F.I.S.T.
by Norman Jewison
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: David Huffman, Melinda Dillon, Peter Boyle, Rod Steiger, Sylvester StalloneDirector: Norman Jewison
Brand: Sony
Writer: Sylvester Stallone
Cinematographer: László Kovács
Producer: Norman Jewison
Editor: Graeme Clifford
Producer: Gene Corman
Producer: Patrick J. Palmer
Writer: Joe Eszterhas
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 145 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-12-13
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of F.I.S.T.
Movie Review: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Kovak
Summary: 5 Stars
F.I.S.T., 1978 film
Men are loading crates on a truck. They dislike their working conditions. A wildcat strike leads to a promise of better conditions. [Campaign promises?] The next day there is a lockout of the workers who asked for better working conditions. The head of the local union asks Johnny to work as an organizer to sign up workers for the trucking union. Its not easy. An overworked driver can have an accident and become unable to work. A lawyer offers him money to work for the corporation; it is rejected. [Kovak was fooled once.] Anna tells Johnny about two girls who were fired and blacklisted. A gang of men attacks him for his union work. The head of the union warns against agitators. Johnny's friend is also beaten as a warning. The union wants medical insurance and paid overtime. The corporation offers nothing. There is a strike.
A gang attacks the striking workers with baseball bats. One man shoots Monahan, the local president. Johnny leads the men now. John L. Lewis supports them. The union will strike back. "Its time." [They don't tell who are the opponents of the union.] Its like urban warfare. The company settles with the union. Johnny travels to other cities to organize truckers. Then he makes a deal with a jukebox distributor. Is he on the take? Johnny goes to Washington and answers questions. Who owns the company that makes those toy trucks? This and other information is used to get the union president's resignation, and his replacement by Johnny Kovak. Kovak is a hard bargainer; he gets an 8% increase. But the corporations strike back with a Senate investigation. [Who owns the Washington Senators?] Does power corrupt? Were there ties to organized crime?
Mr. Milano is questioned by Senator Graham about his loans from the Trucking Pension Fund. Vinnie Doyle takes the Fifth Amendment when asked his name. [For legal reasons.] A convoy of trucks blocks the streets of Washington. Abe Belkin is called by Senator Graham; will he talk? He had to make deals. There is a hold-up at a grocery store, the robber shoots Abe Belkin and his guard. Kovak represents the 3 million members of his union. Kovak says he never took nothing. He once killed in self-defense in 1938. Senator Graham provokes him into leaving the hearing. [Background investigation?] One night Johnny comes home late. Two men greet him with a shotgun. [This is a fictionalized version based on actual history.]
The trucker's union started in the Mid-West and spread to other states with the same conditions. Around 1940 a new law was passed to eliminate the radical leaders. They were replaced by men who cooperated with organized crime. Corporations had long used gun men and organized crime to oppress workers since the 1870s until workers were unionized in the 1930s. The Establishment prefers corrupt union leaders who will make sweetheart deals with corporations. The Eastern Conference of truckers was forced to turn over their pension fund to Wall Street; they earned about 1% to 2%. The Western Conference of truckers kept control of their pension fund and earned about 3% to 4%. [These figures are not recent.] The Senate Investigations were a way to attack unions and allow Wall Street to get control of their pension funds. Does Wall Street control your pension funds? Would you want them to put your money into synthetic CDOs?
Summary of F.I.S.T.
Sylvester Stallone stars in this hard-hitting, boldly ambitious drama that powerfully reveals a significant slice of American history. As union leader Johnny Kovak, Stallone's performance confirmed his stature as one of Hollywood's hottest stars. Closely paralleling history, the film follows the rise and fall of Kovak, from his beginnings as an idealistic blue-collar worker to his final position as head of one of the country's most powerful unions: the Federation of Inter-State Truckers. But there are no unscarred heroes in this world. To achieve his dream of justice for the working man, Kovak must accept the muscle of organized crime. Ultimately, F.I.S.T. is a story of idealism corrupted and betrayed. Oscar® winner Rod Steiger (1967 Best Actor, In the Heat of the Night), Peter Boyle and Brian Dennehy are featured in the fine supporting cast. Directed by Norman Jewison, with Laszlo Kovac's darkly moody cinematography and a heroic score by Rocky composer Bill Conti, F.I.S.T. is "a particularly American kind of epic" (Vincent Canby, The New York Times).Similar DVD Movies
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