Hoffa is a 1992 American biographical crime drama film directed by Danny DeVito and written by David Mamet, based on the life of Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa. Most of the story is told in flashbacks before ending with Hoffa's mysterious disappearance. The story makes no claim to be historically accurate, and in fact is largely fictional. Jack Nicholson plays Hoffa, and DeVito plays Robert Ciaro, an amalgamation of several Hoffa associates over the years. The film features John C. Reilly, Robert Prosky, Kevin Anderson, Armand Assante, and J. T. Walsh in supporting roles. The original music score was composed by David Newman. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox and released on December 25, 1992. The film received predominantly mixed reviews and grossed just $29 million against its $35 million budget, with critics being polarized over Nicholson's performance and criticizing the film's story.

Plot

On July 30, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa and his longtime friend Bobby Ciaro are impatiently waiting in the parking lot of a roadhouse diner. Moving in vignettes from when he was an International Brotherhood of Teamsters union organizer working the various trucking firms and laundries around Detroit, Hoffa's life over the four preceding decades gradually unfolds. In 1935, Hoffa boards a parked truck where he meets driver Bobby Ciaro. Hoffa pitches the benefits of joining the Teamsters and gives Ciaro a business card, on which he has written: "Give this man whatever he needs." A few days later, Ciaro reports to work to find Hoffa attempting to persuade his fellow drivers to unionize. Hoffa blurts out that he already spoke to Ciaro, getting him fired. He later accosts Hoffa with a knife, but Hoffa's longtime bodyguard Billy Flynn forces him to drop it at gunpoint. Ciaro assists Hoffa and Flynn in the arson of a laundry whose owner refuses to cooperate with the Teamsters. Flynn accidentally sets himself on fire and dies of his injuries. Ciaro then becomes Hoffa's new bodyguard and assistant.