The Insider

Director: Michael Mann

1999 / 157min / 35mm

Mann’s white-knuckle drama of white-collar whistleblowing and callous boardroom skullduggery stars Russell Crowe as tobacco industry research scientist Dr. Jeffrey Wigand and his Heat star Al Pacino as the 60 Minutes producer desperate to get the good doctor to spill his secrets on air, leading to a clash of corporate titans between Brown & Williamson tobacco and CBS News. Media manipulation, profits over people, and businesses operating like rogue states—Mann didn’t invent the 21st century, but he sure saw it coming.

“Once Hollywood had a favorite folk tale: that the lone truth teller battling political or corporate evil would triumph, however bitterly, when the facts became known. But in the chillingly contemporary world of The Insider it's not that simple. Almost every character in the story is compromised by business considerations. And in the film's vision of television news reporting, moral relativism is a big part of playing the game.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Distributor: Walt Disney Studios/20th Century

Q&A to follow with investigative journalist Lowell Bergman, portrayed by Al Pacino in the film, and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and podcast host Pablo Torre on Saturday, October 17th

Part of The New York Times presents Stop the Presses