Volume 40, Number 4 · February 11, 1993
The Jumper
By Murray Kempton
Hoffa
a film directed by Danny De Vito, written by David Mamet
Danny De Vito's Hoffa is artfully constructed, masterfully played, and travels at speeds beyond the prescriptive norm. It weaves back and forth across the dividing line between truth and myth with the controlled recklessness of an over-the-road trucker making up time by breaching the peace of mind of drivers slower than himself. Jack Nicholson's Jimmy Hoffa is magnificent, but it is not Jimmy Hoffa. Nicholson has caught and occasionally even come close to incarnating Hoffa's tragedy. But he cannot define it for us because a misconception of the hero as an idealist keeps getting in his way.
Review, 1698 words
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