BEFORE: Yesterday's Brooklyn/Queens tornado knocked out the cable and internet at home, so I'm typing from the office. That's OK, it's not like my job and my whole life centers around watching TV and movies. Oh, wait, yes it does. If you don't see any blog posts over the weekend, it doesn't mean I've given up, it just means I have no access to the interwebs.
I'm closing out my look at American labor and big business tonight, I wasn't able to get to films like "Michael Clayton", "Silkwood", or anything involving waiters, like "The Slammin' Salmon". I'll have to work those films in later, because there's just enough days as needed to watch my Jack Nicholson chain, which will transition neatly into horror movies - I bet you can even guess how, if you've been paying attention.
THE PLOT: Portrait of Union leader James R. Hoffa, as seen through the eyes of his friend, Bobby Ciaro. The film follows Hoffa through his countless battles with President Roosevelt and RFK all the way to a conclusion that negates the theory that he disappeared in 1975.
AFTER: Well, it was an innovative way to tell a story - the framing device was Hoffa (Jack Nicholson, last seen in "The Departed") and Bobby Ciaro (Danny DeVito, last seen in "10 Items or Less") at a roadside diner, waiting for a clandestine meeting to take place. Various items or bits of conversation spark their memories, which of course detail their entire back-story, which is basically synonymous with that of the Teamsters Union.
Full disclosure again - my father was a truck driver for most of his life, until he retired about 6 years ago. He ran a small family business, which he took over from his father, until deregulation made that financially impossible. After a slight detour into baking, he signed up with one of the larger trucking firms, and was a Teamsters member for a decade or so before retiring. So I probably owe an odd debt to Mr. Hoffa, and the struggles to unionize the trucking industry decades ago.
I'll try to remain impartial - this is still a powerful portrait, which really takes off when Hoffa comes face to face with Robert Kennedy's senatorial committee, investigating illegal loans (I think) made from the Teamsters pension fund. One slight verbal mis-step, and Hoffa goes haywire on the guy. This is why you hire Nicholson - for the freak-outs/tirades that he's capable of pulling off.
This film kept my attention, despite the 2 hour and 20 min. length, more than I thought that a film about union policies would. Obviously there's some underhanded stuff that went down in the formation and the operation of the Teamsters, and Hoffa is portrayed as an odd mix of hero and villain here. I guess he was a hero to some and a villain to others, definitely a guy you wanted fighting for you, and not against you.
As for the ending - well, since no one really knows what happened to Hoffa, although the scenario portrayed here is highly implausible, you can't really say it's impossible, now can you? The situation depicted here would have required a ridiculous amount of set-up, so it's very doubtful that things went down exactly like this...
A couple quick conversions to the Denir-O-meter, and I should probably give a 2nd rating to these films for their Nicholson-Ness, the extent to which Jack is really allowed to pick up the crazy-ball and run with it - to BE the Jack that he can be. A movie like "As Good As It Gets" would be like a 9 on the scale, in case you wanted to calibrate.
Also starring Armand Assante (last seen in "Q&A"), John C. Reilly (last seen in "The Promotion"), J.T. Walsh (last seen in "Crazy People"), Frank Whaley (last seen in "The Freshman"), Paul Guilfoyle (last seen in "The Negotiator") and Robert Prosky (last seen in "Death to Smoochy"). Oh, and a cameo from Bruno Kirby (also last seen in "The Freshman")
RATING: 7 out of 10 picket signs
JACK-O-METER: 7 out of 10 - for the most part he's hidden behind Hoffa's facial features, which would suggest a 5, but during Hoffa's tirades you can definitely see some crazy Nicholson scenery-chewing "shining" through. (pun intended)
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