Killing Jimmy Hoffa

This is a very interesting, very engrossing documentary about a figure who was on the News daily forty years ago. Hard to believe now, the most anyone born after 1960 is that he a public figure who mysteriously disappeared. But as one interviewee says in this piece, "He was a product of his times, and his times were a product of him." He was a magnetic, energetic figure, who, and, thanks to Martin Scorcese's movie The Irishman, now in the public's view again. This documentary is a good introduction of Hoffa's life for these people.

This documentary is about his disappearance, and it also a story of his life and times, of the people with whom he did business, socialized and opposed. What this documentary offers, however, perhaps unintentionally, is a history of the significant events of the last half Century - JFK's assassination, Cuba, Watergate - presented in a compelling and illuminating way. The names run like a who's-who of recent US history of the 60s and 70s. Robert Kennedy, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, various figures from the American Mafia, and most of all President John Kennedy. One take-away from the documentary is that if there is any person who is connected with all these historical figures, it is Jimmy Hoffa.

The information in this documentary cuts through all the chaff of wild theories about the assassination of John Kennedy. When viewed through the life - and death -- of Jimmy Hoffa that tragic event and those events which follow are put in a perspective which makes sense. As a result, it dispels the belief that the assassinations of President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy was the result of a lone nut.

But mainly this is a documentary that tries to pin down exactly what happened to Jimmy Hoffa. All the usual suspects and theories are examined. Archival footage, of course, is used to supplement the explanations. The documentary does not arrive at any conclusions, and as an interviewee said, we will likely never know for sure what happened. You will be left wondering yourself, not only what happened to Jimmy Hoffa but all those people, famous of not, who knew him.

It had some good photos and old video clips of those involved back then, but the outright distortions that the director guy and some of the others were making in this so called "documentary" undermined the credibility factor. I am an older guy and know most of the pertinent "basic facts" of this event and the other stuff they claimed led up to it, so when I hear the "suppositions" and in some cases outright distortions from the people talkin in this video stated and passed off as "facts" then my antenna goes up. And those suppositions started off pretty early in the documentary. Omissions are another way to glean the "leanings" of a story teller and the unmistakable omission of the Kennedy Admin debacle of the Bay of Pigs fiasco, not even a passing reference, while overstating Eisenhauer's involvement and then going past Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs directly to the Nixon connection with Hoffa through his "Commutation" of Hoffa's sentence which this so called "documentary" intentionally and repeatedly misidentifies as a "Pardon", tells me straight up that this is a biased production. Other than that it wasn't bad. LOL.

This documentary is okay. It's about a 6.5 but I had to gig it a couple stars for it's characterization of Robert F. Kennedy. Dr. Thaddeus Russell says that Bobby was someone who believed in 'noblesse oblige', that people with a better situation in life have an obligation to help out people who have less than them. He goes on to say that RFK 'looked down' on people and thought they were 'inferior' to him. That is complete nonsense. Yes, RFK believed in noblesse oblige but he didn't look down on anyone.

You can't tell me a farm worker in West Virginia has it the same as a rich family in Massachusetts. He was seeing the world for what it was and wanting EVERYBODY in U.S to have a good quality of life, education, access to healthcare and the ability to pursue what used to be called "The American Dream". He was doing what was expected of politicians of the day. He was working for the 'common good'. Right-wing media in this country has totally destroyed the common good and replaced it with bitter partisanship. But it did exist in RFK's time and he was a very good person for attempting to serve it.

Good info, but as always you need to pick the bits and pieces that you feel relevant. It's like the JFK assassination and RFK, MLK and more. There is one fact that happened and so sadly we will never know it. If you are interested in listening to people's opinions and some factual evidence in order to make your own opinion of the Hoffa disappearance/murder, then I suggest watch this video, absolutely. Does it clear anything up? Absolutely not, but then nothing will in regard to this case in 2022. My recommendation is if you want to seek opinions and evidence to help you make an opinion, watch thsi video, If you want answers, then this is probably not for you. 6/10 - Recommended, Good.

Killing Jimmy Hoffa (2014)

*** (out of 4)

There have been countless documentaries made on the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. T his one here benefits from being the most recent, which means that it contains more up-to-date stories on the investigation into his murder.

The documentary starts out a tad bit slow as it covers the rise of Hoffa. I think there was just way too much information being given in a much too fast way and it just comes across rather uninteresting. Things get a lot better once we get to the day of his disappearance as we get footage from the last location that Hoffa was seen and we also get archival news clips from the story breaking.

Several Mafia experts are interviewed with their ideas of what happened that day and we're also given the various theories of what the FBI and others believe happened. We also get to go over the confessions that have been made over the past few years. If you're interested in the aftermath of Hoffa's disappearance then this is a pretty good documentary. You certainly get a lot of information on the matter but in the end you realize that it's probably a mystery that will never fully be resolved.