Hero

Stephen Frears' Hero is a contemporary re-working of a Frank Capra-styled fable about a two-bit criminal named Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) who saves several passengers from a plane crash and leaves the scene without being identified, leaving only a lost shoe for identification. One of the passengers ...more

Stephen Frears' fusion of Capra fantasy and Sturges satire is often as sharply hilarious as its models, but veers off the track with an inflated finish. Dustin Hoffman stars as a petty thief who pulls 54 people out of a downed plane, but must allow an attractive homeless man (Andy Garcia) to accept the hefty reward, due to his understandable need to "keep a low profile." The film sets up the grimy reality of the character's life, playing it humorously off his nearly paranoid delusions, while ...more