“City Hall” quotes
(1996)
Title City Hall
Year 1996
Director Harold Becker
Genre Drama, Thriller
Year 1996
Director Harold Becker
Genre Drama, Thriller
Plot – A black child accidentally dies during a shootout in New York between a cop, Eddie Santos, and a drug dealer on probation, Tino, grandson of mob boss Paul Zapatti. It is an ugly story that can damage the political scaffolding painstakingly built by Mayor John Pappas of the Democratic Party. For this reason his deputy, the young Kevin Calhoun, is struggling on one side with lawyer Marybeth Cogan, who is defending Santos' widow's rights, and on the other with Frank Anselmo, a Democratic leader. Anselmo is interested in the extension of a subway line connected to a huge commercial project that is wanted by businessmen in cahoots with Zapatti, whose involvement dates back to Tino's unusual release on probation, and Anselmo is a friend of Zapatti. Following a lead, Calhoun meets Larry Schwartz, who works in court: he reveals that he only endorsed the document, which was actually issued by Judge Walter Stern, a man above suspicion. Schwartz, who asked Anselmo in vain for protection, is killed while calling Calhoun.
All actors – Al Pacino, John Cusack, Bridget Fonda, Danny Aiello, Martin Landau, David Paymer, Anthony Franciosa, Richard Schiff, Lindsay Duncan, Nestor Serrano, Mel Winkler, Lauren Vélez, Chloe Morris, Ian Quinlan, Roberta Peters, Angel David, Larry Romano, Rob LaBelle, Ray Aranha, Jaliyl Lynn, John C. Vennema, Steve Aronson, Jerome X. O'Donovan, Mark Lonow, Murphy Guyer, John Finn, Richard Gant, Tamara Tunie, Fran Brill, Brian Murray, John Slattery, Benny Nieves, Miguel Sierra, Sylvia Kauders, Brenda Thomas, Gerry Vichi, Ernest F. Hollings, Jordan Baker, Leonard Chapman, Tony Capone, Jennifer Prescott, Joseph Kelly, Harry Bugin, Ron L. Cox, Kaity Tong, Amy Atkins, Brenda Pressley, Michael O'Looney, Carl White, Mary Murphy, Justin Ashforth, Charles Gemmill, Gina Rice, Roma Torre, Jack Cafferty, Lewis Dodley, Ed Koch, Stanley Anderson, Sally Mayes, Lucia Mendoza, Geoffrey Wade, Gloria K. Smith, James F. Gainer, Alex Ballar, Sedly Bloomfield, Michael Carrara, Nancy Duerr, Brian Ferrari, Harrison Freed, Dorinda Katz, Marshall Dancing Elk Lucas, Michael Luceri, Michael Luggio, Romano Mosca, Michelle Rouhani, Ralph A. Villani, Don Wallace
show all“City Hall” Quotes 20 quotes
“A man's life is not the bricks, it's the mortar, pappy, it's the stuff that lays between, the stuff... the stuff you can't see.”
“- Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun: You keep looking at that thing as if it weren't kosher.
- Abe Goodman: A cut of meat is kosher. A piece of fish, savory foods, and all kinds of dang things are kosher, but a probation report is not kosher. A probation report is merely a probation report.”“- Frank Anselmo: What are you talking about? He's a reed. You push him and... and he bends.
- Paul Zapatti: Not this one. This one's a terrier! I had a dog like him once. I went to have him put down. He jumped out of my arms at the vet's and took off for the park. Sometimes I still think I see him out there, watching me, gnawing on an old bone...”“You want an answer? Okay, pappy, think of it as colors. There's black, and there's white, and in between is mostly gray. That's us. Now gray is a tough color, because it's not as simple as black and white - and for the media, certainly not as interesting. But... it's what we are.”
“- Mayor John Pappas: You don't know what menschkeit means?
- Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun: No, I don't.
- Mayor John Pappas: Menschkeit, you know... something between men... it's about honor, and character... untranslatable. That's why it's Yiddish.”“- Marybeth Cogan: You're a mean prick, you know that?
- Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun: Where I come from, that's a compliment.”“Why is it, every time you can do some good, the nice people come in and mess you up?”
“- Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun: Walter Stern looked so judicial. How could he be so corrupt?
- Abe Goodman: The sweater unravels.”“- Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun: Then I'll have to get a dishwasher.
- Mayor John Pappas: You don't have to wash them, just throw 'em out after you finish eating. It's on me. Get a life!
- Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun: I've got yours; it's quite enough.”- Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun: If I didn't know better, I'd be bursting with admiration. I thought I'd come here and find you on your knees; instead you're ready to turn adversity into triumph.
- Mayor John Pappas: Oh, it's just a reflex, an old habit of mine. But it's still good to hear you say it... the way you say it, too. "Adversity into... (continue)(continue reading)“- Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun: You look good.
- Mayor John Pappas: Of course - I'm the mayor.”“The only thing new about this world is the history we don't know.”
“- Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun: Where you going?
- Marybeth Cogan: The city.
- Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun: Thought we were in the city.
- Marybeth Cogan: Not if you're from Queens.”I had the fire in the belly just like you and the odd thing is I still have it. Never left me! I had the dream... and I had the weight. Like one of those guys before me said "If a sparrow falls in Central Park, I feel responsible".
“Your power? What good are you to the people without it? But down deep you know there's a line you can't cross, and after a thousand trades and one deal too many, the line gets rubbed out.”
“Be careful how you judge people, most of all friends. You don't sum up a man's life in one moment.”
“Distance is something you do to your enemies. It's a thing of the nineties, to make friends extinct. Distance... is the absence of menschkeit!”
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