Mad City
Sam Baily, upset over losing his job, takes a natural history museum hostage. Max Brackett, journalist, is in the museum when this occurs, and gets the scoop. The story spreads nation wide, and soon it is all anyone talks about. The story itself is the news, not the reason why or the real people behind it.
The film box office disappointment against its respectable budget of $50.0M, earning $10.5M globally (-79% loss). While initial box office returns were modest, the film has gained appreciation for its unconventional structure within the crime genre.
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
Mad City (1997) showcases precise narrative architecture, characteristic of Costa-Gavras's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 54 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 7.3, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Sam Baily, recently fired museum security guard, struggles financially while TV reporter Max Brackett faces career decline at a small-market station.. Of particular interest, this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 13 minutes when Sam Baily accidentally shoots a security guard during a confrontation at the museum where he came to beg for his job back. The gun goes off, creating a hostage crisis.. At 12% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 28 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 25% of the runtime. This shows the protagonist's commitment to Max makes the active choice to become Sam's media representative and spokesperson, convincing Sam to trust him. Max calls his network contacts to turn this into a national story., moving from reaction to action.
At 56 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 49% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Of particular interest, this crucial beat False victory: Max achieves network reinstatement and Sam becomes a sympathetic national figure. The situation seems manageable, but Max has fully committed to exploitation, raising the stakes of his moral compromise., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 85 minutes (75% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, Sam Baily commits suicide on live television, unable to bear the pressure and realizing he's been used. The "whiff of death" is literal - Sam dies as a result of Max's manipulation and the media feeding frenzy., reveals the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 93 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 82% of the runtime. Max realizes he must expose the truth about media manipulation and his own culpability. He synthesizes his insider knowledge with his rediscovered conscience to confront the system., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
Mad City's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs structural analysis methodology used to understand storytelling architecture. By mapping Mad City against these established plot points, we can identify how Costa-Gavras utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish Mad City within the crime genre.
Costa-Gavras's Structural Approach
Among the 5 Costa-Gavras films analyzed on Arcplot, the average structural score is 6.9, demonstrating varied approaches to story architecture. Mad City represents one of the director's most structurally precise works. For comparative analysis, explore the complete Costa-Gavras filmography.
Comparative Analysis
Additional crime films include The Bad Guys, Batman Forever and 12 Rounds. For more Costa-Gavras analyses, see Missing, Music Box and State of Siege.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Sam Baily, recently fired museum security guard, struggles financially while TV reporter Max Brackett faces career decline at a small-market station.
Theme
Max's colleague mentions how media creates and destroys stories: "It's not about truth, it's about what sells." The theme of media manipulation and exploitation is stated.
Worldbuilding
Introduction to Max Brackett's desperate attempt to revive his career, Sam Baily's financial desperation after losing his job, and the local museum setting where their paths will cross.
Disruption
Sam Baily accidentally shoots a security guard during a confrontation at the museum where he came to beg for his job back. The gun goes off, creating a hostage crisis.
Resistance
Max, trapped inside the museum, debates whether to help Sam or exploit the situation. Sam panics about what to do. Max begins positioning himself as Sam's advocate while secretly seeing his ticket back to network news.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
Max makes the active choice to become Sam's media representative and spokesperson, convincing Sam to trust him. Max calls his network contacts to turn this into a national story.
Mirror World
The relationship between Max and Sam deepens. Sam represents genuine humanity and desperation, mirroring what Max has lost in his cynical career. Sam's trust in Max creates moral weight.
Premise
The media circus: Max orchestrates Sam's story for maximum drama, the siege becomes national news, Max's career resurrects as he conducts exclusive interviews, and the museum standoff escalates into a spectacle.
Midpoint
False victory: Max achieves network reinstatement and Sam becomes a sympathetic national figure. The situation seems manageable, but Max has fully committed to exploitation, raising the stakes of his moral compromise.
Opposition
The situation deteriorates: other media outlets manipulate the story, Sam grows more unstable and desperate, Max's producer pushes for more sensational content, and Max realizes he's lost control of the narrative monster he created.
Collapse
Sam Baily commits suicide on live television, unable to bear the pressure and realizing he's been used. The "whiff of death" is literal - Sam dies as a result of Max's manipulation and the media feeding frenzy.
Crisis
Max confronts the horror of what his ambition has wrought. He processes the guilt of Sam's death and the role media sensationalism played in destroying an innocent, desperate man.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Max realizes he must expose the truth about media manipulation and his own culpability. He synthesizes his insider knowledge with his rediscovered conscience to confront the system.
Synthesis
Max attempts to reveal the truth about how the media orchestrated the tragedy, but faces resistance from the network and other journalists who want to protect their narrative and ratings.
Transformation
Max is professionally destroyed, abandoned by the media establishment. Unlike the opening where he desperately sought relevance, he now walks away with integrity but at tremendous cost - a tragic transformation.