New York City Mayor John Pappas makes a speech. His admiring deputy mayor Kevin Calhoun watches and narrates the scene. Meanwhile, NYPD Detective Eddie Santos and mob figure Tino Zapatti kill each other in a shootout on a Brooklyn street corner. A stray bullet from Santos's gun also kills a 6-year-old boy.
Tino was the nephew of mob boss Paul Zapatti, and questions are raised about why he was free on probation. To contain the outrage, Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun investigates. Internal Affairs intends to portray Santos as a dirty cop. Detective's Endowment Association lawyer Marybeth Cogan does her best to protect Santos's family and becomes Calhoun's reluctant ally.
Calhoun's investigation leads to Frank Anselmo, a Brooklyn political boss who has connections to the Zapatti family. Anselmo plants money at Zapatti's behest to frame Santos. Calhoun and Cogan continue to seek the truth from a number of sources, including Santos's partner and another Zapatti relative. After the murder of probation officer Larry Schwartz, they conclude that Judge Walter Stern is receiving illegal income. Mayor Pappas agrees that Stern must resign.
The scandal escalates to Zapatti instructing Anselmo to die by suicide rather than become an informant or go to jail. To protect his family, Anselmo shoots himself. Calhoun discovers that Stern owes his judgeship to a bribe that Anselmo delivered on behalf of the Zapattis to keep Tito out of jail. Pappas engineered the scheme. Shocked and disheartened, Calhoun tells Pappas that he must resign. Although Pappas wants to fight the imminent scandal, he admires Calhoun's integrity and acquiesces.
Tom Cruise was in preliminary negotiations to star in the film, but negotiations quickly fell apart.[4][5]
Reception
Critical response
City Hall has a 60% approval rating, based on 25 reviews, at Rotten Tomatoes. The critics' consensus reads: "City Hall explores political corruption with commendable intelligence, but this web of scandal struggles to coalesce into satisfying drama."[6] At CinemaScore, it holds a "B–" rating on a scale of A+ to F.[7]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four. He wrote, "Many of the parts of City Hall are so good that the whole should add up to more, but it doesn't."[8]
Janet Maslin of The New York Times had high praise for Danny Aiello's "beauty of a performance", calling it the "heart of the tale".[9]
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly graded the film B–. He wrote, "If you're going to travel the familiar labyrinth of corruption, it helps to have John Cusack as your guide."[10]
The Washington Post concluded, "What prevents 'City Hall' from being an outright failure is its intriguing sense of detail."[11]
Variety called City Hall a "Greek tragedy" that "aims to tell the dark truth about a modern metropolis yet doesn't stint on fun".[12]
Many reviewers praised the chemistry of the two leads. The Daily Telegraph wrote, "The relationship between Pacino and Cusack is more than seductive enough to hold audience attention."[13]
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution gave the film 2½ stars out of 4. It felt that the film was "Less than the sum of its parts...But give it credit for trying."[14]
Philadelphia Daily News was grateful that the film "gives us a political drama with engaging moral and ethical dimensions. The movie is a welcome change from the fluff of 'The American President' and the self-indulgent freak show that was 'Nixon'."[15]
Box office
The film was released on February 16, 1996, in 1,815 theaters. It debuted at number 4 at the United States box office, grossing $8 million.[16] For its second weekend, it landed at number 6, grossing $13.8 million. The film grossed $20.3 million in the U.S. and Canada,[17] and $13.1 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $33.4 million.[2]
