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Every once in a while a movie like The Insider shows up that sticks with you even when, in a sense, you already know the outcome: the demise of bigtime tobacco. A disclaimer: I find it pretty hard to put the bad mouth on tobacco since I was raised on a tobacco farm.
The flip side of the coin is that I've never smoked. So...this movie is not so much about tobacco as a crisis of conscience which envelops two men: Jeffrey Wigand, a whistle blower and Lowell Bergman, producer at 60 minutes.
(Dr. Jeffery Wigand, fired employee from Brown and Williamson revealed to the world that the cigarette companies goal was to get us addicted to nicotine. Dr. Wigand was a paid consultant for a Sixty minute story with Mike Wallace and Lowell Bergman.)
I don't particularly like Russell Crow who played Jeffery Wigand. My problem is that his private life often overshadows his acting ability. Not his fault but mine.
Al Pacino plays Lowell Bergman, 60 minutes producer and the movie's hero. Often he sounds just like Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman. He gives a couple of speeches that sound just like Colonel Slade.
We can't deny the real live hero status of Wigand who lost his family and profession.
Christopher Plummer who played Mike Wallace had his moments but didn't earn hero status, more celebrity protection.
Phillip Baker Hall plays Don Hewitt, long time head of 60 Minutes. Don Hewitt ended up looking pretty weak.
Wigand proved to be a pivotal figure in proving that cigarettes were addictive. His former employer, Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company, knew about it and had been warned by Wigand. Brown and Williamson didn't want to hear the truth and fired Wigand, but gave him a generous severance package and insurance thinking it would guarantee his silence.
What we discovered is that big tobacco also had big money. And, money rules regardless of where it is.
The Insider shows all the machinations of "control" going on inside 60 Minutes. Sixty minutes
caved to corporate interests and threat and did not air an original broadcast of Wigand blowing the whistle. Eventually they did air the story because the Wall Street Journal printed most of it taking most of the heat.
Bergman, the producer and a Wigand supporter also used his bulldog advocacy to get the story aired.
At a time when heroes are in short supply, I think Bergman is a good example.
CBS eventually got it right, even if a little tainted.
This movie was virtually ignored at the box office, but Hollywood loved it and gave it seven Oscar nominations.
Two parachutes. Grant Sommers
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New Book: VietVet Memoir 
