Hoffa is a 1992 biographical film based on the life and mysterious death of Teamsters Union leader Jimmy Hoffa. Although it chronicles Hoffa's early years in Michigan to his leadership in New York City and Washington, D.C. and his death in a Detroit suburb, almost all of the film was shot in and around Pittsburgh with the city's landmarks (such as Gateway Center in the "Idlewild Airport" scene) serving as backdrops for the various locales in the film.

Jack Nicholson plays James R. "Jimmy" Hoffa, with Danny DeVito playing Robert "Bobby" Ciaro as well as directing the movie. The Ciaro character was actually an amalgamation of several Hoffa associates over the years. The film also stars John C. Reilly, Robert Prosky, Kevin Anderson, Armand Assante, and J. T. Walsh. The screenplay is written by David Mamet. The original music score is composed by David Newman. The film is marketed with the tagline "The man who was willing to pay the price for power."

The movie has an R rating, due to violence and strong language. For example, fuck is used 153 times.1

Plot summary

Most of the movie is experienced as a series of flashbacks, starting with Hoffa first meeting Ciaro, and ending just before Hoffa's disappearance.

At the beginning of the movie, Ciaro is seen standing in a parking lot of a diner. He gets into the back seat of a car, where Hoffa is seated. The pair are waiting for others to arrive in order to have a meeting. Ciaro asks Hoffa if he wants to go, and he gives Ciaro a scornful glance. The first flashback to 1935 then takes place.

A young Jimmy Hoffa gets out of his car, and approaches a truck. Inside Ciaro is taking a nap. Hoffa insists that Ciaro give him a ride, while he talks to Ciaro about the benefits of joining the Teamsters. Hoffa gets out at a truck stop, after giving Ciaro his card, upon the back of which he had written "Give this man whatever he needs." A few days later, Ciaro reports to work to find Hoffa attempting to organize the workers. When his boss finds that Hoffa rode with him, Ciaro is fired. Ciaro accosts Hoffa, but is convinced by Hoffa associate Billy Flynn at gunpoint not to kill Hoffa. The pair take Ciaro out to firebomb an uncooperative employer. Flynn is badly burned, and both Hoffa and Ciaro both claim to the police that Flynn was injured trying to save the life of someone in the laundry when the place went up. Flynn dies a few moments later, and Ciaro soon becomes Hoffa's associate.

The movie shifts back to Hoffa and Ciaro waiting in the car. They talk for a few moments about the old days when the two first met. The movie then shifts back to a Teamsters strike. When the strikers get in a fight with police, Hoffa is taken by a pair of mobsters to meet with the local Mafia boss. Ciaro, who speaks Italian, accompanies him. At the meeting, the first alliance between the Teamsters and the mob is formed. At this meeting, Hoffa meets the young mobster Carol D'Allesandro, who would be his mob ally for a number of years.