Barbarians at the Gate

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Barbarians at the Gate ★★★½ 1993 (R)

In the “greed is good” financial climate of the '80s, this movie chronicles the $25 billion battle in 1988 for RJR Nabisco, which at the time was working on developing a “smokeless cigarette.” Garner is CEO F. Ross Johnson, who is confident that their “smokeless cigarette” will boost the stock's value—until he gets the testmarketing results. Unwilling to risk the product's failure, Johnson decides to buy the company and is challenged by master dealer Kravis (Pryce). Fascinating social commentary on the nastiest megadeal in history. Based on the book by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar. 107m/C VHS, DVD . James Garner, Jonathan Pryce, Peter Riegert, Joanna Cassidy, Fred Dalton Thompson, Leilani Sarelle Ferrer, Matt Clark, Jeffrey DeMunn; D: Glenn Jordan; W: Larry Gelbart; C: Thomas Del Ruth, Nicholas D. Knowland; M: Richard Gibbs. CABLE