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Mad City (1997)
Front Cover Actor
Movie Details
Director Costa-Gavras
Language English
Audience Rating PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Running Time 115 mins
Country USA
Color Color
Plot
This earnest effort at media criticism is 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. The DVD release has optional full-screen and widescreen presentations, production notes, theatrical trailer, television spots, optional French soundtrack, French or Spanish subtitles, and Dolby sound. --Tom Keogh
Personal Details
Seen It Yes
Index 1208
Collection Status In Collection
Links Amazon US
Product Details
Format DVD
Region Region 1
Screen Ratio 2.35:1
085391543329
Release Date 3/31/1998
Subtitles English; French; Spanish
Audio Tracks English Dolby Digital 5.1
French Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Nr of Disks/Tapes 1