The Insider (1999)

CinemaSource
director:
details
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Rating: R
Release Date: Nov 5, 1999
Running Time: 157 mins. (V)
Country Of Origin: United States
synopsis
The true story of tobacco industry whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand, the former head of development at the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co. who went public on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" as an industry informant. "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman championed Wigand's cause and after many obstacles managed to have the segment aired. The relationship between the two men developed around their struggle to reveal the truth despite personal and professional hardships.
cast + crew
Director
Lowell Bergman
Jeffrey Wigand
Mike Wallace
Liane Wigand
Don Hewitt
Sharon Tiller
Debbie De Luca
Eric Kluster
Richard Scruggs
Ron Motley
screenplay
screenplay
Source Material
Producer
Co-Producer
Associate Producer
Associate Producer
reviews
Source
December 8, 2000
Reduced to a smartass summary, The Insider is just a bunch of white guys talking for two hours and thirty-seven minutes about how truth gets compromised in America. Snooze, sorry, call PBS, I'm outta here. But such a gloss doesn't allow for the kick of Michael Mann, a director who could make visceral cinema out of a nun+s e-mail. True, Mann's work on TV (Miami Vice, Crime Story) and film (Thief, Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat) usually involves violence - be it bullets or beatings.… Continued
Source

The strengths of director Michael Mann's "The Insider" don't have much to do with its revelations about the tobacco industry, or the blurring of lines between what's newsworthy and what's good for business. The real pull in this slightly overlong account of a real-life, 60 Minutes scandal is the expert storytelling of a tale of two characters: newsman Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) and former tobacco executive Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe).

Bergman's the former producer for CBS' 60 Minutes who… Continued