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The Insider [Region 2] | ![The Insider [Region 2]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AFDVCE7QL._SL500_.jpg) | Director: Michael Mann
Actors: Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Philip Baker Hall
Category: DVD
Buy Used: $26.69
as of 2/9/2010 16:40 EST details
Seller: valleycd
Rating:  263 reviews
Sales Rank: 245751
Format: PAL
Languages: German (Subtitled), Arabic (Original Language), English (Original Language), Japanese (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Running Time: 157 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.3 x 0.6
EAN: 4012050138486
ASIN: B00004ZEG6
Theatrical Release Date: November 5, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com essential video
As revisionist history, Michael Mann's intelligent docudrama The Insider is a simmering brew of altered facts and dramatic license. In a broader perspective, however, the film (cowritten with Forrest Gump Oscar-winner Eric Roth) is effectively accurate as an engrossing study of ethics in the corruptible industries of tobacco and broadcast journalism. On one side, there is Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), the former tobacco scientist who violated contractual agreements to expose Brown & Williamson's inclusion of addictive ingredients in cigarettes, casting himself into a vortex of moral dilemma. On the other side is 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), whose struggle to report Wigand's story puts him at odds with veteran correspondent Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) and senior executives at CBS News. As the urgency of the story increases, so does the film's palpable sense of paranoia, inviting favorable comparison to All the President's Men. While Pacino downplays the theatrical excess that plagued him in previous roles, Crow is superb as a man who retains his tortured integrity at great personal cost. The Insider is two movies--a cover-up thriller and a drama about journalistic ethics--that combine to embrace the noble values personified by Wigand and Bergman. Even if the details aren't always precise (as Mike Wallace and others protested prior to the film's release), the film adheres to a higher truth that was so blatantly violated by tobacco executives seen in an oft-repeated video clip, lying under oath in the service of greed. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 263
 excellent and a half January 23, 2010
William R. Nicholas (Mahwah, NJ USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Insider would have worked as a plot-driven film. Jeff Weigand has his family and career destroyed when he revelas corperate dirt on big tabacco.
But what makes the film so incredible is that it is in fact charactor driven, not just moved ahead by story. The cerebral, family oritented yet emotional Wiegand-Russel Crowe-is contrasted with the hip, radical 60 Minutes Producer Lowell Bergman, played by Al Pachino.
Both charactors dig their heals into their positions, and watcing these two passionate but extremely bright guys in give and take is simply incredible to watch.
The acting is incredible. Both men want, often, conflicting things--Wiegand some shred of privacy and protection, Bergman his story and all he needs to know to protect Wiegand.
The subtance of the tobacco litigation is interesting. But the drives of both men--and how smartly this is discussed-is what makes the Insider a cut above most whistle blower movies.
 NOT THAT IMPRESSED January 12, 2010
LindaC (PA, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just saw this movie last night, then read all these reviews. I have to say, I wasn't too impressed. Overdone, over-dramatic, way too self-important and smug - stereotypes of the good whistleblower and the evil corporations, I've had it with Hollywood, which has popularized the "coolness" of smoking since the 40's, maybe even the 30's. The acting was good enough. But to me, it's just another political message from Hollywood. And what was the end result of all this angst? A multi-billion dollar settlement, most of which went to lawyers, and the cigarette companies are still operating as usual. The government could have banned cigarettes, but they want the tax revenue. People smoke because they want to, and no one is going to stop them until they decide they want to stop. And come on, everyone knew way before this 'expose' that cigarettes caused cancer. Did they beef up the nicotine properties? I guess so, but again, if cigarettes cause cancer, they cause cancer, whether there is a little more or less nicotine per cigarette. Hey, I hate cigarettes and never smoked. But let's get real here.
By the way, I saw "Avatar" last week and again, the political message and stereotypes- evil Americans against hippie-tree worshipping pagans, ruined it for me.
Go watch The Insider Today! January 6, 2010
J. Hopper (Seattle, WA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you didn't get a chance to see The Insider back in 1999 when it came out, rent it today. The film has a stellar cast, including Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, and Chistopher Plummer, and it does an excellent job of depicting the personal sacrifices whistleblowers make when they stand up to corporations engaged in wrongdoing.
Russell Crowe plays Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, a biochemist, whose whistleblowing activities eventually led to the historic $368 billion settlement between the tobacco industry and the attorneys general of 40 states on June 20, 1997. Wigand served as Vice President of Research and Development for Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation from December 1988 to March 1993. During his time at Brown and Williamson, Wigand learned that the company enhanced the effect of nicotine in its products through the use of chemical additives. It also became clear to Dr. Wigand that the tobacco industry was deliberately misrepresenting tobacco as a non-addictive substance.
Brown and Williamson eventually fired Dr. Wigand, and it gave him a severance package and made him sign a non-disclosure agreement in the hope that he would keep quiet. However, in 1995, Dr. Wigand went public with his damning information about Brown and Williamson and the tobacco industry.
Dr. Wigand gave a deposition in 1995 for a lawsuit brought by the State of Mississippi against the tobacco industry for health care cost reimbursement. (Mississippi was the first in a long line of states to become involved in tobacco litigation). Later, in early 1996, Dr. Wigand was interviewed on 60 Minutes for what would become an enormously controversial segment. The interview did not air until 1999 due to various delays. CBS refused to broadcast it for several months because the network was concerned that Brown and Williamson would sue it for tortious interference. The network was afraid that Brown and Williamson would claim that CBS had caused Wigand to break his confidentiality agreement with his former employer by doing the interview.
The Insider does an excellent job of exploring the fallout from Wigand's revelations and its effect on his personal life. Wigand began to fear for his family's safety-justifiably-after receiving death threats. In one particularly chilling instance, someone left a bullet in Wigand's mailbox. This incident is depicted in the film with Crowe/Wigand opening his mailbox and bending down to look inside. A camera at the opposite end of the mailbox shows a bullet standing on its flat end directly on top of the mail, almost in silhouette against Wigand's face. The threats eventually required Wigand to be guarded at all times by two ex-secret service agents.
Unfortunately, the stress surrounding Wigand's public disclosures ended his marriage. Wigand also experienced a big change in socioeconomic status after he was forced out of his lucrative tobacco excutive position and became a high school teacher. To add insult to injury, Brown and Williamson mounted a disgraceful smear campaign, complete with a 500-page dossier intended to portray Wigand as a liar. The dossier was given to The Wall Street Journal, which, after an investigation, found that many of the claims made against Wigand were "backed by scant or contradictory evidence" or "demonstrably untrue."
After you've watched the film, visit Dr. Wigand's website to see what this famous whistleblower is up to now.
(written by The Qui Tam Team, [...])
 Let's be honest . . . December 1, 2009
Eric S. Kim (Southern California)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Well, it's official. Michael Mann has now become one of my favorite directors. He has directed three of my favorite films: Heat, The Insider, & Collateral. Although I'm bit more for the styles of Stanley Kubrick & Tim Burton, I still admire Mann's own. His way of bringing realistic drama into his own films is a very intriguing (not to mention satisfying) experience. The flow, the realistic environments, and the refreshingly adult content that surrounds his motion pictures is something that should be fully understood especially in today's cinema. Almost every scene is an example of visual poetry: the shootout in Heat, the coyote in Collateral, the waterfall in The Last of the Mohicans, etc. The man really knows how to make a great film, and The Insider is proof of that. Made ten years ago by Touchstone, this political thriller deals with two subjects: the tobacco industry and the media. However, this doesn't move like an action adventure, complete with Colt Commandos and car chases and governmental technology. No, this moves like a Nelson DeMille thriller. It's all about dialogue, character development, and lack of glorification of any sort. This is a compelling human drama that never succumbs to melodramatic overtones.
The movie is based on the true story of Jeffrey Wigand (played brilliantly by Russell Crowe), who at the time was Vice President for a tobacco company called Brown & Williamson. He has been terminated from his job, and "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman (played amazingly by Al Pacino) suspects that this has to do with the whistleblower policy. The two eventually meet and Wigand explains to Bergman why he was fired. This becomes an official story for "60 Minutes," while it leads to Wigand into a courtroom where he tells the truth about Brown & Williamson. This is only the beginning. The tobacco industry starts to fight back at Wigand and "60 Minutes," and it's only a matter of chance that our two heroes will succeed in telling the truth.
As I said before, Crowe and Pacino are absolutely excellent here. While not exactly looking similar to the real Wigand and Bergman, it looks like they've got the personas down to a T. The supporting cast is close to perfection. Christopher Plummer, Philip Baker Hall, Diane Venora, Colm Feore, Gina Gershon, Michael Gambon, and Bruce McGill give wonderful performances. I especially love McGill's rant during the courtroom scene: that REALLY shut his opponent up, didn't it? But I think the best thing about this movie is the script. There is solid dialogue throughout, and it really sounds like how real people would say things. Eric Roth and Michael Mann should be given props for this screenwriting. It's a shame they didn't win an Oscar, though.
You know, I could go on praising this film even more, but Amazon has its limits when it comes to customer reviews. So I'll just finish by saying that this is a deeply powerful film about the tobacco industry and the media. It's a film that makes you think, makes you see through harsh reality, makes you want to see more from Mann, Pacino, and Crowe. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I think you will, too.
Grade: A
About the DVD screen format !! September 13, 2009
HankSter (Area 51)
It is 2.35 Anamorphic
The only thing I noticed unusual is that the horiz. black bars are uneven, 33% on top and 66% on bottom. Its not 50/50 or horiz. centered as with most other 2.35:1. It's NOT a BIG DEAL, just a little horiz. offset.
Great Movie, still worth purchasing !!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 263
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