Poster for Mad City

Mad City

1997, Drama, 1h 54m

28 Reviews 5,000+ Ratings

You might also like

See More

Brokedown Palace poster image

Brokedown Palace

For Love of the Game poster image

For Love of the Game

Glitter poster image

Excess Baggage poster image

Gun Shy poster image

Rent/buy

Rent/buy

Rent/buy

Rate And Review

Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

Awesome!

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
Super Reviewer
Step 2 of 2

How did you buy your ticket?

Let's get your review verified.
Fandango

AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew

Enter your Ticket Confirmation# located in your email.More Info

Cinemark Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Regal Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Theater box office or somewhere else
By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

Awesome!

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)
How did you buy your ticket?
- Fandango
- AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew
  
  Enter your Ticket Confirmation# located in your email.More Info
- Cinemark Coming Soon
  
  We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
- Regal Coming Soon
  
  We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
- Theater box office or somewhere else
By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.
You haven’t finished your review yet, want to submit as-is?

You can always edit your review after.
Are you sure?

Verified reviews are considered more trustworthy by fellow moviegoers.
Want to submit changes to your review before closing?

Mad City Photos

Mad City (1997) photo 1

Mad City (1997) photo 2

Mad City (1997) photo 3

Mad City (1997) photo 4

Mad City photo 5

Mad City photo 6

Mad City photo 7

Mad City photo 8

Mad City photo 9

Mad City photo 10

Mad City photo 11

Mad City photo 12

Mad City (1997) photo 13

Mad City (1997) photo 14

Mad City (1997) photo 15

View All Photos

Movie Info

Simple security guard Sam (John Travolta) has lost his job at a museum, and in a fit of desperation, he returns and demands his boss, Mrs. Banks (Blythe Danner), rehire him. But he comes armed, and his plan goes awry when he accidentally shoots an ex-coworker and ends up with schoolchildren as hostages. Meanwhile, down-and-out TV reporter Brackett (Dustin Hoffman) is on scene to capture everything, thinking this suddenly huge story is his ticket back to the top of the news game.

Rating:

PG-13
Genre:

Drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

Costa-Gavras
Producer:

Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Writer:

Tom Matthews
Release Date (Theaters):

Nov 7, 1997 original
Release Date (Streaming):

Oct 31, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA):

$10.6M
Runtime:

1h 54m
Distributor:

Warner Bros.
Sound Mix:

SDDS, DTS, Surround, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio:

35mm, Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

John Travolta
Sam Baily

Dustin Hoffman
Max Brackett

Mia Kirshner
Laurie

Alan Alda
Kevin Hollander

Robert Prosky
Lou Potts

Blythe Danner
Mrs. Banks

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for Mad City

All Critics (28) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (10) | Rotten (18)

Full Review… Emanuel Levy Variety

Full Review… Mike Clark USA Today

Full Review… Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times

Full Review… Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle

Full Review… Susan Stark Detroit News

Full Review… James Berardinelli ReelViews

Full Review… Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal

Full Review… Gary Brown Houston Community Newspapers

Full Review… Philip Martin Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Full Review… Caffeinated Clint Film Threat

Full Review… Michael Dequina TheMovieReport.com

Full Review… Dragan Antulov rec.arts.movies.reviews

View All Critic Reviews (28)

Audience Reviews for Mad City

Apr 20, 2009

I quite liked this movie, dustin hoffman was brill and so was john travoltas acting. John travlta is a security guard who gets sacked but he wants it back so it turns into a hostage situation with dustin playing the reporter and in the heeart of it all. I think this is a brilliantly acted surperb film with a heart wrenching ending and something to relate to as well its has some humour and you feel sorry for travoltas character ! well worth a watch !!

Film C Super Reviewer
Jan 25, 2009

A thought-provoking thriller that takes embedded journalism to a new level when a TV reporter (Hoffman) finds himself trapped in an accidental hostage situation. John Travolta plays to perfection the role of a simple, irate museum security guard who just wants his job back. Costa-Gavras takes his scathing satire of media influence a bit too far, but as this was intended to be a mainstream movie he had to make the satire obvious. An interesting plot and enjoyable to watch even if it was a bit slow at times.

Super Reviewer
Dec 21, 2008

This movie is a tough call for the two lesding men! Maybe a little less acting, and more entertaining.

Joseph E Super Reviewer
Aug 06, 2008

Unexpected ending, but the movie was boring overall. I don't know if it was that the actors were wrong for this movie or if it was just a bad movie.

Erin C Super Reviewer

See All Audience reviews