Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27984 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-01-27
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 140 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
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

DVD features
Without labels as presumptuous as "special edition" attached, this excellent disc has a wealth of extras; it's virtually a DVD version of the 1993 laser disc with a new sound remix. Director Danny DeVito fills up the disc with historical context (reminisces of real Teamsters, archival footage of the Hoffa-Kennedy hearing) plus interesting deleted scenes and lots of excellent behind-the-scenes material. Three are very special: a brief recorded conversion after the first read-through with the actors voicing their opinions (played over production photos); "Special Shots" is a fascinating peak at Hollywood magic on how trick shots are created; and "DeVito's 11 1/4," home movies from the set, is very amusing and one of the few candid glimpses of Jack Nicholson at work. The package shows us DeVito as an accomplished filmmaker and a kick to be around on his set. --Doug Thomas

From The New Yorker
The life of the flamboyant labor leader, who lay down with mobsters and got up with subpoenas, is a terrific subject for a movie-a story of corruption and power, like "Citizen Kane" and the "Godfather" pictures. But what director Danny DeVito and screenwriter David Mamet have done here couldn't have been predicted. They've made a two-hour-and-fifteen-minute movie that doesn't tell the story of Jimmy Hoffa; they're made his life inconsequential. Their Hoffa (Jack Nicholson) is just a blustery movie tough guy: he gives speeches whose content we aren't encouraged to think about; he pops up in the foreground of labor disputes that haven't been explained to us; he appears before investigative panels whose purposes are unclear, and is interrogated about crimes we've neither seen nor heard about. "Hoffa" tells us less about Hoffa than it does about Mamet's chronic nostalgia for the manly-man ethos of yesteryear-a romantic vision of America, where beefy, two-fisted giants once walked and thugs were thugs, not corporate weasels. Also with Armand Assante, J.T. Walsh, Robert Prosky, and DeVito. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

One of my favorites
Here is the closest thing there is in cimena to a real life story of a blood and guts union leader. Jimmy Hoffa was boss of the Teamsters (truckers) union for many years until he met his demise in 1975 at the hands of the same thugs that helped him secure his place as the union boss.

All the memorable moments of Hoffa's life are in this movie including his duels with then Attorney General Robert Kennedy, his accommodation to gangland members for union gain, and the circumstances that led to his final undoing.

I sure like this movie and watch it every chance I get. There are two fine films about the life of the late Jimmy Hoffa (who may or may not be buried in the Meadowlands) -- this one and Sylvester Stallone's 1978 effort "FIST", which covered much of the same ground as this one.

Any movie with Jack Nicholson in the lead must be taken seriously, and he does fine work in this film. I enjoyed every scene but have to take issue with some of the historical accuracy, particularly that final scene at the "Road House".

Jimmy Hoffa was, in fact, last seen as a swanky restaurant in a swanky suburub of Detroit right down the street from one of the Detroit's biggest PR firms, not at some nickle and dime diner out in the middle of nowhere.

No matter, I suppose, since I enjoy the flick so much. You will too if you rent, purchase, borrow or steal a copy of this DVD.

Terrific, underrated biography of a controversial man
A woefully underrated biography of the controversial Teamsters union president that deserved better than it got in 1992. Director Danny Devito and writer David Mamet clearly admire their subject, depicting Hoffa as a hero, a leader who has earned the loyalty of the working men he represents, rather than a self-centered puppet whose strings were pulled by organized crime. Whether or not Hoffa was deserving of such admiration is debatable, but the film offers a convincing argument that he was. As an actor, Devito has little to do but push people around and gape at Hoffa in awe, but behind the camera he performs admirably even if he seems a little too pretentious at times. As for Nicholson, this is one of his most challenging roles, one requiring more than an arch of those famous eyebrows and a flash of that killer smile. With the aid of a hairpiece and a few other modifications to his appearance, he gives one of his best performances in years. This is a fine, memorable film that seemed to have disappeared upon its release as thoroughly as Hoffa himself did in 1975. I don't know the whereabouts of Hoffa the man (and believe it's in my best interests not to know), but the film is on the video shelf. Check it out or buy it, but see it.

Hoffa, The Man and his Union
Hoffa is a surprising film which from time to time arises to keep alive the memory of the late Teamster president. Told in flash back form, the film ably describes the dramatic rise and fall of the popular labor leader. Indeed, with Nickleson's portrayal the viewer is convinced of the confrontational life of the man who became synonymous with the International union. Re-enacting the turbulent rise of Hoffa, viewers are treated to the fabulous talents of some of the giants of the silver screen. Few could argue that Jack Nicholson as James R. 'Jimmy' Hoffa is nothing short of magical. In addition there is Danny DeVito who as Bobby Ciaro, in my opinion steals the show. Further enriching the cast is Armand Assante as Carol D'Allesandro, the mob boss who assured Jimmy's rise to power and then later is suspect in the teamster's mysterious disappearance. J.T. Walsh is excellent as Frank Fitzsimmons. The dramatic film superbly encapsulates the early violent trials, successful triumphs and eventual tragedy of the great, but troubled teamster president. ****