Hoffa (film)

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" police pullover scene, and the Mellon Institute depicting government buildings) serving as backdrops for the various locales in the film.

Jack Nicholson plays James R. "Jimmy" Hoffa, and Danny DeVito, who directed the movie, plays Hoffa's longtime friend Robert "Bobby" Ciaro. The Ciaro character is 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 (the expletive "fuck" is used exactly 153 times).

Plot summary

Most of the story is told as a series of flashbacks, starting with Hoffa first meeting Ciaro and ending with one version of Hoffa's mysterious disappearance.

At the beginning of the movie, Ciaro is impatiently waiting in the parking lot of a diner in 1975. He then gets into the back seat of a car, where Hoffa is seated. The pair have been waiting for others to arrive for a meeting. Ciaro asks Hoffa if he wants to leave, since the time set for the meeting has long since passed. Hoffa gives Ciaro a scornful glance, indicating he prefers to wait a bit longer. The first flashback to 1935 then occurs:

A young Jimmy Hoffa gets out of his car and approaches a parked truck, inside of which driver Ciaro is taking a nap. Hoffa wakes Ciaro and insists that he give him a ride while he talks to Ciaro about the benefits of joining the Teamsters. Hoffa later gets out at a truck stop after giving Ciaro his business card, upon the back of which he had written "Give this man whatever he needs." A few days later, Ciaro reports to work to find Hoffa attempting to organize the workers. When Ciaro's boss overhears that Hoffa rode with him, Ciaro is fired. Ciaro later accosts Hoffa with a knife, but is persuaded at gunpoint by Hoffa's associate Billy Flynn not to kill Hoffa. Ciaro agrees, then joins the pair in the arson bombing of a laundry whose owner has refused to cooperate with the Teamsters. Flynn is badly burned in the explosion; later, Hoffa and Ciaro both claim to the police that Flynn was injured while trying to save the life of someone in the laundry while it was burning. Flynn dies a few moments later, and a transformed Ciaro soon becomes Hoffa's lifelong friend and business associate.

The movie shifts back to Hoffa and Ciaro waiting in the car. They talk for a few moments about the old days when the two first met. Another flashback then takes the viewer to a Teamsters strike of long ago. While the strikers are fighting with non-union workers and the police, Hoffa is taken by a pair of mobsters to meet with the local Mafia boss. Ciaro, who speaks Italian, accompanies the group. At the meeting, the first alliance between the Teamsters and the mob is formed. At this gathering, Hoffa meets the young mobster Carol ("Dally") D'Allesandro, who would become his mob ally until Hoffa's disappearance many years later.

The rest of the movie deals with the rise of Jimmy Hoffa to the Presidency of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The story examines Hoffa's illegal activities, including his use of Teamster funds to provide loans to the mob. Also included is a Congressional hearing, in which Hoffa is questioned by future Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy regarding his many suspicious union activities (many of the lines used in this hearing re-enactment were taken directly from official transcripts of the event). During the hearing, the tension between Kennedy and Hoffa is well depicted. Over time, their relations decline even further, especially after Robert Kennedy's brother John F. Kennedy is elected President and Robert becomes Attorney General. The poor relationship between the two culminates in an obscenity-laden shouting match in the Attorney General's office.

The movie continues with Hoffa's conviction and his surrender to Federal officials outside the Roman columns of what is actually the Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh. Hoffa's subsequent time in a Pennsylvania federal prison is also briefly shown. Ciaro, also convicted and imprisoned, is freed before Hoffa and immediately begins working for his boss's release. At a meeting between Ciaro and D'Allesandro, the mobster suggests that the Teamsters endorse Richard M. Nixon for President, with the idea that if Nixon wins, a friendly administration official will arrange for Hoffa's release. The movie then shows Hoffa's release, followed by his explosive anger when he learns that he is forbidden to participate in union activities for ten years. D'Allesandro suggests to Ciaro that they, and Hoffa, meet at a local diner. This brings the movie back to its beginning in the diner's parking lot.

The film ends by showing one possible explanation for Hoffa's disappearance. The book Hoffa was reading at the end of the film is The Enemy Within: The McClellan Committee's Crusade Against Jimmy Hoffa and Corrupt Labor Unions by Robert F. Kennedy.

Inaccuracies

The film's portrayal of Hoffa's demise bears little resemblance to the actual events of July 30, 1975. Rather than traveling to an isolated diner as shown in the movie, Hoffa had in fact gone to the Machus Red Fox, an upscale restaurant next to a shopping center in the Detroit, Michigan suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. No mention is made in the film of mobsters "Tony Jack" and "Tony Pro", who were suspected of being involved in Hoffa's disappearance.

Critical response

Although not particularly well received among film critics, (Rotten Tomatoes Review) 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.