merklekranz There are zero likable characters in this film. Everyone is strictly out for themselves, and how much they stand to gain from a leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco. The battle for the company between James Garner and Jonathan Pryce is the primary focus of "Barbarians at the Gate". The best attribute of this movie is not the acting, not the story, but the sharp dialog. The outcome is always in doubt, but the greed is always obvious. In the final analysis, this comes across more like a business instructional film than entertainment. The whole thing is rather sterile, because there really are no heroes to root for. ................................... MERK

Lee Eisenberg "Barbarians at the Gate" focuses on KKR's leveraged buyout of RJR-Nabisco in 1988-89. The movie does everything to a tee. James Garner plays Ross Johnson, the smooth-talking RJR executive. His affable demeanor and joke-telling affinity hides Machiavellian schemes, and all the while he really just likes his company's perks. Jonathan Pryce was practically born to play Henry Kravis: Pryce's devilish physiognomy perfectly represents what sort of a person this is.A particularly effective scene is when the executives are flying in their corporate jets side by side, conversing with each other on their cell phones while servants prepare them drinks. It's the ultimate display of greed.All in all, the whole thing captures what the '80s were all about, all the while managing to be humorous. It should come as no surprise that the first decade of the 21st century (The Aughts? The Noughts?) saw things like Enron. Perfect.Also starring Joanna Cassidy (Dolores in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and Brenda's mom on "Six Feet Under"), former presidential candidate Fred Thompson, Jeffrey DeMunn and Peter Riegert (Boone in "Animal House").

Robert J. Maxwell 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.

Coxer99 The RJR Nabisco company goes on the selling block, triggering chaos as Wall Street scrambles to take control of the $25 billion empire. A sharp, witty script delivered with panache by a perfect cast, most outstanding Garner and Pryce as the giants going head to head for the company. Larry Gelbart wrote the script. The cast also includes Peter Reigert, Joanna Cassidy and Senator Fred Thompson, who are all wonderful.