Hoffa (film)

Hoffa is a 1992 American biographical crime film directed by Danny DeVito and written by David Mamet, based on the life of Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa. Most of the story is told in flashbacks before ending with Hoffa's mysterious disappearance. Jack Nicholson plays Hoffa, and DeVito plays Robert Ciaro, an amalgamation of several Hoffa associates over the years. The film features John C. Reilly, Robert Prosky, Kevin Anderson, Armand Assante, and J. T. Walsh in supporting roles. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox and released on December 25, 1992. The film received mixed reviews and grossed just $29 million against its $35 million budget.

Hoffa
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDanny DeVito
Produced by
Written byDavid Mamet
Starring
Music byDavid Newman
CinematographyStephen H. Burum
Edited byRobert C. Jones
Production
company
20th Century Fox
Jersey Films
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • December 25, 1992 (1992-12-25)
Running time
140 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35 million[1]
Box office$29.3 million[2]

Plot

On July 30, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa and his longtime friend Bobby Ciaro are impatiently waiting in the parking lot of a roadhouse diner. The film moves in vignettes from Hoffa's early years, when Hoffa was a Teamsters union organizer working for the various trucking firms and laundries around Detroit, Michigan. Hoffa's life since 1935, when still young, over the four preceding decades gradually unfolds. Approaching a parked truck, inside of which driver Ciaro is taking a nap, Hoffa pitches the benefits of joining the Teamsters and gives Ciaro a business card, on which he has written: "Give this man whatever he needs." A few days later Ciaro reports to work to find Hoffa attempting to organize the workers there to join the Union. Hoffa blurts out they'd ridden 85 miles together, and Ciaro is fired. He later accosts Hoffa with a knife, but Hoffa's associate Billy Flynn pulls a gun on Ciaro, who drops the knife. Ciaro joins the pair in the arson of a laundry whose owner refuses to cooperate with the Teamsters. The arson gets out of control, severely burning Flynn, who dies. He is succeeded by Ciaro as Hoffa's right-hand man.

During a Teamsters strike, escaping a fight with non-union workers and police, Hoffa is taken to a local Mafia boss, with the Italian-American Ciaro acting as translator. An alliance between the Teamsters and the mob is thereby formed, and a close relations between Hoffa and Carol D'Allesandro. Hoffa rises to the presidency of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. His illegal activities include the use of Teamster funds to make loans to the mob. At a Congressional hearing, Hoffa is questioned by Robert F. Kennedy regarding his suspicious union activities. Kennedy and Hoffa engage in a loud and bitter feud, especially after John F. Kennedy is elected President and Bobby becomes Attorney General.

Hoffa, on a hunting trip with D'Allesandro, discusses ways to exploit the union's pension fund. Having no paper with them, the plans are sketched on the back of a hunting license. Subsequently, Hoffa is betrayed by a junior associate, Peter Connelly, who testifies at Hoffa's trial. The critical evidence against Hoffa is the hunting license on which the plans to raid the Teamster's pension fund were written. Hoffa surrenders to federal officials and serves time in a Pennsylvania federal prison while Connelly's uncle, Frank Fitzsimmons, takes over as Teamsters boss. Ciaro, also convicted and imprisoned, is freed and immediately begins working for Hoffa's release. D'Allesandro suggests that the Teamsters endorse Richard M. Nixon for President, so that in exchange for Teamster endorsement, Hoffa will receive a presidential pardon.

Hoffa is released from prison and expects to again run the Teamsters, but learns that one of the conditions of his release is that he is ineligible to run the union for 10 years. Hoffa meets with D'Allesandro and demands to the gangster that Fitzsimmons be killed, which resulted in someone wiring Fitz's car to explode. D'Allesandro believes that Hoffa is "too hot" and says, "I can't get close to it." Hoffa leaves with the matter unresolved.

Ciaro delivers a message to D'Allesandro that unless the matter of Fitzsimmons be settled, Hoffa will go to the press. D'Allesandro says to assure Hoffa that "everything is gonna be all right", and tell him that they will all meet tomorrow at "the roadhouse", a remote diner.

Hoffa and Ciaro spend several hours waiting in the diner's parking lot, but D'Allesandro never arrives. A union driver has been waiting for hours in the dining room, allegedly for a part for his truck, engaging in a chat with Ciaro who offered him to meet Hoffa while bringing a cup of coffee to his car. The driver is revealed to be a hit man who guns down both Hoffa and Ciaro. Just exactly who hired his services is not revealed, however, the implication is that he was sent by D'Allesandro in retaliation for Hoffa's threat to 'go to the press'. Barely a minute later however, two men arrive to dump both bodies one on top the other the car's back seat and haul it onto a large truck that arrives to clear the deadly site, then drives off into the sunset.

Cast

Reception

Box office

The film was released on Christmas Day 1992, in 1,066 theaters. It debuted at no. 5 at the US box office.[3] making $6.4 million in its opening weekend. In its second weekend, it dropped at #6 and grossed $4.8 million. It went on to gross $24.2 million in the U.S. and $5 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $29.3 million.[2]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 52% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 5.46/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Jack Nicholson embodies Hoffa with malevolent relish, but a dearth of meaningful insight knocks this crime epic off the mark by a nose."[4] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 50 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[6]

Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5/4 stars and wrote, "Here is a movie that finds the right look and tone for its material. Not many directors would have been confident enough to simply show us Jimmy Hoffa instead of telling us all about him. This is a movie that makes its points between the lines, in what is not said. It's not so much about what happened to Jimmy Hoffa, as about the fact that something eventually would."[7] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also gave the film 3.5/4 stars and said, "In the more ambitious Hoffa, Nicholson plays the Detroit street fighter who rose from the ranks of trucker and labor organizer to build the Teamsters into the nation's most powerful union. The boldness of director Danny DeVito's violent epic is matched by Nicholson's astonishing physical and vocal transformation into Jimmy Hoffa. The changeover might constrict another actor. Not Nicholson."[8] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote: "Hoffa is an original work of fiction, based on fact, conceived with imagination and a consistent point of view." Canby notes that the film has "a bitterly skeptical edge that is rare in American movies. It forces viewers to make up their own minds, something that can be immensely disorienting as well as rewarding."[9] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "It is a laconic, enigmatic piece of work, displaying the grace with spoken language that marked "Glengarry Glen Ross" but troublesome in terms of structure and character development."[10]

Alex von Tunzelmann of The Guardian gave the film a grade of C–, saying: "The film attempts a cautious middle route between celebrating Hoffa as a working-class hero and condemning him as a gangster. But despite a watchable performance from Nicholson, after more than two hours of screentime, Jimmy Hoffa remains an enigma."[11]

Accolades

Hoffa earned two Oscar nominations for Cinematography and Makeup. Nicholson's performance sharply divided critics, with the actor receiving both a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor and a Razzie nomination for Worst Actor. DeVito also received a Razzie nomination for Worst Director. Ultimately, none of the nominated awards were won. The film was also nominated for the Golden Bear at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival.[12]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

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References
  1. "Hoffa". The Numbers.
  2. "Hoffa (1992)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  3. Fox, David J. (1992-12-28). "Christmas Crowd Opts for the Tried and True : Box office: Holiday weekend sees expected surge in moviegoing with established hits selling most of the tickets". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
  4. "Hoffa (1992)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  5. "Hoffa reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  6. "Cinemascore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  7. Ebert, Roger (1992-12-25). "Hoffa review". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
  8. Travers, Peter (1992-12-25). "Hoffa". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
  9. Canby, Vincent (1992-12-25). "Review/Film; Big Labor's Master Of Manipulation". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-06-16. Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  10. Turan, Kenneth (1992-12-25). "MOVIE REVIEWS : 'Hoffa': Negotiating a Complex Life : Saga of Teamsters Leader Is Dark, Sinister, Brooding". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
  11. "Hoffa: DeVito shouldn't have hassled the Hoff". The Guardian. 2010-03-11. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
  12. "Berlinale: 1993 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-05-31.
  13. "AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores Nominees" (PDF). AFI. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
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