Barbarians at the Gate

Rating:
Summary: Wall Street wackiness
Review: The 1980s were a time of unparalleled corporate greed, or so the media told us then and now. You had a bunch of workaholic young executives known as "Yuppies" pounding the pavement in New York making complete fools out of themselves. Why? Because many of these dolts were the same ijits involved in the flower power movement a few years before. You simply must hand it to the Baby Boomers--never has a generation taken so much from so many and given back so little to so few. By the time the 1980s rolled around, many of these cads turned up their sleeves and went about changing the corporate world. Thanks a lot. Largely due to the efforts of this generation, we all have to jump through a lot more hoops to get and hold a job. "Barbarians at the Gate" is a satirical look at just one aspect of the corruption the Boomers helped bring to the work world, namely the managed/leveraged buy out (...). Although several of the principals in the film look much older than the Boomers, don't be fooled. It was the total lack of morality of the post-war generation that helped fuel the greed of the 1980s.

This made for HBO film--one of the best the channel ever created by the way--stars James Garner as Nabisco/RJR chief executive officer F. Ross Johnson. This is a guy who is a born salesman, as the beginning of the film shows us when we see a youthful Johnson selling photography sessions door to door. By the time he has grown up, he's running one of the biggest corporations in America, selling cookies and smokes to people around the world. In fact, Johnson's latest brainchild is the creation of a smokeless cigarette that promises to revolutionize the industry. The possibility of huge profits from the new venture leads Johnson to make an offhand comment about buying the company so he can hold on to most of the profits. Little does he know how easy it is to accomplish this goal. His friends put him on to a fellow named Henry Kravitz (Jonathan Pryce), a corporate raider known for his skills in buying up companies and turning huge profits in the process. Johnson meets with Henry, but doesn't care for the guy that much. For one thing, Kravitz is a bit on the cold side whereas Ross is everyone's witty friend. Worse, the Nabisco executive gets the feeling that Henry won't let him run the company the way he sees fit, i.e. maintaining a huge fleet of corporate jets and posh expense accounts.

Ross Johnson decides to go ahead with his leveraged buy out without Kravitz at the helm. He contacts his old friend Jim Robinson (Jim Thompson) over at American Express, who in turn brings in hotshot financial whiz Peter Cohen (Peter Riegert) from the firm of Shearson Lehman to help finance the deal. Robinson's ingratiating wife and public relations guru Linda (Joanna Cassidy) also lends a hand. All the principals must keep quiet about what they plan to do, though, because Kravitz and other sharks on Wall Street will jump into the fray if they get a whiff of Johnson's ambitious intentions. Of course, that's exactly what happens. Kravitz does discover the plan and makes it a personal crusade to force Johnson out of the picture. Henry considers himself the "Father of the LBO," and he's not about to let a bunch of upstarts steal his limelight. He's got his own hotshots willing to work night and day in order to present a better offer for RJR/Nabisco stock to the company's board. The majority of the film deals with the minutiae of back and forth backstabbing, blatant greed, under the table dealing, and assorted other highly unethical business practices. You'll be surprised to discover how suspenseful this film makes a leveraged buy out seem.

Rarely have I seen a film that so successfully balances a message with fantastic humor, great characters, and high suspense. The message, of course, is the unbridled greed of corporate America. Repeatedly, these characters plot and plan to make a boatload of the green stuff while everyone else suffers the consequences. Layoffs don't mean a thing to these people as long as they can fill their pockets. You should despise these people, and you will at times, but most of them possess endearing traits as well. Garner's depiction of Johnson steals the show in this respect. His witticisms, outbursts, and general grouchiness are hilarious to behold, with none other than the scene where he discovers the utter failure of his smokeless cigarette serving as proof of this assertion. "I need an extra set of lungs to take a drag of this thing" is the cleanest line I can mention from the exchange. Garner's just great, and the primary reason I have watched this film at least a dozen times since it came out in the early 1990s. His overpowering presence tends to overshadow the great performances put in by Jonathan Pryce, Jim Thompson, and Jeffrey DeMunn as one of Ross's underlings at Nabisco. David Rasche does a great job in the small but very funny role of Ted Forstmann, an investment banker seeking to carve out his own niche in Ross's deal.

I don't know what the problem is over at HBO, but they consistently release their films to DVD with few to no extras. At least "Barbarians at the Gate" comes with a widescreen picture transfer, something I can't say for several other HBO releases I have rented lately. If you love James Garner, or just adore films with a high entertainment value, you must check out this obscure little gem soon. Do it for no other reason than to blow raspberries at that darned Boomer immorality!








Rating:
Summary: Not as great as the book, but a DELIGHTFUL farce
Review: The book this movie is made from is a masterpiece of business literature. It is impossible to make that wonderful book into anything less than an extended documentary or a several part mini-series. That being admitted and set aside, this is a very good and very funny movie. Amazingly, it tells a lot of the actual story as you can cram into a standard movie format.

It is bitingly funny and like all satire that truly bites, it is funny because it is based on truth. This movie condenses the RJR - KKR competition into something like a farce (as it seemed in the papers at the time). Some may object to making such a huge deal into something of a joke, but c'mon, this whole deal had a large dose of the absurd about it. How else could they have played this story in two hours?

And it is has the additional benefit of being educational for business students. You will see how managers misuse shareholder money by treating it as if it were their own (agency costs). You will see planeloads of money poured into bad projects (NPV). You will see naked greed, inept investment advice, and broken trust (corporate ethics). You know, late 20th century American business! It is funny, dramatic, and a bit touching, for example, as they fly the sick pooch home on his own private corporate jet. (Which some deny every happening, but it has entered the realm of legend - so whether it happened or not it has become something like a kind of truth.)

James Garner is terrific (he almost always is) as is the whole cast. It really is a delightful movie and that is almost miraculous given how deadly boring this topic could have become.

But don't forget to read the book!

Rating:
Summary: Not as great as the book, but a DELIGHTFUL farce
Review: The book this movie is made from is a masterpiece of business literature. It is impossible to make that wonderful book into anything less than an extended documentary or a several part mini-series. That being admitted and set aside, this is a very good and very funny movie. Amazingly, it tells a lot of the actual story as you can cram into a standard movie format.

It is bitingly funny and like all satire that truly bites, it is funny because it is based on truth. This movie condenses the RJR - KKR competition into something like a farce (as it seemed in the papers at the time). Some may object to making such a huge deal into something of a joke, but c'mon, this whole deal had a large dose of the absurd about it. How else could they have played this story in two hours?

And it is has the additional benefit of being educational for business students. You will see how managers misuse shareholder money by treating it as if it were their own (agency costs). You will see planeloads of money poured into bad projects (NPV). You will see naked greed, inept investment advice, and broken trust (corporate ethics). You know, late 20th century American business! It is funny, dramatic, and a bit touching, for example, as they fly the sick pooch home on his own private corporate jet. (Which some deny every happening, but it has entered the realm of legend - so whether it happened or not it has become something like a kind of truth.)

James Garner is terrific (he almost always is) as is the whole cast. It really is a delightful movie and that is almost miraculous given how deadly boring this topic could have become.

But don't forget to read the book!

Rating:
Summary: The book was great the Movie well.....
Review: The book was a great read but unfortunately the movie was a disappointment. I have expected the movie to be at the same lines as the book in the manners of suspense and thrill that were major driving elements in this masterpiece. Instead a caricature adaptation that spoiled the drama, adventure and more importantly the Reality which were felt through-out the book. I'd rather give NO stars but to be fair the style of acting deserves some respect therefore I rated it with two stars.

Rating:
Summary: Enormously entertaining satire of corporate America
Review: This especially witty satire is one of the best movies about modern corporate attitudes ever made. It's based on the true story of the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco in the 1980s. While the filmmakers have naturally taken some artistic license, I think they capture the spirit of the event. In big business, they assert, given the choice between being greedy and doing the right thing, being greedy usually wins. This was especially true in this case because the bidding war that broke out drove the purchase price into the stratosphere. The company's stock, which had been trading in the $40 range was driven up to over $100. A whole lot of rich people got a whole lot richer.

There are many things to enjoy about "Barbarians at the Gate", not the least of which is James Garner as F. Ross Johnson, the man who ran RJR. He is completely believable as a natural born salesman who rose to run one of the world's biggest corporations. His greed may be a turnoff, but his zest for living is infectious and charming. You can't help liking the guy. His nemesis in this high stakes game in the financier, Henry Kravis, played by Jonathon Pryce. It's a deliciously villainous role, and Pryce makes the most of it. Also of note is the great character actor Peter Riegert as Peter Cohen, Johnson's right-hand man in the deal.

I especially liked the movie's tone. It looks upon the goings on with an eye as jaundiced as the players themselves. It views them as overgrown boys fighting over a very big toy, but it does so with an amused, almost affection, flavor. The result is an enormously entertaining and very funny movie.

Rating:
Summary: Origin of Mergers & Acquisitions
Review: This film can be seen as the story telling on the origin of mergers and acquisitions in the history of human which dominates the financial markets activities nowaday.

Rating:
Summary: I could see this movie over and over
Review: This is a great movie, particularly for someone interested in true stories of corporate behavior. Several of my finance professors when I was pursing my MBA recommended this movie. I was not disappointed.

Due to a high volume of profanity, this movie is not appropriate for young children.

Rating:
Summary: I could see this movie over and over
Review: This is a great movie, particularly for someone interested in true stories of corporate behavior. Several of my finance professors when I was pursing my MBA recommended this movie. I was not disappointed.

Due to a high volume of profanity, this movie is not appropriate for young children.

Rating:
Summary: Comedy goes Wall Street
Review: This is a TV production of a true story, based in the book of the same name by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar about the biggest corporate takeover of the eighties, the Nabisco acquisition. James Garner is simply the perfect choice as the Nabisco CEO who try to buy his own company and in the way he sets a good blend of mistakes and laughs. Historically accurate is comedy in Wall Street with a 'Gran Final'.

Rating:
Summary: The wonderful true story of 1980's greed....
Review: This is the true account (albeit, dramatized), of the RJR-Nabisco Corporate takeover which took place in the mid-80's. James Garner plays Ross Johnson, Candian-born CEO of RJR-Nabisco, Inc. At a Nabisco-sponsored golf outing, Ross gets a suggestion that he should try to buy out the Company himself, and, in turn make big sacks of the green stuff. He then finds himself tangling with leverage buy-out king, Henry Kravis, who doesn't take kindly to Ross trying to do the deal without him. Then, chaos ensues as all parties involved outstep each other, and try to keep up at the same time. There's more to the story than that, but I shall not give it all away. Grab an Oreo and a Cig, sit back and watch. Note: This film was originally produced and shown on HBO. Also starring: Joanna Cassidy, Fred Thompson (now U.S. Senator Thompson), and Peter Riegert.