IMDb > Barbarians at the Gate (1993) (TV)

Barbarians at the Gate (1993) (TV) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
7.3/10   1,176 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 12% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers (WGA):
Bryan Burrough (book) and
John Helyar (book) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Barbarians at the Gate on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
20 March 1993 (USA) more
Genre:
Plot:
The president of a major tobacco company decides to buy the company himself, but a bidding war ensues as other companies make their own offers. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Won 2 Golden Globes. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations more
User Comments:
Come on, Fellas, cough it up! more (12 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

James Garner ... F. Ross Johnson

Jonathan Pryce ... Henry Kravis

Peter Riegert ... Peter Cohen

Joanna Cassidy ... Linda Robinson
Fred Dalton Thompson ... Jim Robinson

Leilani Sarelle ... Laurie Johnson
Matt Clark ... Edward A. Horrigan Jr.
Jeffrey DeMunn ... H. John Greeniaus

David Rasche ... Ted Forstmann

Tom Aldredge ... Charlie Hugel
Graham Beckel ... Don Kelly
Peter Dvorsky ... George Roberts
Peter Frechette ... Robert Allegro
Judy Altman ... Robinson's Aide
Bruce Beatty ... Anthony the Pizza Man
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Additional Details

Runtime:
107 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:

Fun Stuff

Quotes:
Charlie Hugel: Now I know what the "F" in "F. Ross Johnson" stands for. more
Movie Connections:

FAQ

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful.
Come on, Fellas, cough it up!, 21 September 2002
Author: Robert J. Maxwell (rmax304823@yahoo.com) from Deming, New Mexico

Can a made-for-TV movie about leveraged buy outs ("LBO"s) be funny? Yup. I haven't read the book but the teleplay by Gelbart is very amusing and sometimes hilarious. Be prepared for the profanity which generates some of the best laughs. "There should be a warning on every pack: Danger, these cigarettes will tear your b***s off." But it isn't just the swearing that makes this movie as funny as it is. The set ups are marvelously done. The initial big celebration held by RJR Nabisco features a character who suffers a cruel cough every time he tries to light his cigarette until Garner comes over and flicks open a lighter to help him. All the characters' roles are well written but James Garner gets the palm, not just for his unforced and vulgar wit but for a breezy disregard for everything except his own wealth, exemplified in his fleet of jet airplanes with their private hangar. Garner keeps denigrating the pursuit of wealth for it's own sake -- "After all, how many sets of golf clubs can you be buried with?" -- but acts all the way through as if that were his one and only priority. In his own defense, he says indignantly, "I don't plan to be homeless -- or planeless either for that matter." There must have been enormous pressure on Gelbart and the others involved to turn this movie "serious" towards the end, to bring in cancer and emphysema, a sobbing victim, a military-industrial conspiracy to undermine the health of the proletariat, to expose big business for the angry, villainous, mean-spirited, duplicitous cretins that they are but, thank Bog, Gelbart resisted any tendency to make the movie "about something." He keeps the ending as ironic as the rest of the film. Poor Garner. He loses his job, "The first time I've been out of work since I was fourteen," he moans, and retires with a severance package amounting (after taxes) to only $23m. Close on a shot of a mansion in Palm Beach.

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Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful... bhodgman
Fascinated by this film... oscarflix
caught this on late night bbc one night Dicky_Hart
Johnson's friend who introduces him to Kravis aegisthus
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