City Hall (1996)

Director:

Harold Becker

Writers (WGA):

Ken Lipper (written by) and
Paul Schrader (written by) ...

Release Date:

16 February 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Murder...Corruption...Cover-up...Scandal...

Plot:

The accidental shooting of a boy in New York leads to an investigation by the Deputy Mayor, and unexpectedly far-reaching consequences.

Plot Keywords:

Judge | Box Office Flop | Police Funeral | Cover Up | Mounted Police

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Al Pacino	...	Mayor John Pappas
John Cusack	...	Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun
Bridget Fonda	...	Marybeth Cogan
Danny Aiello	...	Frank Anselmo
Martin Landau	...	Judge Walter Stern
David Paymer	...	Abe Goodman
Anthony Franciosa	...	Paul Zapatti (as Tony Franciosa)
Richard Schiff	...	Larry Schwartz
Lindsay Duncan	...	Sydney Pappas
Nestor Serrano	...	Det. Eddie Santos
Mel Winkler	...	Det. Albert Holly
Lauren Vélez	...	Elaine Santos
Chloe Morris	...	Maria Santos
Ian Quinlan	...	Randy Santos
Roberta Peters	...	Nettie Anselmo

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some violence.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | SDDS

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | South Korea:15 | USA:R (certificate #33992) | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Belt Parkway, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Trivia:

Al Pacino spent time with then-New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and former Mayors Edward I. Koch and David Dinkins to help prepare for his role.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Kevin and Marybeth are returning from Buffalo, they get off of a NJ Transit train. NJ Transit doesn't have trains that go anywhere near Buffalo.

Quotes:

Mayor John Pappas: Lyndon Johnson said, "Everybody will give you ideas on how to get out of trouble cheaply and fast. And they all come down to this: deny your responsibility." John F. Kennedy said, "An error doesn't have to become a mistake, until you refuse to correct it."

Movie Connections:

References "The Robert MacNeil Report" (1975)

Soundtrack:

If I Loved You

Another Smooth Political Talker

One thing that shocked me about this film, considering the cast, was the small amount of profanity. I mean, with Al Pacino, John Cusack, Bridget Fonda and Danny Aiello, I didn't expect this low-key a film. Aiello and Cusack not uttering one swear word? Wow, that's almost unheard of in films.

The story is very low-key, maybe too much so for a lot of people which includes me at times, but I enjoyed this. In fact, just watching and listening to Pacino and Cusack in this movie was plenty of entertainment. They played a mayor and a deputy mayor, respectively.

However, to be honest, I didn't always comprehend what was going on in the story. Apparently the mayor knew what was going on all the time and it was just business (or politics) as usual, for him.

Pacino's speech at the funeral of the young black kid was outstanding. Talk about a smooth political orator! Pacino played New York City Mayor "John Pappas." He reminded me a lot of another New Yorker, former governor Mario Cuomo who, although I disagreed with many of his statements, was a smooth talker like Pacino's character in here. I wonder if they modeled "Pappas" after Cuomo?