Mad City
Star Rating: ***
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Staring:
Sam...John Travolta
Max...Dustin Hoffman
Laurie...Mia Krishner
Kevin...Alan Alda
Lou...Robert Prosky
Mad City just goes to show how mad and insane the press really is. How they can turn a seemingly simple thing into a circus. It all starts off when Sam Baily, a simple man decides to put a gun to a woman's head after he's fired from his job at the local museum. The one thing that Sam does not know is that a group of school children are in the building.
Meanwhile Max, a reporter for the channel 6 news, is assigned a story to go find out about the museums financial troubles. When Sam comes to hold Mrs. Banks hostage Max gets trapped in the building. He hears a gun shot outside of the room so he thinks that Sam may be dangerous. The truth is that Sam came in not intending to hurt anyone but ends up shooting his former black coworker.
So now the press are swarming
the scene and Sam's not too easy about it. When he finds Max
though, Max tells him exactly how to handle the cops and the
media. Now Max has arranged a one-on-one interview with Sam from 
inside the museum. If the cops let Sam
have his interview than he'll set one kid free. In the interview
Sam gets the sympathy of Americans. After all everyone can relate
to a guy who's just lost his job and trying to support his
family. This is when the circus breaks out. They're selling
t-shirts and fresh fruit and there's even a snack bar. Hippies
are out on the front lawn sing songs about peace and love while
the reporters just make the scene more of fiasco.
Tension is also heating up between Kevin, America's most trusted news man, and Max. People don't like how Max almost seems to be on Sam's side so Kevin shows the bad side of Sam, which isn't even true.
This movie is great at showing the power of the press and how they'll do almost anything to make a good story, no matter what it takes.
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