Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main theme of 'The Insider'?
I'm going to make them an offer again. I feel the need. The need for a speech.
He's watched every movie more than once. He's Stephen Fennec. Go ahead. Make my day. He's watched the latest Disney movies with his kids. But that's about it. He's Trevor Long. You talking to me?
Together, they bring you the best movies you've never seen.
Have a look for you. I will find you. And I will kill you. Rent BioStream the latest and greatest movies on fetch. Watch on a big screen Hisense TV. Say hello to my little friend!
The best movies you've never seen.
The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club.
With Steven Fenwick and Trevor Long.
This is the captain.
Brace for impact.
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Chapter 2: How does Russell Crowe's character challenge the tobacco industry?
Yeah. Because I think it's a fascinating one to ask yourself how that applies to this. Yeah. I've got a really interesting ā I've got an interesting insight on why I think this movie is multi-layered in that sense. Of course, yeah. So many layers. And so what's your social media post here?
On this one, I'm saying the insider is a fascinating look behind the scenes of some of the best investigative journalism as well as a changing face of media. But the real story is the case against Big Tobacco, Crow and Pacino. What a duo.
Powerhouse.
Because, you know, I'm a media guy and so my message on this and social media is actually this is as much a media story, which is what I'm getting at about the multilayered of this, as it is about Big Tobacco. Absolutely right. I saw this at the movies. It would have been beautiful on a big screen. Day one, I think I was there on the day it opened on my own. Been a favourite ever since.
It wasn't really Joe's cup of tea. Right. But I think that anyone who sits down to watch this, it just draws them in. It's a really great story. Well performed, well shot. Like Michael Mann, you can really see his hands all over this. Yeah. So, yeah, absolute favourite of mine. Waiting for it to come out on 4K. It's not on 4K, would you believe?
Really?
I hunted this down on 4K. What year are we talking here?
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Chapter 3: What role does Al Pacino play in the film?
99. Okay. It was released in 1999. Yeah. Anyway, but I've got The Wizard of Oz on 4K, mate, and that was made a lot earlier than this. Yeah, right. Let's talk about the cast. And, of course, Russell Crowe is the star of the show, or co-star of the show. Dr. Jeffrey Wygand, he plays, who is a real person, and we'll talk more about him later. He was, of course, in Gladiator.
He won the Best Actor Oscar for Gladiator. Yep. He was in A Beautiful Mind, also nominated for Best Actor for that film. And more recently, he was in Nuremberg. Did you watch that on stage? I have watched that now, yes. Yeah, that was good. Again, chameleon or what? Absolutely, yeah. Then he was also in L.A. Confidential, which was one of his earlier Hollywood movies.
Him and Guy Pearce were in that together, opposite Kevin Spacey. Al Pacino plays Lowell Bergman. And he was, of course, in, and we've done all of these movies, The Godfather, Scent of a Woman, Heat, Any Given Sunday. What about his list of films? Crazy. Didn't we find out last week that he's one of our most watched?
Yes, I think.
Was it Tom Cruise the most popular? Because we did The Firm a few weeks ago. Yeah. I don't have the list in front of me, but it was a lot. Christopher Plummer plays Mike Wallace. He was in The Sound of Music. I was going to say, so the funny thing about him is all I could see was Mike Wallace. All I could see was an old, genuine, respected journalist.
He didn't strike me as an actor, but I'm going, this guy, I've seen him before, so he must be an actor. Do you know what I mean? I generally bought into the fact that there was one point where I thought, I've got to ask Stephen if that's the real Mike Wallace or something. Because in my mind, he played this part.
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Chapter 4: How does the film depict the journey of Dr. Jeffrey Wygand?
Beautiful. There is, though ā I'll give you a little preview. There is one person in the film that plays themselves, and I'll tell you more about him later. But Christopher Plummer was in The Sound of Music, remember? So he was opposite Julie Andrews. That kind of was his signature role and then had a massive career, was in All the Money in the World. He was in All the Money in the World.
That was a controversial choice.
Are you talking ā Mike Wallace ā In this? No. Christopher Plummer. Christopher Plummer plays Mike Wallace.
Yes.
So that's why I know him because I've seen that movie so many times. The Sound of Music. Yes, I know. Yeah. Wow. He was opposite Julie Edwards. He played Captain Von Trapp. Wow. Yeah. It's so much younger than obviously. You didn't know. You didn't know. But that's why in my head I'm like, I know this guy. Of course. You know him well.
Of course I know him. I see that movie every three weeks.
The Sound of Music was the movie that inspired this podcast, mate.
Wow.
I'm an idiot. There we go. He was also in All the Money in the World, which was controversial at the time because Kevin Spacey, that was sort of about the character that he plays, Kevin Spacey had already filmed the movie. And when all the drama came out, he got cancelled. He was in makeup to make him look old. He got booted. They refilmed it with Christopher Plummer in that role.
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Chapter 5: What significant challenges does Wygand face during his testimony?
On top of the picture quality, of course, they do have 2.1.2 multi-channel surround sound. That's one thing I like about Hisense TVs. The audio quality of their TVs out of the box is remarkable. And if you're a gamer, they've got native 180 hertz game mode and there's a high view AI engine, RGB running the whole show, making the picture and the audio as best as it can be.
And this is also an IMAX enhanced TV too. So you can watch IMAX programs on it as well. Well worth a check if you're in the market for a new TV. Check out the Hisense UR8 range at your local store or check them out online, hisense.com.au. The opening of this movie was a little bit odd where it's like the person is sort of got like a blindfold on. That's right. Someone's being driven somewhere.
You have no idea who it is. And then we see that it's actually Lowell Bergman, and we find out he's an investigative producer for CBS's 60 Minutes. He's blindfolded, driven to a secret location. You get a sense it's the Middle East. True that. And he's there to secure an interview for journalist Mike Wallace, and he's trying to negotiate the whole arrangement.
Perhaps you prove journalism objectivity, and I see the questions first. Then I decide if I grant the interview.
No, we don't do that. You've seen 60 Minutes and Mike Wallace, so you know our reputation for integrity and objectivity. You also know we are the highest rated, most respected TV magazine news show in America. So, Mr. Wallace, should he get on a plane or not?
That's good, that works.
And he was still blindfolded when he was talking to me, by the way. And then when he left the room, he goes, hello, you still there? And the cool part about this is it's detailed enough that there's another bloke in the room blindfolded who's like the engineer for 60 Minutes who then goes, okay, we're going to check the power.
Like, yeah, you didn't need to include that, but it's detailed enough that they absolutely would need that because they're in a foreign country and they've got to work out what they need for the shoot. So what that demonstrates is that Bergman is pretty gritty. He's committed to getting the story.
It's a very strange opening, I'd say 10, maybe 20 minutes, because you don't understand the timeline. I get it that what they're doing is exposition. They're trying to give credibility to all these people, but you don't understand are these timelines having the same time? Are they flashbacks? And I don't think it matters.
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Chapter 6: How does corporate influence affect journalism in 'The Insider'?
What about our health? What about our... Car payments, payments on this house.
There's a severance agreement that includes cash payouts all the time and continuing medical coverage.
Sure you don't need anything? No, thank you.
It's funny because you don't know him before this incident, right? Yeah. So you don't understand whether he's acting out of shock he's been fired or whether this is his personality because there's this weird ā There's a weird dynamic. I'm going to call it autistic style language from him where he's like, they're my boxers from work.
He does admit later on to Bergman that his communication skills aren't ā they're a bit different. Do you know what I mean? I mean, like for someone on the spectrum, that's exactly what they would do. They'd be like, they're my boxers from work. Why are you asking me that? And it's only later that he just casually says, you know, this is ā I've been fired.
He also admits later on to having ā to struggling to communicate with his wife. You know, he talks about it a couple of times. And so you realize this is his personality. And so what I now, having watched this, I want to see documentaries about this guy because I want to now know how well Russell Crowe played this guy. Well, I'll tell you now, there's a lot of stuff about him online and ā
The actual ā I was going to save this for later in the show, but the actual interview that he does on 60 Minutes you can watch on YouTube. Excellent. And Russell Crowe nails it. Yeah, right. If you play him side by side, you'll think, wow. Wow.
Amazing.
That's awesome. So we know that he's been fired, but now cut to Bergman, who suddenly receives an anonymous package containing highly technical redacted documents regarding Philip Morris' research. Mm-hmm. So he wants an expert to translate it into plain English. So he calls the FDA. He's obviously got a contact there.
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Chapter 7: What are the ethical dilemmas presented in the film?
I think Bergman remembers that moment where he goes, this is the tip of the iceberg.
Yeah, he's dropping the bucket, he says.
He's dropping the bucket. Because all the way through, Weigand ā wants the world to know but can't because he's, you know, absolutely strict on his confidentiality agreement. Being a great journalist that he is, Bergman's picked up on it. He senses he's carrying this enormous, dangerous secret. But Weigand is called back to BMW, BMW, Brown and Williamson, to sign a tighter gag order.
We're very serious about protecting our interests. We'd like you to sign it. And if I don't? If we arrive at the conclusion that you're acting in bad faith, we would terminate right now payouts under your severance package, you and your family's medical benefits, and initiate litigation against you, Mr. Weigand. Dr. Weigand? Dr. Weigand.
After you've examined the document, you'll see it's in your own best interest. And you'll sign it.
So what you're saying is it isn't enough that you fired me for no good reason. Now you question my integrity? On top of the humiliation of being fired, you threaten me? You threaten my family? It never crossed my mind not to honor my agreement. I will tell you, Mr. Sandifer, and Brown and Williamson too, fuck me, I will fuck you.
I'm not sure he got the message. Oh, I think he did.
So, yeah, he's not going to get pushed around, old Wygant. But, yeah, that sort of sets the tone for, okay, here's what he's in for, this constant threat of litigation, harassment, you know. And, you know, he flies off the handle here, goes to a pay phone and rings Bergman and blows up because he ratted him out. But, you know, Bergman's like, I don't know what you're talking about.
But it does make you go, well, hang on a minute, so they're following this guy? They're watching him. Do you remember when he went to the driving range? Yeah. That's sort of coming up next. But I'm saying just in that first ā they were aware of that first meeting for crying out loud. Well, no, they weren't though. I think that was a coincidence. No. No, I reckon it's coincidence.
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Chapter 8: What impact did 'The Insider' have on public perception of the tobacco industry?
Where's that from? Well, that's just a random source.
Some whistleblower.
Yeah, exactly. But we don't know who that is. I think they were following him. I think they were watching him and they knew that he met with ā Okay. Well, I didn't get that impression, but come to think of it, that's probably how ā so that's why they did the second gag order.
That's why they wanted the tighter confidentiality, yeah.
Yeah, wow. Yeah, 100%. Jeez. Okay. Now ā Remember after that meeting when he stormed out, remember he goes to the driving range? Yeah, and there's a bloke in a suit. He's apparently not a bad golfer in real life. And Russell Crowe, not a bad swing, but you see some bloke here in a full suit. Although Russell, Wygand was in a shirt.
Yeah, but the other blokes were in a suit jacket as well.
With a jacket as well, yeah. That's weird. And he's becoming even more paranoid. But Bergman goes to see Wygand to reassure him. Yeah. I did not give you up to anyone. What business do we have? I'm here to straighten something out with you. Right here, right now. You didn't mention my name. You haven't talked to anybody about my name.
Why?
I'm Brown and Williamson. No, I spoke to you. How the hell do I know about Brown and Williamson?
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