City Hall

Plot synopsis:
In New York City, Detective Eddie Santos and mob figure Tino Zapatti kill each other in a shootout; a stray bullet also kills a child passing by. In the wake of the tragedy, questions are raised as to why Judge Walter Stern, an old friend of the ambitious Mayor John Pappas, had previously set the criminal responsible free on probation. Pappas' loyal deputy mayor, Kevin Calhoun, decides to dig for answers. Meanwhile, legal aid Marybeth Cogan uncovers a conspiracy to smear Santos.
Calhoun's investigation leads to Frank Anselmo, a Brooklyn politician who has connections to Tino's uncle, crime boss Paul Zapatti. Anselmo plants money at Zapatti's behest to frame Santos. Calhoun and Cogan continue to seek the truth from a number of sources, including Santos' partner and another Zapatti relative. After the murder of probation officer Larry Schwartz, they ultimately conclude that Judge Stern had to be on the take. Pappas agrees that Stern must resign.
The scandal snowballs to the point where Zapatti instructs Anselmo to commit suicide rather than become an informer or go to jail. To protect his family, Anselmo shoots himself. Calhoun uncovers evidence that Pappas put Stern together with Anselmo to receive a bribe and leave the young Zapatti on the street. Calhoun soon tells Pappas there is only one choice—to quit as mayor and leave politics for good. ("You're gonna take yourself out, John. You're gonna take yourself out.")

Tags: neo noir, murder

Review:
I had been long awaiting this movie ever since I saw the trailer, which made it look like a political drama, starring three of my favorite actors; Al Pacino, John Cusack, and Bridget Fonda.
But Fonda is wasted in her role, having nothing to do, and while there is merit in the central storyline, when it turns to a thriller, the movie loses its way, briefly recovers in the final scene between Cusack and Pacino, and then falls down completely in the end.
But I have to say that before even getting to the story itself I was captivated by the location shooting and the political atmosphere of New York City that Director Harold Becker created.For example there's a reference to Woerner's Restaurant in Brooklyn where political boss Frank Anselmo likes to eat.
He knows the atmosphere quite well and he sure knows how those two worlds cross as they do in this film.A detective played by Nestor Serrano goes for an unofficial meeting with a relative of mob boss Anthony Franciosa and things erupt and three people wind up dead, including an innocent 6 year old boy whose father was walking him to school.
The story mushrooms and at the end it's reached inside City Hall itself.Al Pacino plays Mayor John Pappas and John Cusack is his Deputy Mayor a transplanted Louisianan, a state which has a tradition of genteel corruption itself.
He's the outsider here and in trying to do damage control, Cusack finds more than he bargained for,Danny Aiello plays Brooklyn political boss Frank Anselmo and for those of you not from New York, his character is based on the late Borough President of Queens Donald Manes who was also brought down by scandal.
Harold Becker directed this political drama that stars Al Pacino as New York City Mayor John Pappas, who must deal with the aftermath of an accidental shooting involving a young boy that threatens his party's re-election chances.
John Cusack is deputy mayor Kevin Calhoun, who launches his own investigation into the matter, and is shocked to find scandal and corruption that threatens to ruin his reverence and respect for his boss, who is an eloquent speaker, but since when does that equal virtue and honesty?
Danny Aiello, Bridget Fonda, & Martin Landau round out a fine cast, which is really the best thing about this marginal film that never quite reaches the heights of profound revelatory drama it aspires to, coming up short in the end..
Al Pacino is just fine as the mayor of New York, a man who keeps hammering home to his staff, headed by the Pillsbury Doughboy incarnate, John Cusack, that if it's good for the city, it's good.
Senator Ernest Hollings makes a nice appearance with Pacino and other bigwigs at a dinner party, and his cameo adds a bit of gravitas to this fluffy little Harold Becker film.Pacino is just plain fun to watch as he chews the scenery, and makes it look very much like good governance.
He has a great voice (and the sound recording of the actors is crisp and melodious), but at one point or another, you have to wonder how, really, this Louisiana transplant, Kevin Calhoun, got to be the Deputy Mayor of New York City.
Here we have the story of a popular politician named Mayor John Pappas (Al Pacino) with enough savvy to run a major metropolitan city with very little effort.
A six year old boy and a police officer's death are blamed on a career criminal who's questionable freedom leads to an apparent cover-up by political pay-offs and city corruption involving union leaders like Danny Aiello played by Frank Anselmo, corrupt judicial officials like Judge Walter Stern.
A movie with Al Pacino, John Cusack, and Bridget Fonda should not be this boring, plain and simple.
A shoot-out at the beginning of the movie that leaves a cop, a felon, and a young boy dead unearths possible corruption in the courts, leading the idealistic and inquisitive Cusack on a trail that may lead back into his very own office (don't want to give anything away, but the video box says as much).Much of the movie's two hour run-time is stuffed with chatter to show the atmosphere of the New York political scene, but ultimately it just fills like filler because there's not much of a payoff, as the scandal that is eventually unveiled is as simple as 1-2-3.
Before we even know anything about this character, he's confronted by a possibly corrupt cop ( the entire background motivation and confusion regarding the cop's rational for meeting with the drug dealer alone, without backup and without reporting in first is left completely unresolved...don't look for answers by the end of the film), gunfire is exchanged, and everyone is dead, including the innocent child, who is clearly injected into this formula for nothing more than aesthetic/emotional purposes, and is treated like "cinema-chum", shot dead for instant sympathy by the audience, only to draw in the bigger fish in the water, the primary characters.On the heels of the shooting, we are introduced to our principles, Al Pacino as the mayor, John Cusack as the deputy mayor, single-handedly managing the entirety of New York.
Very little backstory toward the actual operations of a City Hall, the interlying politics required to operate a major city, other than another contrived conversation between Al Pacino and Danny Aiello later in the film regarding quid pro quo negotiations for construction in a borough of the city.The central plot of the movie springs from the reaction by City Hall to this one shooting incident, as the world is (we suppose) put on temporary pause for days afterward in New York by this event.
Cusack abandons his supposed position with City Hall and becomes a knee-jerk Mickey Spilane, trodding beside Bridget Fonda on some half-ass investigation of the politics surrounding the now dead cop, suspected of corruption, and the question of why the drug dealer was ever on the streets in the first place, having been questionably released on parole years before.
Everyone phones in their performances, which appears as if everyone approached the movie with high hopes, then got distracted by something better to do, (possibly calling their agents for better scripts once this movie started filming) and just showed up to through with the dialogue.Numerous gaffs, faux pauxs regarding life in New York, cornball accents by Cusack, Fonda's character operating with the depth of a spring puddle, vanilla backgrounds, boring dialogue ( save Al Pacino's impassioned, yet ultimately weak tirades toward the shooting of James Bone and his personal conversations with Pappas) make for a really unsatisfying film....so much potential for more here.Avoid it.
As much as it pains me to recommend against Al Pacino and John Cusack, actors I really enjoy, City Hall just can't deliver and feels like a TV movie of the week.Recommendations: Better political play on a national basis in Thirteen Days and the Contender..
Will John and Bridget figure everything out in time for the end of the movie?As a former political science student, I found the "who's lying and who's dying" part of the story far less interesting than Al Pacino's part of the story.
After all, it is Al Pacino, and would he really be cast as a completely straight good guy?City Hall is a bit dated, but only because it feels tame compared to the violence and grit present in today's films.
Being a huge fan of Al Pacino (from the likes of 'Heat', the 'Godfather' movies, and 'Dog Day Afternoon' especially) and having had a huge crush on Bridget Fonda ('Single White Female', anyone?) back in the day (Peter Fonda's famous daughter was named 85th sexiest star in film history, and Mrs. Danny Elfman hasn't been involved in film, unfortunately, since 2002), I was hugely disappointed in this film, especially since I had loved director Harold Becker's previous 'Sea of Love', which also starred Pacino.
I know I'm not the greatest John Cusack fan in the world (I find he's much better in comedy, like his sister Joan), but he had pretty good co-stars, whose talents were basically wasted, in Martin Landau, Anthony Franciosa and Danny Aiello (these guys were BORN for these roles and films, so on paper, this should have really worked out well).
I know I'm not the greatest John Cusack fan in the world (I find he's much better in comedy, like his sister Joan), but he had pretty good co-stars, whose talents were basically wasted, in Martin Landau, Anthony Franciosa and Danny Aiello (these guys were BORN for these roles and films, so on paper, this should have really worked out well).
"City Hall" tells the story of a respected New York City mayor (Al Pacino) who along with his deputy mayor, a young idealist Southern man (John Cusack) try to discover the truth behind the shooting of a 6-year old kid accidentally hit during a crossfire between a detective and the nephew of a power mobster, the latter brilliantly played by Anthony Franciosa.
What dazzles me about "City Hall" isn't much about how each character connection is constructed, with complexity and very well-tailored by the four writers (Bo Goldman, Ken Lipper, Nicholas Pileggi and Paul Schrader); but above all, I'm more excited in the ethics and moral arc of the characters specially the mayor Pappas and how he conducts his actions, becoming an ideal political figure that simply doesn't exist.
But the mayor is almost a supporting character; Cusack takes charge of everything while trying to solve the puzzle of what happened on that rainy day where three people were killed; who signed the probation papers for the release of a hard criminal; and he gets a slightly friendly support of a lawyer (Bridget Fonda) who works in the assistance of the cop widow's pension, in constant fight with authorities when the detective isn't no longer a victim but instead gets investigated by the internal affairs.
And it's thankful to the great performances of gentlemen like Pacino, Cusack, Aiello and David Paymer that a film like this can transform, change the game or at least the perception that things can be done, mountains can be moved for good and our relations within the community can turn into something positive.
Harold Becker makes one of his best films (in my view, his most memorable despite my love for "Sea of Love" and "The Onion Field"), a work that flows with an elegant view, nice rhythm despite the slowness and long dialogue sequences - the ones between Cusack and Pacino are masterful moments of acting, delivery and importance; and his use of music composed by the great Jerry Goldsmith, with some classy suspense and dramatic themes is sublime.
After the accidental death of a six year old boy the deputy mayor also a great performance by John Cusack, and Bridget Fonda investigate the matter they find themself is a pool of corruption.
In a role he was born to play, Al Pacino stars as New York's mayor who has to deal with the shooting of a boy.
Al Pacino,(Mayor John Pappas),"Gigli",'03, gave an outstanding performance through out the entire picture, and especially when he gave a speech at an African American Church for a little boy who was slain.
So it's New York City, Al Pacino is the charismatic Mayor with White House ambitions and John Cusack his southern(!) Deputy Mayor.
I am sure there are issues with the realism of this including how and why a Deputy Mayor would get so deeply involved in this sort of investigation, but Pacino plays the Mayor to a textured T and Cusack is always fine as the idealistic young man.
Danny Aiello was excellent as the corrupt political boss of Brooklyn.Overall, City Hall is little above average political thriller that is extremely predictable, but still quite enjoyable and thrilling.
a little boy get's killed by in a shootout between a dirty cop and a gangster, john plays the deputy mayor,, brigette fonda is excellent in this film as well playing opposite john,, Al Pacino plays the Mayor of the great city of New York City who buy the way is also trying to get the Democratic National Convention to come there instead of Miami, so there is a lot of political wheeling and dealing there,, this film is a fascinating look at political life in the big city, and what happens between gangsters and politicians...
Idealistic Louisiana-born John Cusack (as Kevin Calhoun) moves to New York City, where he impresses up-and-coming politician Al Pacino (as John Pappas) enough to become the Mayor's right hand man.
But, they are comfortable and fit nice.******* City Hall (2/16/96) Harold Becker ~ John Cusack, Al Pacino, Bridget Fonda, Danny Aiello.
In "City Hall" Pacino plays John Pappas the greatest mayor in New York City history according to his good ole' boy Deputy mayor played lamely by John Cusack.
No matter if he is cutting deals with local party bosses, greasing national democratic party bigwigs, or comforting mourners of the slain boy; Pacino's performance is absolutely riveting.Unfortunately, Mayor Pappas is merely a supporting character in "City Hall".
This is the film in which John Cusack comes of age as a movie star.
Set in New York City, this political drama is about an investigation into a shooting incident and also a young man's journey from naivety to disillusionment.
The young man is Kevin Calhoun (John Cusack) who, after becoming fascinated by politics as a youngster in Louisiana, embarked on a career that led him to "The Big Apple" and his current role as Deputy Mayor of the city.
He's energetic, highly-motivated and eager to learn all that he can from his boss Mayor John Pappas (Al Pacino), who's obviously a well-intentioned man and a consummate politician.The always-busy Mayor's office is attempting to bring the Democratic Party Convention to the city and planning to build a bank amongst other things when news comes through about a shootout in a Brooklyn street.
Lipper's input in particular must've been important and is, no doubt, the reason why the dialogue in "City Hall" is so realistic and incisive.It's great to see Al Pacino in a role that's so perfect for him as he comfortably displays the flamboyance, charisma and shrewdness of John Pappas and delivers the kind of speeches that would be expected of a politician of his calibre.
I mean, with Al Pacino, John Cusack, Bridget Fonda and Danny Aiello, I didn't expect this low-key a film.
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.
What makes it even more riveting relies on the character who desperately tries to reassemble the pieces of the puzzle: Kevin Calhoun, John Cusack in his 'boyish look' days, as the deputy of an ambitious and charismatic lawyer named John Pappas, played by a Pacino at the top of his game (sometimes over it).
Then Mobster Zappati wants to spare his nephew a 15-year sentence, he orders his friend, a Brooklyn mayor, named Anselmo, played by a great Danny Aiello to 'persuade the judge', a good friend of John Pappas, which loops the loop.
The film where a kid gets killed during a shoot-out and Pacino makes a speech during his funeral." "Yeah, I remember that movie, so  how about it?" "Well, it could have been much better." Unfortunately, the film is so thought-provoking and subversive that some other parts simply didn't work, the ending, Bridget Fonda, and the fact that we're left confused about the future of John Pappas.It's incredible that a screenplay written by the authors of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'", "Scent of a Woman", "Goodfellas", "Casino", "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull" couldn't come up with a more explosive material.
it's what we are." – Mayor Pappas A better third "Godfather" film than "Godfather 3", Harold Becker's "City Hall" stars Al Pacino as John Pappas, a New York mayor who's struggling to cope with the fallout of a recent homicide.
Assisting Pappas is Kevin Calhoun (John Cusack), an idealistic deputy mayor.Much of "City Hall" takes the format of a noirish detective movie in which Calhoun uncovers the genre's usual morass of corruption, conspiracy and underhanded deals.
It's about the intrigues and murders around the mayor of New York (played by Al Pacino), but is it a thriller?
Which may well explain him, as well as Tito, getting shot by Tito welshing on his paying Santos off!As things turn out it's Mayor Pappas' deputy in City Hall Kevin Calhoun, John Cusack, who ends up messing everything up for his boss by being too honest in finding who was responsible in covering up Tito's criminal record that allowed him to be out on the streets.
I mean City Hall is meant to be a political drama, not a thriller but instead when all is said and done and once you get to the meat and potatoes of the film it feels and looks like a thriller but a decent one at that with very important part of the recipe that immediately makes it stand out...what else...or rather who else...Al Pacino.
The film begins by giving you a really good look at life in the mayoral office and the inner workings of the city.
In City Hall Pacino plays the New York City mayor.
John Cusack, who I really do enjoy as an actor, turns in a mediocre and overdone performance as the deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun.
He is kind of the focus of the film and him and Pacino have good chemistry together when they are on screen but there is just something in this performance...he seems like he's trying too hard.