The Insider

Don Hewitt and Mike Wallace go into it in their respective autobiographies.

Anyway, the film is amazing, Russell Crowe nails the real life Wigand, and Pacino's big speech about the news is the only film-related monologue I have memorized in its entirety. I've never seen that Charlie Rose interview, though.

I watched The Insider for the first time last year when I was going through my Mann obsession. Damn fantastic film. I can't believe it took me so long to check it out. I really need to buy the DVD so I can re-watch it. Need more Michael Mann.

It's perhaps the best drama from the last 20 years. The scene with Pacino editing Wigan's testimony is fantastic. Perhaps Mann's best use of music.

One of the first soundtracks I ever bought. I should rewatch this at somepoint, it's been many years since I've seen it.

Glad to see a thread about this; I've seen it several times in the last few months because Starz and Encore seem intent on hogging all my free time by constantly airing it.

I never, ever thought I'd say it, but I find myself preferring it to HEAT more and more.

Crowe's finest performance, the one he should've won the Oscar for. Great dogged performance by Pacino, right in his wheelhouse but he knocks it out. Great population of supporting characters. Bruce McGill, Colm Feore, Stephen Tobolowsky, Wings Hauser, etc.

What's remarkable about it is that it remains so compelling despite its flaws.
The Diane Venora role is miscast and woefully underwritten considering its importance to the story. She's never a complete person, just there to provide the domestic conflicts the Wigand story needs. Wallace, as written, is fascinating but inconsistent. In the end he makes a good point to justify his actions, but Mann has a difficult time keeping him from becoming a cartoon. I'm thinking in particular of the scene where he rails against Kloster for editing his segment. Or the way the scene in Hewitt's office where he hops back over the fence comes on the heels of the great scene in Bergman's hotel room, after he's made his speech about his legacy. Also, there's no question that Mann takes sides, and though liberties must often necessarily be taken to create drama, I think it's a legitimate question of whether he's being fair. It's certainly been suggested that he isn't. He paints CBS corporate and the CBS news brass as buffoons, and turns Bergman into a lone, gold-plated crusader. It's like Rudy as a 60 Minutes producer (and about the same height, too). So, a docudrama it's not.

But as pure cinema, it works on so many levels and is so intrinsically compelling, it's almost impossible for me not to watch if I find it's on.

I mentioned this in the Network thread, but I may as well do it here, as well. The Insider, along with Network, is a great indictment of what was happening to the news media in the 1990s, and in some respects of what it currently is. There is no question that Mann picks sides, but I think that still takes second seat to what Mann is presenting us with thematically.

It's a hard line that he's walking with this one, but it seems that Mann ultimately pulls from the events what they meant for the news and American life for the films weight, rather than a purely accurate portrayal of the events that transpired. In that respect, he's dead on. He doesn't show us what happened, true, but he does a brilliant job of showing us why it matters, and why the news matters. Shame it wasn't a hit.

In terms of craft, it is also Mann's best film in my opinion. It is absolutely gripping from frame one, something that I cannot say for Heat (which is still a very, very good film). Also, the performances are almost uniformly brilliant (another thing it has in common with Network). I so need to buy this.

Also, I saw this before I saw Heat. I think that it made me root for Pacino in that one. Everyone I know roots for De Niro.

By the way, the house of the lawyer where they are on the coast is gone. Completely wiped out by Katrina.

There are so many little bits that kill me in this film. Such as Pacino working on the Unabomber story and his walk in the surf. And I find it funny the most bombastic piece does not go to Pacino, but to Bruce McGill.

Best Edited movie of the past Quarter Century, Bar None.

And the one film that makes me so amped for the return of Spinotti on Public Enemies, thats its nearly unbearable.

Heat is my personal favourite, but I wont argue this is Mann's best on all levels.

Mann should be forced to cast bad guys in every movie made by Hollywood, every guy from the Room Service guy to the Cop who glances from the passing cruiser is perctly cast just using glances that imply everything you need to know.

Crowe also at his most subdued yet completely captivating performance, a real travesty the Academy awarded the the wrong role yet again. This is the film I use to introduce people unfamiliar with him, save for Gladiator.

Best and most subtle use of slowed frame rate as well.

Best lines

Who the hell are these people?
Ordinary People under extraordinary circumstances.
What the Hell did you expect Mike?
Grace and consistency.


Mike...Mike...... Try Mr. Wallace.

One of my favorites lines is, "Well my father left us when I was four years old; he was not the most ingenious man I ever met." I think it perfectly encapsulates what's so fascinating about the dynamic between Wigand and Bergman, which is how fundamentally different they are. Wigand's trying to relate to Bergman to form a bond that he feels is necessary for trust (right from the beginning he asks about his past), while Bergman is concerned only with standing on his word, which he feels should be good enough because he says it is. Of course that turns out to be the engine that drives the entire second half of the film. I love that early scene in Wigand's car where they're talking about stuff outside the zone of confidence, and Bergman's clearly not interested in anything else. It's a difficult balancing act in the writing because everything is leading up to the beach/hotel room conversation when Wigand complains that Bergman manipulated him into the whole situation. That's part of it, but the audience has to feel like Wigand made his own decisions, or else he fails completely as a character (and so does Bergman, for that matter). So Bergman has to be manipulating without being manipulative, and Wigand has to be susceptible to manipulation without being a lackey. It's really where the writing is at its strongest, getting that balance.

Spot On Banks

I think the key scene between the two fully understanding one another is when Pacino is on the phone in the water and realizes how low Wigand really is, his expression barely changes but you see something click in Pacino's mind and the score changes and the "where are we going with this" and "I am running out of heroes man" line comes, and Crowe does this half turn and smile away from camera that is just brilliance.

This is why I love how that last scene is played out with the Unabomber coverage in the background. I've always felt that Mann summed everything about what the news became in the 90s. "What got broken here, doesn't get put back" indeed. And it does make a very nice double feature with not just "Network," but "Good Night, and Good Luck." (I'd also put "All The President's Men" between the two films.)

And that scene of Pacino standing waist deep in the water is just gorgeous to look at.

(I always root for Pacino in "Heat," by the way.)

I'd link this movie with Shattered Glass because they complement each other about 90s journalism.

Have to disagree with you there - the editing in JFK is just unreal. But this flick is definitely up there...

Fantastic explanation of the reasons I love any scenes of these two men together. And why I used to have them totally memorized. Even the Japanese tempura ordering!

Without question, one of my most favorite films ever. A blu-ray of this film, complete with the real 60 Minutes interview, the Charlie Rose interview with Mann, retrospectives from the real people, etc... needs to come out. I would lap that up in a heartbeat. It could just be barebones, and I'd snatch it up... but still.

Trying to find out any information on a blu-ray release of the film, as well as my disappointment in Public Enemies, led me to stumble upon Charlie Rose's interview with Mann and Wigand, and thus back to this thread!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...5473201902464#

I don't know why Rose is so adamant about pushing Mann about the marketing of the film (in relation to its low box-office). So much more interesting stuff to talk about. C'mon, Rose!!!

Watched the film again recently. Mmmm... so good (like pie).

EDIT: Mann talks about how he was writing a western with Eric Roth. And this was back then. Aww... I guess Public Enemies was kinda that. Too bad.

Not only do I love The Insider, but also Network and Shattered Glass. My high school journalism teacher showed The Insider to her students every year.

I don't really like Charlie Rose. I think Fred Topel could do a better job. IDK, maybe I'm just full of jealousy. A round table with Del Toro, Cuaron, and Inarritu, and all one could ask is "So, what's the deal with being Mexican in Hollywood?" [/DERAIL]

Never had any interest in journalism, but I simply love all 3 of the films you listed. Something about journalistic integrity explored on film hits a sweet spot.

I was only able to watch this in it's entirety a few days ago. It seems to run on cable only after 2 am, and it's a long fucking movie. One day i decided to take a go at it and forfeit sleep.
Holy shit this film is magnetic. I could not stop watching. Each scene is gripping and tense and works in spades. Really a fantastic achievement from Mann and his actors.

Direction, editing, score, script and actors all join together for a fantastic and engaging story. I miss that Pacino. He was so good on these.

One thing I love about it is how unique it is in Mann's body of work. His protagonists are men of action, and Mann likes to build character by showing us how they go about doing the work they do. They're methodical, exacting, obsessivley focused, often loners. All forward momentum. But here, he takes his prototypical Mann protagonist (Bergman) and spins him in the orbit of someone like Wigand, who's an intellectual, concerned with trust and relationships, but also driven by his emotions. The way Mann and Eric Roth navigate the common bond between the two is the most rewarding part of the movie for me, and stands in such stark contract to a movie as reductive as, say, PUBLIC ENEMIES. I guess I sort of hinted at this in the post above about their dinner scene at the Japanese restaurant, but a good buddy of mine recently saw this for the first time and we talked at length about this, and it was the first time I'd made the connection.

In reference to everything Banks said, it's pretty amazing that such a non-Mann male character was played by an actor you'd think would usually be perfect for the typical driven Mann hero.

Actually, because it's Crowe, the Wigand character still comes across as methodical, exacting, obsessively focused, and a loner. hehe. And this in no way goes against what Banks put so well.

No, I totally agree, and I couldn't put it near as succinctly. Maybe that's part of what drew Mann to telling the story, the idea that despite the different way of working/being he's still very much in the mold of the type of character who so obviously fascinates Mann.

There's a great part in the Charlie Rose interview where Mann talks about trying to figure out the thought process behind Wigand's "Fuck it. Let's go to court," moment. He had no access to the real Wigand during filming and both he and Crowe had to simply go with their intuition.

When Mann finally got to meet Wigand, Wigand told him that they got the thought process right. Mann seems to get such men. No surprise it's one of the most striking moments in the film.

I'm trying to do some work, and my mom is watching the film next to me.

CAN'T. TURN. AWAY!!!! ARRRGH!

Mann does some amazing things in this movie.
There's no reason a simple shot of an ex-60 minutes employee walking out of a building should look so cool.

It's journalism by way of John Woo.

By the way, did anyone think that (in the film) Lowell Bergman had something "going on" on the side with Debi Mazar's character? I just get that impression based on their wordless "exchanges."

I never got that impression, though it’s been a few years since I’ve seen it. I think it’s just a result of them working for so long together in an intense job with long hours.

Looking back on this, I think my favourite scene has to be the one when Pacino is supervising the edit of the program. The Lisa Gerrard music – which for once works – is skilfully intercut with shots of Crowe and the 7 CEOs. Amazing stuff.

And I’m sure they met Wigan during filming. I’ve seen behind the scenes stuff, - I think it’s on the dvd – when Wigand turns up on set dressed exactly like Crowe.