The Insider

Also Known As: 60 Minutes

Company: Blue Lion Entertainment / Forward Pass / Kaitz Productions

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Plot: Balls-out "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman sniffs a story when a former research biologist for Brown & Williamson, Jeff Wigand, won't talk to him. When the company leans hard on Wigand to honor a confidentiality agreement, he gets his back up. Trusting Bergman and despite a crumbling marriage, he goes on camera for a Mike Wallace interview and risks arrest for contempt of court. Westinghouse is negotiating to buy CBS, so CBS attorneys advise CBS News to shelve the interview and avoid a lawsuit. "60 Minutes" and CBS News bosses cave, Wigand is hung out to dry, Bergman is compromised, and the CEOs of Big Tobacco may get away with perjury. Will the truth out?

Cast and Character: Al Pacino as Lowell Bergman / Russell Crowe as Jeffrey Wigand / Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace / Diane Venora as Liane Wigand / Philip Baker Hall as Don Hewitt / Lindsay Crouse as Sharon Tiller / Debi Mazar as Debbie De Luca / Stephen Tobolowsky as Eric Kluster / Colm Feore as Richard Scruggs / Bruce McGill as Ron Motley / Gina Gershon as Helen Caperelli / Michael Gambon as Thomas Sandefur / Rip Torn as John Scanlon / Lynne Thigpen as Mrs. Williams / Hallie Kate Eisenberg as Barbara Wigand

Creators: n/A

Description: A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a "60 Minutes" expose on Big Tobacco.

Directors: Michael Mann

Genres: Biography / Drama / Thriller

Location: Abaco Island, Bahamas

MPAA: Rated R for language

Opening Weekend: £437,078

Poster: posters/0140352.jpg

Rating: 7.9

Release Date: 5 November 1999 (USA)

Runtime: 157 min

Seasons: n/A

Sound Mix: DTS / Dolby Digital / SDDS

Tagline: Two men driven to tell the truth... whatever the cost.

Title: The Insider

Trailer:

Url: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140352/

Votes: 102,016

Writers: Marie Brenner / Eric Roth

Year: 1999

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The Insider got rated 7.9.

About the movie: Balls-out "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman sniffs a story when a former research biologist for Brown & Williamson, Jeff Wigand, won't talk to him. When the company leans hard on Wigand to honor a confidentiality agreement, he gets his back up. Trusting Bergman and despite a crumbling marriage, he goes on camera for a Mike Wallace interview and risks arrest for contempt of court. Westinghouse is negotiating to buy CBS, so CBS attorneys advise CBS News to shelve the interview and avoid a lawsuit. "60 Minutes" and CBS News bosses cave, Wigand is hung out to dry, Bergman is compromised, and the CEOs of Big Tobacco may get away with perjury. Will the truth out?

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The Informer got rated 7.5.

About the movie: Dublin, 1922. Gypo Nolan, strong but none too bright, has been ousted from the rebel organization and is starving. When he finds that his equally destitute sweetheart Katie has been reduced to prostitution, he succumbs to temptation and betrays his former comrade Frankie to the British authorities for a 20 pound reward. In the course of one gloomy, foggy night, guilt and retribution inexorably close in...

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Hoop Dreams got rated 8.0.

About the movie: This documentary follows two inner-city Chicago residents, Arthur Agee and William Gates, as they follow their dreams of becoming basketball superstars. Beginning at the start of their high school years, and ending almost 5 years later, as they start college, we watch the boys mature into men, still retaining their "Hoop Dreams". Both are recruited into the same elite high school as their idol, former Detroit Piston superstar Isiah Thomas. Only one survives the first year; the other must return to a high school closer to his home. Along the way, there is much tragedy, some joy, a great wealth of information about inner city life, and the suspense of not knowing what will occur next. This is not a "by-the-numbers" film.