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Mad City [VHS] [1998]
  

Mad City [VHS] [1998]

VHS ~ John Travolta
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Actors: John Travolta, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Alda, Mia Kirshner, Robert Prosky
  • Directors: Costa-Gavras
  • Writers: Eric Williams, Tom Matthews
  • Producers: Anne Kopelson, Arnold Kopelson, Jonathan D. Krane, Linda Warren, Stephen Brown
  • Format: PAL, Widescreen
  • Language English
  • Classification: 12
  • Studio: Warner Home Video
  • VHS Release Date: 12 Jul 1999
  • Run Time: 110 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00004RXOA
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 37,416 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Mad City is an earnest effort at media criticism that's never convincing enough to stir a viewer's outrage in the way filmmaker Costa-Gavras (Music Box) might have intended. John Travolta plays a barely educated museum guard who is laid off from his job and ends up holding his former boss (Blythe Danner) and a bunch of schoolchildren hostage. Dustin Hoffman is a former television-network journalist making a grab at the limelight again by pushing and controlling press coverage of the story.

What follows is by the numbers and not nearly as enlightening or enthralling as other films (such as Dog Day Afternoon or Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole) about simple events manipulated into a media circus. Despite Travolta's tragic performance and Hoffman's impassioned one, the film breaks up over efforts to blame electronic voyeurism for social chaos. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Synopsis
A failing TV reporter interviewing a company boss, finds himself in a hostage situation when an aggrieved employee returns to his former place of work. Suddenly he is in the right place at the right time... live on air.

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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4 star:
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3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars an action lead drama .... spicy and the story goes MAD, 16 Jun 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Mad City [DVD] [1998] (DVD)
Unfairly ignored on it's cinema release, and admittedly a bit of a stacked deck, Costa-Gavras' amusing assault on the American media is ably performed and hilariously funny. John Travolta is Sam Bailey, a none-too bright museum guard laid off from his job, who returns to take some hostages and get his job back. Among the captives is Max Brackett (Dustin Hoffman), a vaguely shabby journalist who sees the chance to get a bit of exposure by playing the story up. John Travolta stars as Sam Baily, a museum security guard who's upset over losing his job. He decides to bring a duffel bag containing a shotgun and sticks of dynamite to work and takes visitors to the museum hostage in an attempt to get his job back. But he hasn't forged any plan and ends up shooting his best friend, another guard. Max Brackett, played by Dustin Hoffman, is a local reporter, who was once a network star, but after running afoul of an egotistical news anchor he's been exiled to the sticks. So he seizes the hostage situation as a chance to revive his flagging career and get back into the big time. He stays inside the museum, broadcasting from a battery-powered lapel mic and within minutes he is broadcasting live. As the long hours pass, he becomes friends with the hapless guard, who is terrified that now his wife will be mad at him. But Max wants to prolong the situation for his own benefit and manipulates it by offering Sam advice on how to solidify his position and exercise damage control. Max has no realisation about crossing over the blurred line that divides reporting a story from becoming part of it,. And Sam doesn't understand the dynamics of the situation - until he looks out a window and sees the throng of reporters and law enforcement officials that have gathered around the museum......and the story goes Mad in the City! :)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Clear but Overblown, 24 Jun 2007
By Jay "The Amazon Reviewer" (Mauritius) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Mad City [DVD] [1998] (DVD)
This is an above average film. The plot is, admittedly, a little overblown and exaggerated, but it has a wonderful clarity. The message is simple - the media are now running our lives, and how true that is. The film has striking parallels with Ace in the Hole (1951), and also with The Truman Show (1998) in that both deal with society's manipulation by the media.

Hoffmann plays the TV reporter to perfection, and Travolta's performance is distinguished by the fact that this is one of the few roles where he is playing one of the lowly of society. He portrays it well, and from the first time you see him you can tell that he is quite stupid, but well-meaning.

The overhead shot of the media rat-pack at the end leaves a lasting impression of our crazy world.
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4.0 out of 5 stars One Hell of a Dig at the Media, 4 Jun 2006
By M. D. Hart "Boz Phiz @ DVD" (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Mad City [DVD] [1998] (DVD)
Mad City was never going to win an oscar. Mad City was never going to stun audiences with its cinematography or its misc-en-scene. Mad City was made with one goal and that was to poke a huge dig at the ideals and practices of the modern media. What we have on a basic level in this film is a Museum security guard (Travolta) who loses his job due to financial cutbacks and foolishly uses a gun to try and threaten his boss into giving him his job back. After accidentally shooting his friend with the gun, what develops is a hostage drama that sees a fallen journalist (Hoffman) trying to befriend Travolta and get him on TV in one of the biggest stories he's ever had. That is the basic level; what follows is a remarkably successful criticism of the media as the bigger broadcasters take over and twist the story to make Travolta's character seem like a dangerous loose cannon. The number of cameras used within the story really provides a strong idea of claustrophobia about the media and the way they operate. During a time that sees the media accusing governments of using the Politics of Fear, Mad City will give you quite a frightening but essential insight into the fact that maybe, just maybe the media are not so innocent of this themselves. The strong political interpretation of this film as well as great performances from all concerned make Mad City a great little addition to your DVD collection. Under-rated and powerful, impressive and far-reaching.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Top quality performance from both classic actors.
Definately worth watching a few times. As always John Travolta plays his character, Sam, brilliantly, with the assistance of the excellant supporting actors, especially Hoffman... Read more
Published on 27 Sep 2001 by juliannapper@hotmail.com

5.0 out of 5 stars This is tense and enjoyable reading ....
After reading this book, you realize that everything you watch on the news are there to influence your thoughts and make other people earn money. Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2000

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