The Insider (1999)

Closing out a decade comprising two iconic hits (Heat, The Last of the Mohicans), Oscar-nominated director Michael Mann decided to next collaborate with Oscar-winning writer Eric Roth (Forest Gump) on this docudrama about a controversial story which ran at the highly-rated news-program "60 Minutes" just a few years prior.  This news segment focused on an interview with "Big Tobacco" whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand (Russel Crowe) and what damaging secrets he was able to review about the questionable business practices of his former employer, Brown & Williamson.  Unfortunately this segment didn't air right away resulting from various complicating factors including political concerns at the network (CBS) airing it, ongoing litigation from Brown & Williamson, and Wigand's own personal history coming to light.  The producer on this segment and the other key "insider" in this story was 60 Minutes' Lowell Bergman played by Oscar-winner Al Pacino.  And what results is a stirring film which was beloved by critics though not by audiences....it would also receive seven Oscar nominations including for Best Picture.  It remains one of the best films from a sterling year (1999) for cinema and also featured a stacked cast including Diane Venora, Christopher Plummer, Phillip Baker Hall, Michael Gambon, Debi Mazar, Gina Gershon, and Bruce McGill.

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

THE INSIDER – 1999

Directed by Michael Mann

Starring Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora, Phillip Baker Hall, Lindsay Crouse, Debi Mazar, Stephen Tobolowsky, Colm Feore, Bruce McGill, Gina Gershon, Rip Torn, Hallie Eisenberg, Wings Hauser, and Michael Gambon

Genre: Legal Docudrama

There is about a ten minute stretch in the middle of this movie which is SO good....so emotional.....so satisfying....and so beautifully executed by every one in front of and behind the camera....that it sort of casts a shadow over the remaining 70 minutes which follows it. This is not to say the film peaks too early nor fizzles in the second half....nope this corporate/journalism docu-drama sticks the landing through its conclusion despite a FEW dated elements which pop up along the way. 🤫 But it's right around THIS key dramatic point in the story where this film cements its status as a modern masterpiece.

And it's all presented to us in a relatively straightforward yet undeniably cinematic manner partially thanks to indelibly moving guitar strings we hear through Pieter Bourke's score along with gorgeously shot waterfront vistas shot by DP Dante Spinotti. You see our main true-life protagonist Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe in the performance which SHOULD have won him the Oscar the year before Gladiator actually did) is just standing there on the coast of the Mississippi Delta - with a smattering of attorneys and heavily armed MS State Troopers scattered all around him - quietly scared, staring into the sky, and pondering what will likely be the most important decision of his life....

It's not an easy decision for sure as the personal risks are overwhelming and have just been delicately laid by a compassionate Attorney Journal elegantly played by Colm Feore. He's then asked by a perfectly understated Al Pacino (playing the OTHER titular Insider of this story, 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergmann) about what he intends to do....a haggard, white-haired Crowe doesn't have much to say except when staring down, he just quietly utters, "F@#k it, let's go to court...." And then every around him gears up, gets in their respective cars, and the camera follows a long caravan of mostly cop cars (him inside one of them of course) driving along the water....then alongside a cemetary....as those guitar strings just keep plucking away furiously.

Director Michael Mann (with co-writer Eric Roth) and Crowe and crew....all collaborate to provide the audience with what remains one of THE best cinematic presentations of what it looks and sounds like to be a true-blue, Capital H....HERO....and it just gets better from there. ;)  And I’ll get to the actual court appearance in just a bit….

For some one like myself who came of age during the 1990's seeing this on the big screen for the first time, it felt like a culmination of sorts. This was seven years after the majesty of that beautifully scored cliff-side climax with the money shot of Wes Studi center-frame ready to fight towards the end of The Last Of the Mohicans....followed three years later by at LEAST half a dozen All-Time Scenes (coffee shops, automatic machine gun fire, and Moby among others) throughout the ultimate "LA Crime Saga" of HEAT...and now here we are being transported once again thanks to (dare I day) SUBTLE work from two of the best actors of their respective generations, Pacino and Crowe.  And don’t get me wrong….despite delivering an overall grounded performance, we STILL get to hear ‘90’s Pacino REALLY cook  at points just delivering some genuinely memorable lines! (Audio clip) 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

As is the case with most Michael Mann films, the music choices are pretty impeccable here.  The overall score here which is very atmospheric is a collaboration between Australian composer Pieter Bourke and the LEGENDARY Australian singer Lisa Gerard (formerly of the Gothic duo Dead Can Dance) who provides fantastic vocals….rewatching this now, there is DEFINITELY some music composed which sounds VERY ‘90’s World Music/Enigma/perfume commercial….very much of its time….some moody stuff which still generally works. (Audio clip) 

Though there is one DEFINITE highlight and that comes with a haunting yet inspiring theme which we hear of two key triumphant points for Wigand….one about half-way through right after he has testified in Mississippi and we watch him and Bergman just sharing a rare happy respite afterwards having a drink and laughing outdoors.  The other which is even more important is when we FINALLY are able to see the unedited version of his interview with Mike Wallace on “60 Minutes.”  It’s truly gratifying to see him watching this on his TV in his living room – with his daughters who turn around to smile at him with pride. (Audio clip) 

It works very well in both scenes and yet when we last heard this music JUST under a year ago used AGAIN by Michael Mann for his most recent film Ferrari….it provided the soundscape for what was an EXTREMELY HORRIFIC moment in that story.  So yes we’re talking about a piece of music which is SO versatile, it can be utilized to convey 100% opposite tones within two different movies…. the track is called “Sacrifice. (Audio clip)     

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

It pains me to go this route yet again for this VERY category but yeah, once again we have the thankless role of the put-upon wife who feels written to be more insufferable towards our main protagonist than anything else.  I’m referring to Jeffrey Wigand’s wife, Liane Wigand played by Diane Venora who DID play a similar role in Mann’s Heat just four years prior.  However whereas that character ended up being the well-articulated SOUL of that story….HERE she just comes off as a nag and one sporting an unconvincing Southern accent no less. (Audio clip) 

And beyond that…..portraying Thomas Sandefur, the smug CEO of Brown & Williamson – Wigand’s former boss – is the late great Michael Gambon who in ONE key scene early on meeting with Wigand….SEEMS to be presented to us as this story’s main arch-villain.  Only we don’t see or hear from him after this sequence…..but undoubtedly he leaves an impression JUST in the way he pronounces the word, “SPOOKY” and me personally I would just welcomed more (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

NOW back to what I described earlier….. We already have goosebumps by this point but then after we arrive at this initially unremarkable-looking deposition where Crowe's Wigand starts to testify....the sublime Bruce McGill just briefly takes center stage as Ron Motley, the state attorney for Mississippi who is here to extract this critical testimony from Wigand. In response to an aggressive attempt by Brown & Williamson's chief legal counsel (Wings Hauser) to intimidate and silence Wigand from testifying against his client, we watch as McGill's Motley becomes truly animated, raises his voice about 20 octaves, and thunderously shouts down the tobacco lawyer. 🤗 Wigand IS going to testify....and he does. Within ten minutes of runtime, Mann and crew have delivered a genuine goose bump moment followed not long after by a 100% audience applause moment - movies just don't get better than this!

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

If there are STILL folks – movie-lovers below the age of 30 or above the age of 60, laymen of ALL ages - who still can't quite make sense as to why folks like myself just CAN'T seem to shut up about Michael Mann nor keep ourselves from continuously rewatching his movies...AND nudging others to watch along with us while we wax rhapsodic about the brilliance we're watching on-screen real-time 🙄....well I present myself as Exhibit A with what I just described earlier. That obnoxiousness comes from a sincere place I can assure you. (Just ask my wife.....and wow what a missed opportunity that Gerwig didn't use Heat for that psychological warfare gag in the third act of Barbie - would have been arguably funnier than using The Godfather.) As one of our greatest living filmmakers who specializes in delivering iconic movies,  he just brings that out of us….and for doing so with what remains one of his best films overall, Micheal Mann is the MVP. 

Overall Rating: 5 stars out of 5

At the time of this film’s release, I can remember there being some comparisons from critics between The Insider and journalism-themed classics from the 70’s such as previous episodes The China Syndrome and All the President’s Men.  Well twenty-five years later, it has certainly earned its place among them….to the point that when a true gem comes out a couple of years ago like She Said, I’m comparing it to THIS film.  Happy 25th to one of THE best from the Class of ’99!

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And that ends another TWO THINGS….PISSED OFF and CURIOUS review!