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"Independent Lens" Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
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Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
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Overview
TV Series:
"Independent Lens" (1999)Original Air Date:
January 2005Tagline:
It's Just BusinessPlot:
Corporate audio and videotapes tell the inside story of the scandal involving one company's manipulation of California's energy supply and its, and how its executives wrung a billion dollars out of the resulting crisis. full summary | add synopsisAwards:
2 wins & 8 nominations moreUser Comments:
Harvard Professor to student "How smart are you?" "I'm *@#% smart", Jeff Skilling moreCast
(Episode Credited cast)| Peter Coyote | ... | Narrator | |
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| John Beard | ... | Himself | |
| Barbara Boxer | ... | Herself (archive footage) | |
| George W. Bush | ... | Himself | |
| Jim Chanos | ... | Himself | |
| Dick Cheney | ... | Himself | |
| Bill Clinton | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Carol Coale | ... | Herself | |
| Gray Davis | ... | Himself | |
| Reggie Dees II | ... | Young man the stripper dances in front of (as Reggie Deets II) | |
| Joseph Dunn | ... | Himself | |
| Max Eberts | ... | Himself | |
| Peter Elkind | ... | Himself | |
| Andrew Fastow | ... | Himself | |
| David Freeman | ... | Himself | |
| Philip Hilder | ... | Himself | |
| Al Kaseweter | ... | Himself | |
| Kenneth Lay | ... | Himself | |
| Jay Leno | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Bill Lerach | ... | Himself | |
| Loretta Lynch | ... | Herself | |
| Amanda Martin-Brock | ... | Herself | |
| Bethany McLean | ... | Herself | |
| Mike Muckleroy | ... | Himself | |
| Reverend James Nutter | ... | Himself | |
| John Olson | ... | Himself | |
| Lou L. Pai | ... | Himself | |
| Kevin Phillips | ... | Himself | |
| David V. Porter | ... | "David" a Quoted Enron Trader | |
| Nancy Rapoport | ... | Herself | |
| Harvey Rosenfield | ... | Himself | |
| Marla Ruzicka | ... | Herself (archive footage) | |
| Arnold Schwarzenegger | ... | Himself (archive footage) | |
| Maria Shriver | ... | Herself (archive footage) | |
| Jeff Skilling | ... | Himself | |
| Mimi Swartz | ... | Herself | |
| Robert Traband | ... | Himself | |
| Sherron Watkins | ... | Herself | |
| Henry Waxman | ... | Himself | |
| Andrew Weissman | ... | Himself | |
| Colin Whitehead | ... | Himself | |
| Charles Wickman | ... | Himself | |
Series Cast
These people are regular cast members. Were they in this episode?| Angela Bassett | ... | Host |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated R for language and some nudity.Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
109 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Dolby DigitalCertification:
Ireland:15A | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | Brazil:14 | Australia:M | USA:R | Germany:o.Al. | UK:15Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Among the protesters who disrupt the meeting with Jeff Skilling at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club is Marla Ruzicka, who was killed on 16 April 2005 in Iraq by a suicide bomber. She founded CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims of Conflict) which worked to help the victims of the war in Iraq and she was a former Global Exchange activist. moreQuotes:
Kenneth Lay: [Enron Executive Officer Ken Lay holds a meeting of investors after shady financial dealings of the company have recently been revealed] We're down to questions, and I've got a few of 'em here... I would like to know if you are on crack... If so, that would explain a lot, if not, you may want to start because it's going to be a long time before we trust you again. moreSoundtrack:
Knee Play 1 moreFAQ
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"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" directed by Alex Gibney takes a moment to explain in vivid detail about the rise and the fall of that giant of giants, Enron. Based on the book by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkin, this documentary holds the viewer glued to the seat because one cannot believe, for a moment, what one is watching on the screen.
The great debacle of the beginning of the century was the Enron downfall. At the same time, it is a cautionary tale for a lot of people about the way some unscrupulous manipulators can wreck havoc in the lives of the people that give their lives working for a any corporation. The Enron workers paid the ultimate price because a few people at the top had an unstoppable greed.
Mr. Gibney is smart in presenting the facts without taking sides. The director is not making a moral judgment at all, he is just letting us absorb how Enron operated and how it was able to pull the wool over everyone's eyes in believing this was the greatest company in the world.
Not only did Enron go down, but it took the Arthur Anderson accounting firm as well. There are thousands of people that are victims of this reckless disregard for the people under these scheming executives, who thought of nothing, but themselves. It's ironic that Jeff Skilling is paying more than twenty million dollars for his own defense, and who knows how much more will Kenneth Lay and Andy Fastow pay to star lawyers in their legal processes.
Ultimately, the real winner seems to be the oriental executive, whose name I don't recall, with an appetite for strippers who ended up being the biggest landowner in Colorado and now is living happily ever after in Hawaii. Compare that picture with the people the Enron workers who lost it all and must now make ends meet with little.
The Enron tragedy should be taught at Harvard as Greed 101, or how to get away with murder in America.