Barbarians at the Gate is a made-for-TV movie based upon the book by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar , about the leveraged buyout (LBO) of RJR Nabisco.

The film was directed by Glenn Jordan and stars James Garner as F. Ross Johnson, who is the CEO of R.J.R Nabisco but is planning to buy out the rest of the Nabisco shareholders. One of the reasons Johnson is trying to buy the company is due to the likely market failure of the company's smokeless cigarette called Premier.

The opposition to Johnson's bid for the company is one of the pioneers of the leveraged buyout, Henry Kravis (who is played by Jonathan Pryce) and his cousin George R. Roberts. Kravis was the first person Johnson talked to about doing the LBO, and feels betrayed after learning that Johnson wants to do the deal with another firm, American Express' former Shearson Lehman Hutton division. Ted Forstmann and his Forstmann Little buyout firm also played a prominent role.

After Kravis and Johnson are unable to reconcile their differences, a bidding war takes place which Johnson will eventually lose. The unfortunate side effect of the augmented buyout price to the shareholders is the creation of a worrying level of debt for the company.

Cast

• Tom Aldredge as Charlie Hugel
• Graham Beckel as Don Kelly
• Joanna Cassidy as Linda Robinson
• Matt Clark as Ed Horrigan
• Jeffrey DeMunn as John Greeniaus
• Peter Dvorsky as George R. Roberts
• James Garner as F. Ross Johnson
• Mark Harelik as Peter Atkins
• Joseph Kell as Nick Forstmann
• Jonathan Pryce as Henry Kravis
• David Rasche as Ted Forstmann
• Peter Riegert as Peter Cohen
• Leilani Sarelle as Laurie Johnson
• Fred Dalton Thompson as Jim Robinson
• Rita Wilson as Carolyne Roehm-Kravis

External links

IMDb entry