Hero

Rating:
Summary: One selfless act of courage can really mess up your life
Review: "Hero" has an interesting premise because it has such an unlikely title character, namely Bernie LaPlante, a born loser played by Dustin Hoffman. Bernie is a small-time thief who has been thrown out of the house by his wife (Joan Cusak), whose son (James Madio) has pretty much written him off, and who is once again on the brink of being sent back to the slammer by a judge (Warren Berlinger). Looking over his options, Bernie figures his best play is to try and make amends with his son before he goes away for a few years. But bad luck pursues Bernie with a vengeance. Not only does his car break down but an airplane crashes in front of him and some kid who walks out of the wreckage bawling about his father being trapped in the plane. Complaining every step of the way, Bernie rescues several passengers, the last of whom is Gale Gayley (Geena Davis), Channel 4 News Reporter. She never sees much beyond a face covered in soot and mud, and the only photograph of her rescuer show a silhouette against the flames, so the story she ends up doing is about "The Angel of Flight 104." Meanwhile, insult is added to injury for Bernie, who lost one of his shoes during the rescue. The other he gives to cabbie John Bubber (Andy Garcia), all the while complaining about how stupid it was to try and be a hero.

Of course, this is all just prologue to the rest of the film, because Gale's television station offers a reward of $1 million for the identity of the mystery man who saved all those lives. Bernie could use the million dollars, but John has the shoe that matches the one the rescue workers found stuck in the mud. Besides, Bernie told John enough of the story for the imposter to get the details right. You also have to keep in mind that in "Hero" no good deed goes unpunished. That is because Bernie did something else when he got Gale out of that airplane, because John really is a good soul, who feels guilty about having so many people praise him for something he did not do, and because Gale is having more than thankful feelings for John. It is going to be really hard to pull a happy ending out of this film with all the bad things waiting to happen.

It is hard for older viewers to watch "Hero" and not see some strong similarities to some of Frank Capra's films such as "It Happened One Night" and "Meet John Doe," where journalists are at the heart of the story. Certainly the performance by Chevy Chase as Gale's boss harkens back to that tradition. But this 1992 film, also known as "Accidental Hero," lacks the soul of the true Capricorn film. More importantly, there does not really seem to be a big point behind all the drama. I keep thinking that there is something deeper going on here, but when Bernie gets to deliver the film's big speech, there is just too much cynicism for it to be really profound. This idea is reinforced at the end of the film where the final scene goes for a punch line. I also explored the idea that this film was a penetrating look at the modern mass media circus, but the great insight along those lines is basically do not believe anything you see on television, which is not as helpful a bit of advice as it might seem.

The performances are certainly solid enough, with Hoffman turning in one that comes across like Ratzo Rizzo's cousin (with a lower voice). Davis plays plucky well and Garcia has an innate earnestness that serves him well in different situations. Cuzak is once again wasted in a fine supporting role, but she is the one that has to reveal that big irony about her husband Bernie: he is really good in a crisis, which is when he forgets to be Bernie LaPlante and be a real human being. You have to admit, that is a pretty good definition of a how heroism works in the real world.

Rating:
Summary: One selfless act of courage can really mess up your life
Review: "Hero" has an interesting premise because it has such an unlikely title character, namely Bernie LaPlante, a born loser played by Dustin Hoffman. Bernie is a small-time thief who has been thrown out of the house by his wife (Joan Cusak), whose son (James Madio) has pretty much written him off, and who is once again on the brink of being sent back to the slammer by a judge (Warren Berlinger). Looking over his options, Bernie figures his best play is to try and make amends with his son before he goes away for a few years. But bad luck pursues Bernie with a vengeance. Not only does his car break down but an airplane crashes in front of him and some kid who walks out of the wreckage bawling about his father being trapped in the plane. Complaining every step of the way, Bernie rescues several passengers, the last of whom is Gale Gayley (Geena Davis), Channel 4 News Reporter. She never sees much beyond a face covered in soot and mud, and the only photograph of her rescuer show a silhouette against the flames, so the story she ends up doing is about "The Angel of Flight 104." Meanwhile, insult is added to injury for Bernie, who lost one of his shoes during the rescue. The other he gives to cabbie John Bubber (Andy Garcia), all the while complaining about how stupid it was to try and be a hero.

Of course, this is all just prologue to the rest of the film, because Gale's television station offers a reward of $1 million for the identity of the mystery man who saved all those lives. Bernie could use the million dollars, but John has the shoe that matches the one the rescue workers found stuck in the mud. Besides, Bernie told John enough of the story for the imposter to get the details right. You also have to keep in mind that in "Hero" no good deed goes unpunished. That is because Bernie did something else when he got Gale out of that airplane, because John really is a good soul, who feels guilty about having so many people praise him for something he did not do, and because Gale is having more than thankful feelings for John. It is going to be really hard to pull a happy ending out of this film with all the bad things waiting to happen.

It is hard for older viewers to watch "Hero" and not see some strong similarities to some of Frank Capra's films such as "It Happened One Night" and "Meet John Doe," where journalists are at the heart of the story. Certainly the performance by Chevy Chase as Gale's boss harkens back to that tradition. But this 1992 film, also known as "Accidental Hero," lacks the soul of the true Capricorn film. More importantly, there does not really seem to be a big point behind all the drama. I keep thinking that there is something deeper going on here, but when Bernie gets to deliver the film's big speech, there is just too much cynicism for it to be really profound. This idea is reinforced at the end of the film where the final scene goes for a punch line. I also explored the idea that this film was a penetrating look at the modern mass media circus, but the great insight along those lines is basically do not believe anything you see on television, which is not as helpful a bit of advice as it might seem.

The performances are certainly solid enough, with Hoffman turning in one that comes across like Ratzo Rizzo's cousin (with a lower voice). Davis plays plucky well and Garcia has an innate earnestness that serves him well in different situations. Cuzak is once again wasted in a fine supporting role, but she is the one that has to reveal that big irony about her husband Bernie: he is really good in a crisis, which is when he forgets to be Bernie LaPlante and be a real human being. You have to admit, that is a pretty good definition of a how heroism works in the real world.

Rating:
Summary: A WONDERFUL FILM
Review: A perfect cast, great story, wonderful humor, and a beautiful heart.It deserves so much more credit.

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Hoffman
Review: An average story which is sort of naive. I rated this 4 star all because of the great actor, Mr. Hoffman.

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad....Not Bad At All
Review: At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like it.
The whole concept of this film seemed a little
too unbelievable, and far-fetched.

But, by the end...I was enjoying it!

"Hero" makes a few interesting points,
that we as the public- never think about
when it comes to the media.

- Are we ALWAYS watching the hero
or someone who just took the credit?

-Does the media focus too much on
certain icons while others are left behind?

-Aren't we all heros in some way?

Surprisingly, this was an enjoyable movie.
Some laughs, some tears & some good points!
An over-looked Hoffman flick..

"Where's my shoes?"







Rating:
Summary: Absolutely hysterical
Review: Dustin Hoffman and Andy Garcia are incredibly funny. Every person who watches TV news should listen to Gena Davis' speech with interest.It's set so you think you know what will happen ‹ and they take off with so much more. Many great one-liners. The ending is just icing on the cake.

Rating:
Summary: AN OTHER ACTOR VERY VERY MUCH INTELLIGENT
Review: Dustin HOFFMAN is a PRODIGIOUS PHENOMENAL ACTOR in THIS SPLENDID MOVIE and he demonstrate witch he is able to conceive a role who's consist to be a FALSE COWARD ! He don't like the photographs the PUBLICITY for HIM and PREFEAR his SON at anything in his life he is contrained to make many things, ... stranges to retain his natural propensity to rob anything, EVEN his ADVOCATE FOR PAY SHE IN A SAME TIME WONDERFULL DUSTIN HOFFMAN AND HIS MOMENTARY FRIEND WHO'S ANDY GARCIA WHO'S AN OTHER WONDERFULL ACTOR !!!!! SPLENDID MOVIE !!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Hoffman is great here!
Review: Dustin Hoffman is Bernie, a selfish nasty guy who barely shows up at his ex-wife's to spend time with his kid. One night as he is driving to her house to fulfill his parental duty, he sees a downed plane in a field. Irritated but grudgingly acknowledging he should do the right thing, he pries open the door to free the passengers. He goes in and finds the unconscious Gale (Davis), who is a newscaster back from an awards show. Seeing everyone to safety, Bernie hails a cab and continues on his way.

Gale goes on TV looking for her hero. The cabdriver to whom Bernie told his tale then takes credit. He is handsome, seems nice and apparently saved an entire airplane full of people -- a media dream! Bernie sees all this on TV and gets aggravated to no end. But no one believes him that he did such a heroic deed.

The farce continues till it is indeed discovered, through a convoluted turn of events, who the real hero is. Mostly, thouh, Bernie wants to prove to his son that he can do a good thing every now and then, even if people won't believe you. As he philosophizes, the world is just layers of "poop". You peel through the layers till you find "poop" you can live with, and then that's your "poop"!!!

Rating:
Summary: Hero is a Hero
Review: Funny and warm hearted story of three people (Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, and Andy Garcia) who show the press, the public, and each other what a hero is all about. Intelligent script, direction, and great acting all come together to tell a real human story.

Rating:
Summary: Hero is a Hero
Review: Funny and warm hearted story of three people (Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, and Andy Garcia) who show the press, the public, and each other what a hero is all about. Intelligent script, direction, and great acting all come together to tell a real human story.