Year:
1999
Studio:
Touchstone Pictures
Movie:
4/5
DVD:
1/5
Teaser
It's The Public vs Big Tobacco. In the biggest case of corporate
malfeasance in American History, "60 Minutes" has a story that can
break the case wide open and doom the Tobacco Companies. They have the
former Vice President of Research for the #4 tobacco company, willing
to testify in the Mississippi Courts and interview with reporter Mike
Wallace. But can threats and legal maneuvering stop The Insider from
talking?
Movie
"The Insider" is a taut drama with Russel Crowe playing former VP
Jeffrey Wigand and Al Pacino playing one of "60 Minutes" producers,
Lowell Bergman. It's a script based on a true story and -- not knowing
the actual story -- it feels right. It's amazingly hard to go up
against a big corporation fighting for its life and the\ movie brings
that out clearly.
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There are a
couple of things that missed (and maybe that's because the
DVD I had was badly scratched so I had to skip a minute a couple of
times). The one that I remember is that Wigand sends a box of documents
somewhere and they end up at Bergman's. Bergman is then referred to
Wigand as an expert consultant and things go from there, but the box of
I would think incriminating documents is never heard from again.
Actors
Al Pacino and Russell Crowe are both very good. I think this was
Crowe's first big film and for the most part you can't tell it's Crowe.
Wigand just seems to look a lot different. Christopher Plummer (as Mike
Wallace) and Diane Verona (as Wigand's wife Liane) also do good jobs.
I'm not sure if Mike Wallace liked his characterization, but it at
least was acted well.
DVD
There is a 7-minute featurette and the script for one of the scenes,
plus the theatrical trailer. No cast and crew bios even. It's a minimal
DVD.
Recommendations
It's a good movie. At over 2-1/2 hours it is a bit long. But though it
looks bleak at times, it is an engrossing story with a satisfying
ending.
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