Mad City (1997)

Director:

Costa-Gavras

Writers (WGA):

Tom Matthews (screenplay)
Tom Matthews (story) &
Eric Williams (story)

Release Date:

7 November 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

One man will make a mistake. The other will make it a spectacle.

Plot:

A normal guy blows his top, and a news reporter turns into a national spectacle.

Plot Keywords:

Museum | News Reporter | Hostage | Reporter | Media Circus

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

John Travolta	...	Sam
Dustin Hoffman	...	Brackett
Mia Kirshner	...	Laurie
Alan Alda	...	Hollander
Robert Prosky	...	Lou Potts
Blythe Danner	...	Mrs. Banks
William Atherton	...	Dohlen
Ted Levine	...	Lemke
Tammy Lauren	...	Miss Rose
William O'Leary	...	CTN Junior Executive
Raymond J. Barry	...	Dobbins
Lucinda Jenney	...	Jenny
Akosua Busia	...	Diane
Ebbe Roe Smith	...	Bartholomew
Bingwa	...	Nat Jackson

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for depiction of a hostage situation, including violence and brief language.

Runtime:

Argentina:115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Canada:PA (Ontario) | South Korea:15 | UK:12 (video rating) | UK:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Mexico:B | Netherlands:12 (video premiere) | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Capital Club Athletics, N. 3rd Street, San Jose, California, USA

Company:

Arnold Kopelson Productions

Quotes:

[last lines]
Max Brackett:We killed him.

Movie Connections:

References "60 Minutes" (1968)

Soundtrack:

Cliff's Theme Song

Unfairly overlooked; best examination of media power and corruption

I was so depressed when I left this movie - depressed in a good way though, in the way the filmmakers wanted me to be. "The media has become an out-of-control circus," I thought to myself. Certainly not an original thought or insight, and not extremely different from many other movies and stories out there with a similar message. The difference with "Mad City", though, was that it didn't play this insight for satire or sly comedy. There's an anger and a sadness that runs through the entire movie - a burning regret that this is the way things have to be. The filmmakers could have easily reached for humor or gaudy overstatement to make their points (as was done, say, in "Network" or "Natural Born Killers") but instead they keep most everything at the human level, and that makes all the difference. We come to feel really bad for the Travolta character; the screenwriters' making him such a simpleton is, I'll admit, a bit manipulative, but as manipulations go it's a good one and a smart one - it lets us see the toll in human terms of the media frenzy. Dustin Hoffman and particularly Alan Alda are expert in their roles as media sharks, and the sort of Mutt and Jeff (or perhaps George and Lenny) relationship which Hoffman and Travolta get into here is really marvelous. It has beats of comedy to it, while never being anything less than totally serious (kind of like Hoffman and Cruise in "Rain Man" - though the film never strains for that connection).

I think of this movie often in conjunction with "Wag the Dog," Hoffman's other movie that year and for me it's no comparison: "Wag the Dog" is gleefully cynical, seems to take real joy in the media being so ever-present and the audience being so easily conned. For me, that rings as hollow satire; "Mad City" by truly trying to examine and get us to think about (not just laugh at) the media's power is miles away the better film.