby Kennedy (Kevin Anderson), supply the backbone of the story. But the hope of what the Teamsters are to the American Dream is what makes the film glow (swept along by David Newman's score). The screenplay by David Mamet takes two wild and entertaining divergences from fact. The first is the character of Hoffa's ubiquitous sidekick Bobby Ciaro, played by the film's director, Danny DeVito. It's a fictitious role, a composite character that allows the story to be clearly told, as does the second--Mamet's explanation of Hoffa's famous disappearance. --Doug Thomas
Hoffa Reviews:
Hoffa vs The Mafia 
2009-10-28 - The one man that told the Mafia to go screw off, then a little after was never seen again.
I give this movie a 4 of 5 stars.
"Cue the Short Gangster!" 
2009-10-13 - It's important in watching this movie to ignore the fact that Danny DiVito plays a gangster. ...
Any gangster, whether a real one or a Hollywood gangster, would double-over with laughter were they to see a fellow gangster not just as *short* as Danny DiVito but as comically-built as Danny DiVito.
There's a scene where Danny DiVito roughs up a nightclub owner -- twice his size. ... Is this what's meant by the audience "suspending its belief"?
Danny DiVito is about as scary as a gangster as my Aunt Tillie is wearing a Dracula mask.
As for the movie, Danny and Company take a decidedly sympathetic attitude toward Jimmy Hoffa. Never mind the sort of fellow James R. was: HE HAD POWER! ... And he was fairly short.
What more could our boy Danny want in a hero?
ROMANTICIZED NICHOLSON VEHICLE 
2009-01-10 - Hoffa is a 1992 biographical film based on the life and mysterious death of Teamsters Union leader Jimmy Hoffa. Although it chronicles Hoffa's early years in Michigan to his leadership in New York City and Washington, D.C. and his death in a Detroit suburb, almost all of the film was shot in and around Pittsburgh with the city's landmarks (such as Gateway Center in the "Idlewild Airport" scene) serving as backdrops for the various locales in the film. WHAT TROUBLES ME ABOUT THE MOVIE IS THE DETOUR TO FICTION. THEY SHOULD HAVE KEPT IT AS AUTHENTIC AS IS POSSIBLE. Jack Nicholson plays James R. "Jimmy" Hoffa, with Danny DeVito playing Robert "Bobby" Ciaro as well as directing the movie. The Ciaro character was actually an amalgamation of several Hoffa associates over the years. The film also stars John C. Reilly, Robert Prosky, Kevin Anderson, Armand Assante, and J. T. Walsh. The screenplay is written by David Mamet. The original music score is composed by David Newman. The film is marketed with the tagline "The man who was willing to pay the price for power."
The movie has an R rating, due to violence and strong language
Just a Note/not a review
2008-04-10 - This DVD version differs at least in one respect to the theatrical release....it deletes the scene where Hoffa is in prison and there is a discussion on the assisination of Kennedy..tho not blatant, the discussion seemed to implicate Hoffa and the Mob...and its odd that in the DVD added material following the movie there is a section title "excised scenes", but it does not mention this one....must have been some litigation involved....(not that the deleted scene detracts from the overall plot)...This movie deserved more critical acclaim..it was visually stunning and told a good story about a man who didn't fit your Hollywood stereotypes...
Hoffa revie
2008-04-09 - a great movie depicting the trial and tribulations of the working man, while being used by his employers, and ultimately used by the union heads in their quest for power.
