Barbarians at the Gate
Barbarians at the Gate (1993) was another flick that had its foundations in a book: the eponymous tale of the legendary leveraged buyout battle for RJR-Nabisco, published in 1989 and written by Bryan Burrough. (A fine year for finance literature; Michael Lewis’ Liar’s Poker was published almost simultaneously and is another prime candidate for the film treatment.) It featured James Garner as Nabisco’s CEO and Jonathan Pryce playing his billionaire nemesis Henry Kravis. Fred Thompson, later to run for president, made a cameo. This was strictly small-screen fare, appearing only on HBO, but it received the ultimate industry accolade of “Two Thumbs Up!” from Siskel and Ebert.
S&P 500 Index that year: up 10.08 percent. Rotten Tomatoes rating: 67 percent.
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