Hoffa

Released by: 20th Century Fox - Filmmakers Signature Series
Released on: SSeptember 18, 2012
Director: Danny Devito
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, J.T. Walsh, Armand Assante, John C. Reilly
Year: 1992
Purchase From Amazon

The Movie

Early on in Hoffa the main character is reminiscing and says, “Never let a stranger in your cab, in your house or in your heart, unless he is a friend of labor.” That monomaniacal sense of purpose is the driving force behind DeVito's 1992 biopic of the controversial Teamster who famously disappeared in 1975. Written by David Mamet, his story is ultimately one demonstrating another side of the American Dream, where the goal survives alternately because of and then despite its dreamer...

The film opens with an older Hoffa (Nicholson) and his right-hand man Bobby Ciaro (DeVito) waiting to meet someone else at a roadside diner. We're soon shown how the storytelling will proceed, with these waiting scenes setting up flashbacks for the two characters. This starts with much younger-looking versions of themselves meeting for the first time as Hoffa was working on unionizing both laundries and truck drivers. These scenes from early in their time together are full of many period details and the violence that plagued the early efforts of the Teamsters in these areas. But, from the get-go, Hoffa is clearly a leader, a source of inspiration, the guy who “knows the words and can sing the tune.” Ciaro is at first intimidated since at that time even talking to someone like Hoffa could get you fired. But he's soon taken into Hoffa's confidence and buys into what Hoffa's selling.

As the story progresses then Hoffa's rise to power is a quick ascension as he is well-liked by the union members and finally becomes president of the union. He gathers others close to him, such as future-union president Frank Fitzsimmons (Walsh) and his naive, spineless nephew Pete (Reilly). However, as he's getting to this point, he does have to make his deals with the devil - in this case, the local mafia. But he's clearly motivated by furthering his cause rather than lining his own pockets. It's the stance that DeVito and Mamet want to stand firm on about Jimmy Hoffa, that he was a man of vision but also understood the realities necessary to accomplish that vision in today's world. Hoffa, here, doesn't seem to be corrupted but, rather, fallible to his own sense of importance.

This last point comes to the fore as Hoffa begins to tangle with a young Robert Kennedy (Kevin Anderson). The manner in which he defies the young attorney who eventually becomes the U.S. attorney general is meant to compliment this vision of Hoffa as the determining force his legacy has become. Kennedy's vendetta against Hoffa is bordering on the personal but also touches on Hoffa's connections to organized crime. To Hoffa that's just a one-way flow, that he does use mafia contacts to make sure some things continue to happen for the Teamsters but those same contacts do not have either him or the union in their pocket. It's an important distinction that accomplishes the filmmaker's intent of examining a seemingly conflicted character, showing his motivations and what (most likely) Hoffa thought of himself.

The film ends with one possible explanation of Hoffa's disappearance/demise. It's as good a theory as most others but keeps the two main storytelling characters of Hoffa and Ciaro connected and, thus, wraps up their stories as well. But Hoffa's legacy is certain, despite succumbing to his tendency to believe in his own invulnerability, even in the face of definitive opposition.

Audio/Video/Extras

The BR here is fairly pristine, served up in widescreen 2.35:1 with solid AVC encoding. The black levels are pretty consistently balance and appropriate film grain is visible throughout. Likewise, the disc's primary audio track is DTS-HD Master 5.1 Audio and while not tested at all to its limits still services the film nicely. Also included are Spanish and French soundtracks in Dolby Digital 2.0. The English SDH subtitles are adequate but I noticed that they often dropped dialog, going for the “spirit” of the dialog rather than an exact match, which seems odd. Spanish subtitles are also available.

As far as extras go, this edition carries over a good deal from what I assume was the LD collector's edition since, in some of the included items, DeVito keeps going on and on about keeping things for “the videodisc.” I don't know of any VideoDisc version but that could just be my own shortcoming. Regardless, here's a list of what's included:

Commentary track from Danny DeVito - It's mostly anecdotal about the shoot itself but he's got enough neat tidbits of trivia and history to make it worth listening. Plus, he doesn't talk through the entire 2+-hour film so it's also not too annoying, either.
Historical Footage of Hoffa - Two items, both taken from Hoffa's time in front of Bobby Kennedy's Congressional committee (7:53)
The Music of Hoffa: A Conversation with Danny DeVito and David Newman - This might be the item added for this release, based on DeVito's physical appearance (10:31).
Danny DeVito's speech at the 2011 Teamsters Convention - 15:16
Excised scenes - Six deleted or extra shots from existing scenes
Personal anecdotes from Teamster members - DeVito interviewing about a dozen Teamster members who knew Hoffa (6:34)
Special shots - 20 “this-is-how-we-got-this-shot” scenes that's actually fairly interesting
DeVito's 11 ¼ - More like a behind-the-scenes video diary featuring DeVito wackiness
Siskel & Ebert review - They both gave it thumbs-up!
Discussion after first script read-through - Apparently, they left the audio recorder running after the assembled cast read through the script for the first time; so this is their discussion of the story, about Hoffa and his motivations and such (3:22).
Production still gallery
Hoffa shooting script - In case you're a Mamet nerd. Which I kinda am.

This edition also includes a nifty 28-page booklet inside the case as well.

Summary

Chiseling out some kind of story from one of America's most well-known labor figures is a daunting task but DeVito and Mamet really manage to successfully present both positive and negative sides of Hoffa. Their storytelling is aided by a pretty amazing performance from Nicholson in the lead role as he is fully invested in this character throughout the entire film. It's a bit of a tragic tale but, like a good Mamet story, it's also a tale of survival through personal strength and sacrifice due to a clarity of personal vision.