Les requins de la finance

"Barbarians at the Gates" is the insane true story of the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco. The stars are James Garner, Jonathan Pryce, Peter Riegert, Joanna Cassidy, Fred Dalton Thompson, Jeffrey DeMunn, Tom Aldredge, and David Rasche.

Upset that the stock price for RJR Nabisco isn't rising, and realizing that new item that was to raise it, Premier Cigarettes, taste and smell horrible, F. Ross Johnson (Garner), the CEO, decides to buy the company at $75 a share, which is $4 more than the stock's highest price. He gets the idea after talking to an expert in the LBO field, Henry Kravis (Pryce). When Kravis finds out that he's not involved in this LBO, he becomes upset. Soon, thanks to press releases that come out too soon, and embarrassing information hitting the papers, there are not only many players in the field, but the price being bid has gone up to $112 a share, meaning that the company will be put into billions and billions of dollars in debt.

The battle of egos is outrageous and all too believable in this story of what became a gigantic takeover contest. The film compresses some of the incidents, but the characters and behind the scenes happenings make it an intriguing, entertaining, and ultimately depressing story. Outside the New York office, one is shown countless homeless people while inside, people are talking about billions of dollars. A true '80s story of greed.

James Garner is fantastic and funny as good old boy, F. Ross Johnson, who gets into a game of oneupmanship with the elegant, quietly intense Kravis - Jonathan Pryce gives a tremendous performance as a man seething underneath while speaking very softly. Peter Riegert, as the man trying to put together the deal for Shearson Lehman is wonderful, as are two actors I've had the privilege of seeing on stage, Tom Aldredge as the head of the board of RJR Nabisco, and David Rasche, as a banker trying to get in on the deal. Fred Dalton Thompson and Joanna Cassidy are a married couple - she's the publicist for the LBO, and he's the CEO of American Express.

After seeing the documentary about Enron, I really thought nothing could top it. This does. If you want to be appalled by corporate behavior, don't miss it.

Most people think Larry Gelbart is a genius, as do I.

The story of H. Ross Johnson and the rise of Nabisco is a historical milestone of the 1980's corporate America. The book, Barbarians at the Gate, from which this film was based lays out in detail, every outrageous, and more outrageous step in what ultimately became the biggest corporate acquisition in US history (to date). THIS IS A TRUE STORY.

The principals include James Garner, great as Johnson, the Canadian door-to-door salesman who's rise through the ranks of the American corporate system provides the centerpiece around which the entire story revolves. Jonathan Pryce at his most prick-like is corporate raider Henry Kravitz, a man who's life is so cold, you'd have to heat his wife with a blow torch just to warm her to frigid-the self-indulgent, self-described fashion designer Carolyn Roehm. (The real-life Roehm can be seen intermittently adding festive bunting to the set of Good Morning America during the holidays). Senator Fred Dalton Thompson's Jim Robinson, then chairman of American Express shows us what its really like when the wife controls the purse-strings, as well as you, and everything else in sight.

Great supporting cast includes Peter Riegert, as the since never heard from Peter Cohen, Joanna Cassidy as the legend in her own mind Linda Gosden Robinson, Leilani Sarelle Ferrer (Sharon Stone's gal-pal in Basic Instinct), Jeffrey DeMunn, and David Rasche

If you don't have time to read the book, do see the movie, where Gelbart's wonderful script provided HBO one of their first hits in the made-for-cable genre. Wall to wall laughs, with a little educative value to boot.

After you've watched the film, you might ask yourself---`who paid for all the corporate excess, the inefficiency, stupidity, the feeding of massive egos, and blatant disregard for the ‘little people'?'

Being not a political person, I leave you to your own resolve.

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 I wish Fred Dalton Thompson had an expression other than his default -- as if he were watching his daughter marry a biker with a face tattoo. 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.

I was delighted to stumble on this excellent TV movie late one night. Garner is great as the mega-rich company exec who comes unstuck when he tries to buy his own company. The financial shenanigans are well explained and there's genuine tension in the result. Based on a true story. It's like WALL STREET with laughs. [rating 9

In 1989, investigative journalists Bryan Burrough and John Helyar released 'Barbarians At The Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco,' considered by many to be one of the finest books about business ever written. Detailing CEO F. Ross Johnson's attempts to buy out the rest of his shareholders after the failure of the new, smokeless Premier cigarette, the book is an engrossing, humorous peek into a cut-throat corporate world of greed and backstabbing. An instant bestseller moving at the pace of a spy-thriller, it is a fascinating true story that begged for screen treatment.

Consequently, in 1993, HBO released a TV movie adaptation. 'Barbarians at the Gate,' directed by Glenn Jordan, faithfully retells the events of Burrough and Helyar's book, and is just as gripping as its source material. Larry Gelbart's screenplay makes the arcane language of business easily comprehensible, while ensuring the narrative maintains tension and momentum. It is also a funny film full of irony, satirising the ostentation of the 1980's and the rapaciousness of the money men of the time.

Moreover, the dialogue- often taken directly from the book which was, in turn, taken from interviews with the real-life players involved- is delightfully vulgar and witty. There are many hilarious lines throughout, which one will recall long after the credits have rolled; nearly everything uttered during the sequence involving the Premier cigarette comes immediately to mind. Furthermore, the self-made millionaire Johnson makes for a compelling central character- though one not without faults.

Johnson, although charismatic and likable, is essentially just as greedy as his rival, the calculated Henry Kravis, who is also trying to take control of the company. In some ways, he is worse, as he hides his ambition and avarice beneath good 'ol boy charm, claiming to be a man of the people while flying his dog around the country in a private jet. He's an interesting man of contradictions, whose attempts to turn a foul cigarette into a hit, and buy out RJR Nabisco, makes for an entertaining watch.

On the technical side of things, the cinematography is nothing to write home about, leaning towards the conventional, in terms of set-ups, framing and angles. However, this lack of flashy stylizations compounds the realism of the narrative, which could be seen as a boon. Meanwhile, Richard Gibbs's overblown score is the musical equivalent of shoulder pads and spandex- so stereotypically 1980's it sounds like it was written for a 'Scarface' rip-off. On the other hand, Linda Pearl's production design is commendable, accurately recreating Johnson's opulent world.

One of the most beloved actors of his generation, James Garner stars as Johnson, delivering a typically nuanced performance with his trademark ease. He never sets a foot wrong, making Johnson compelling despite his faults. Jonathan Pryce brings a cold detachment to the role of Kravis, which is chillingly effective, while Matt Clark shines as Johnson's friend and ally Edward A. Horrigan Jr. Additionally, Peter Riegert and Joanna Cassidy both do fine work as Peter Cohen and Linda Robinson, Johnson's business partners, while David Rasche nearly steals the show completely in the all-too-small part of Ted Forstmann.

In short, Glenn Jordan's 'Barbarians at the Gate' is a masterful adaptation capturing the essence of its source material while providing a satirical look at the excesses of the 1980's. Its relevance today, in an era still marked by corporate greed and financial manoeuvring, makes it a timeless piece worth watching. Well-written and strongly acted, it is a portrait of the brutal world of business that lingers in the mind like the smell of a Premier cigarette.