bobnmer Don't sell this film short! There are more inaccuracies in this film then I care to mention, but the need for the unions of the day to enlist the underworld (mob) for their protection was real. Law enforcement was on the side of whoever could pay the most back in those days and the big business anti-Union folks had all the money. If you work for a living, you have to pay homage to the unions. If not for them we would all still be working for fifty cents a day!! This movie does do a great job of showing the good that the unions did and how they succumbed to the corruption that power and greed visit on any entity no mater the good intentions. Everyone who sells their labor to a business should watch this film.

Karl Ericsson This is a movie about worker's right against owners. This is a movie about slaves protesting their utter humiliation against owners, whose abominations know no end. This is a movie about power-society.What is the solution against people who think it's all-right that they have everything while others have nothing? What is the solution against people who look at you as if you were vermin, since there is no other way they could look at you when they think it is quite OK that they have everything and you nothing? The Nazi's looked at the unfortunate Jews (the rich ones were in USA and did not have a record of outdoing themselves for their racial brothers - look at "Amen" by Costa-Gavras) as vermin and as long as they could look at their brothers human beings that way, they had no trouble to exterminate them. Some realized their mistake and killed themselves afterward.Will the owners realize their mistake? Don't count on it, as this movie shows! Violence give rise to counter-violence if you cannot activate a whole population as in Venezuela or Gandhi's India. Yes, if the owners will have the whole population rise against them, they may, paradoxically, survive! If they just get a sufficient large minority against them, they will have the French Revolution and will maybe not survive. I guess they haven't thought of that one - or maybe they have, if you consider recent developments.There's no difference in what you take with you when you leave this world abut a giant difference in what you leave behind.

ma-cortes One of the best Stallone films set in the 1930s in which gives a good performance as a worker who joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local factory and being accompanied by a fine supporting cast . It deals with a love between a man, a country, the people he led and the woman he loved . Johnny Kovak (Sylvester Stallone) is an employee who works his way up as organizer and leader of Federation Interstate Truckers . Meanwhile he falls in love and marries a worker (Melinda Dillon) . As he climbs higher and higher thanks his connection with the Mob (Tony LoBianco). As his methods become more corrupt and ultimately senator Madison (Rod Steiger ) begins a campaign to discover the truth about his allegedly greedy practices .This poignant film packs emotion , thrills , a love story political events and being quite entertaining though contains some ,predictable moments and cliché-ridden . The picture details biographic events about an Union leader , Jimmy Hoffa-lookalike, from his starts until his fall . Jewison cast some largely known actors as Sylvester Stallone , Melinda Dillon , Peter Boyle and a remarkable support cast as Richard Herd , Tony LoBianco , Peter Donat , Kevin Conway, Cassie Yates , Richard Herd and the veteran Henry Wilcoxon and several others . Stallone , also screenwriter along with Eszterhas creates an even more interesting character than Rocky Balboa . Atmospheric musical score including moving sounds by Bill Conti and appropriate cinematography by excellent cameraman Laszlo Kovacs.The motion picture is well produced and directed by Norman Jewison . He is a prestigious and veteran filmmaker, his greatest film is of course Jesus Christ Superstar . He directed successful movies as Fiddler on the roof , Agnes of God , Moonstruck , Thomas Crown and Cinncinati Kid . However , he also got some flops as Bogus, In country , Only you and Other's people money and his last picture titled The statement . He considers The Hurricane (1999) the last in a trilogy of racial bigotry movies he's realized, the first two being In the Heat of the Night (1967) and A Soldier's Story (1984). Rating : Good, worthwhile seeing for its epic moments and thought-provoking issues .

Emil Bakkum F.I.S.T. is a film with two distinguished actors, Sylvester Stallone and Rod Steiger. Stallone is highly convincing in his role as a working man, Johnny Kovak, who becomes infuriated by the exploitation of truck-drivers, and makes a career in their union F.I.S.T. However the theme of the film may be even more interesting than the artistic achievement itself. In 1992 DeVito brought out a remake named "Hoffa", which was really vicious and an attempt to incriminate unionism. In fact Jimmy Hoffa actually existed, and was a highly successful and popular organizer and leader. Let me first summarize the story pictured by F.I.S.T. (I become dizzy with realism, and am inaccessible for hidden messages or psychological analyses). Kovak is asked to lead the local section of F.I.S.T., since he knows how to appeal to the truck-drivers. It is the roaring thirties, and the after-effects of the robber barons are still simmering. During his activities the tires of his car are punctured, and even worse, he is beaten up. However a real crisis evolves during a demonstration of the truck-drivers of the company Consolidated Trucking. The company has hired a private "security firm", whose thugs attack the workers using guns, iron rods and incendiaries. The police stands aloof, and several of the truck-drivers are murdered. This brings Novak to the conclusion that he needs a similar "push", and he starts to employ the services of his own admittedly not very respectable security firm. this includes the intimidation of scabs and the destruction of their trucks. Is this organized crime or derailed activism? I don't know. Kovak keeps pushing, against the orders of his national union board. Anyway, finally Consolidated Trucking caves in and signs the contract. Soon Kovak becomes the national leader of F.I.S.T. and a national celebrity as well. But he has to pay a price to his "securiy firm", among others granting loans from the F.I.S.T. pension fund to the people that previously supported his actions with their push. The loans are controversial, but illegal? He has to appear before a senatorial committee, that investigates the relations between trade unions and organized crime. One of the witnesses a charge is murdered, and Novak is urged by his former allies to step down. Being a fighter, Novak refuses and is eventually murdered himself and his body is somehow disposed of. It is a tale of a union leader searching for the boundaries of power, and IMHO surpassing them. Still the film justly leaves plenty of room for empathy with the man. And the makers had the tact not to slander the real Hoffa. Still, in view of the vicious remake "Hoffa" let us consider the true events. The real Jimmy Hoffa had an enormous success in organizing the American truck-drivers (with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters). During these endeavors he made a lot of enemies. For instance, the Teamsters were expelled by the CIO. Subsequently he also tried to organize the railways and airlines. It is said that this made him the target for the political elite, among others the Kennedy family, who feared that the organization of these branches would give Hoffa control over the whole USA. He was indeed brought under investigation by a Senatoiral committee, and also on trial. The first trial resulted in a hung jury voting 7-5 for acquittal. The judge declared a mistrial, believing that Hoffa was guilty and had bought the jury. The second trial resulted in a verdict of guilty and Hoffa was given eight years in federal prison. Hoffa was released on parole in 1971. In 1975 he mysteriously disappeared. There are several explanations circulating. One is that he had resisted the mafia and was subsequently liquidated. Another says that he had skipped off to Brazil with a "black go-go dancer". So it may be wise to reconsider before you believe the story of either "F.I.S.T." or "Hoffa". It is worth noting that in the union Hoffa was popular to such a degree, that his son has later been elected for president (which IMHO is rather unhealthy). If you are interested in collective bargaining or even sympathizer with unionism, there are definitely more informative and realistic accounts. Try Salt of the Earth, Norma Rae, Bread and Roses, Harlan County War, Matewan, Man of Iron. Or take a look at the other films about social action, that I have reviewed here on IMDb.