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Barbarians at the Gate (1993) Reviews

Barbarians at the Gate (1993)
Member Rating:  
This TV movie recounts the true-life story of a corporate takeover in the greed-driven 1980s. James Garner is F. Ross Johnson, CEO of RJR-Nabisco. Having just been burned by an expensive failure of a smokeless cigarette product, Johnson doesn't wish to incur the wrath of the stockholders. He begins drawing up plans to buy RJR-Nabisco outright so he'll have no one to answer to but himself. Unfortunately for Johnson, his company is also being coveted by sharkish "buyout king" Henry Kravis (Jonathan Pryce), who turns out to have $25 billion at his beck and call. Barbarians at the Gate was adapted by Larry Gelbart from the book by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar. Advertised as a "docucomedy", the film premiered March 20, 1993, over the HBO cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
James Garner, Jonathan Pryce, (more)
Director(s):
Glenn Jordan
Theatrical MPAA Rating:
R
Format(s):
DVD
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Average Ratings

(13 member reviews)  

Member Reviews

Lisa N.

Not at all like the book. Johnson/Garner's history prior to RJR is completely omitted and he is portrayed sympathetically with only the slightest acknowledgement that he initiated the whole chain of events. With that in mind it's still a decent movie. Jonathon Pryce's portrayal of Mr. Kravis as a greedy, selfish, narcissist is the highlight of the film even though he didn't get much screen time.

Yes   |   No


Richard D.

Worth seeing Jonathan Pryce as the evil-obsessive Kravis and James Garner as the good old boy CEO. But if you are not interested in Wall Street wheeling and dealing, you will probably be bored to tears.

Yes   |   No


Jay E.

This was an enjoyable movie with lots of insights about the workings of Wall Street and the people there. As a true movie about a well know leveraged buy out it kept me deeply interested to get a better feel for how it played out.

Yes   |   No


Celeste D.

I loved it! Having never read the book, I wasn't bothered that it "wasn't anything like the novel". I got a kick out of learning something about LBOs, the stock market, and the greedy weasels that populate same. Definitely worth the price of admission!

Yes   |   No


Armando P.

FASCINATING THE BEHIND THE SCENES OF WALL STREET INVESTMENTS FIRMS. I ENJOYED IT VERY MUCH. I RECOMMEND IT.

Yes   |   No


NAVARRO J.

Great movie.

Yes   |   No


Beverly S.

It was a fairly interesting story. More explanation about junk bond money may have made the takeover look more sinister.

Yes   |   No


Llana H.

Good movie

Yes   |   No


Paul C.

It wasn't funny enough to be a good comedy, although some of the bits were good. And it didn't give you a good enough idea of what was going on to be a documentary. Characters uniformly unlikable even though they tried to white wash Garner's. Biggest problem was that it was dated. This is all old news. And it was done before the long term implications of buying up companies at prices that exceeded their value was obvious. Basically this was a large pyramid scheme where you had to keep finding investors dumb enough to raise the last inflated price.

Yes   |   No


Ronald Z.

I thought this movie was good for a few laughs. It also gives a good picture of how some of the rich live.

Yes   |   No


 
 
 

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Member Reviews
Read all (13)
 
Lisa N.

Not at all like the book. Johnson/Garner's history prior to RJR is completely omitted and he is portrayed sympathetically with only the slightest acknowledgement that he initiated the whole chain of events. With that in mind it's still a decent movie. Jonathon Pryce's portrayal of Mr. Kravis as a greedy, selfish, narcissist is the highlight of the film even though he didn't get much screen time.

Yes   |   No

 
Richard D.

Worth seeing Jonathan Pryce as the evil-obsessive Kravis and James Garner as the good old boy CEO. But if you are not interested in Wall Street wheeling and dealing, you will probably be bored to tears.

Yes   |   No

 
Jay E.

This was an enjoyable movie with lots of insights about the workings of Wall Street and the people there. As a true movie about a well know leveraged buy out it kept me deeply interested to get a better feel for how it played out.

Yes   |   No

 
Read All 13 Reviews
 

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