1) The unlimited checkbook. That’s how Big Tobacco wins, every time on everything. They spend you to death. $600 million a year in outside legal. Chadbourne-Park, Ken Starr’s firm, Kirkland and Ellis. Listen, GM and Ford, they get nailed after 11 or 12 pick-ups blow up, right? These clowns have never – I mean ever – 2) Not even once 1) Not even with hundreds of thousands dying each year from an illness related to their product have ever lost a personal injury lawsuit.
1) Do you have a history of emotional problems, Mr. Wigand? 2) Yes. Yes, I do. I get extremely emotional when assholes put bullets in my mailbox!
1) I have to put my family’s welfare on the line here, my friend! And what are you puttin’ up? You’re puttin’ up words! 2) Words? While you’ve been dickin’ around at some fucking company golf tournaments, I been out in the world, giving my word and backing it up with action.
1) I’m just a commodity to you, aren’t I? I could be anything. Right? Anything worth putting on between commercials. 2) To a network, probably, we’re all commodities. To me? You are not a commodity. What you are is important.
1) The news division has been vilified in The New York Times, in print, on television, for caving to corporate interests! The New York Times ran a blow by blow of what we talked about behind closed doors! You fucked us! 2) No, you fucked you! Don’t invert stuff! Big Tobacco tried to smear Wigand, you bought it. The Wall Street Journal, here, not exactly a bastion of anti-capitalist sentiment, refutes Big Tobacco’s smear campaign as the lowest form of character assassination! And now, even now, when every word of what Wigand has said on our show is printed, the entire deposition of his testimony in a court of law in the State of Mississippi, the cat totally out of the bag, you’re still standing here debating! Don, what the hell else do you need? 2) Mike, you tell him. 3) Don, you fucked up.
1) What’s this? 2) What that is is tobacco’s standard defense. It’s the “we don’t know†litany. Addiction? We believe not. Disease? We don’t know. We take a bunch of leaves, we roll them together, you smoke ‘em. After that, you’re on your own. We don’t know.
1) Who are these people? 2) Ordinary people under extraordinary pressure. What the hell do you expect? Grace and consistency?
1) Yeah… 2)…you fucked me! 1)Who is this? 2)…protect your sources…! You screwed me! You sold me out! 1)What are you talking about? Where are you? 2)Fuck you, too!
1) You cut it! You cut the guts out of what I said! 2) It was a time consideration, Mike. 1) Time? Bullshit! You corporate lackey! Who told you your incompetent little fingers had the requisite skills to edit me?
1)I did not burn you. I did not give you up to anyone! 2)This is my house… In front of my wife, my kids?! What business do we have? 1)To straighten something out with you. Right here. Right now. 2)So, you didn’t mention my name? You haven’t talked to anybody about me? 1)Why am I gonna mention your name? 2)How did Brown & Williamson know I spoke to you…? 1)How the hell do I know about Brown & Williamson? 2)It happened after I talked to you. I do not like coincidences! 1)And I don’t like paranoid accusations! I’m a journalist. Think. Use your head. How do I operate as a journalist by screwing the people who could provide me with information before they provided me with it?
2)You came all the way down here to tell me that? 1)No. I did not. Big Tobacco is a big story. And you got something important to say. I can tell. But, yes. I did. I came all the way down here to tell you: story, no story, fuck your story, I don’t burn people. 2)Ride with me while I take the girls to school.
1)I’m going to the store. You need anything? 2)What do you need at the store? 1)Soy sauce. 2)Right now?
1)Let me see the documents. This is a Fire-Safety Product Study for Philip Morris. Burn rates…ignition propensity…things of this nature. I could very easily explain this to you in layman’s terms, because it’s from another company but that’s as far as I go… 2)Far as you go where? 1)This issue is a drop in the bucket. I can talk to you about what’s in here. But I can’t talk to you about anything else.
I signed a confidentiality agreement. I honor agreements… Doesn’t CBS have confidentiality agreements, Mr. Bergman? 2)Between journalists and management, yes, I believe they do…but I don’t take that seriously. Where do you work? 1)Did work. 2)Did work. 1)How much would I get paid? 2)That, you have to discuss with CBS Business Affairs. But, for something like this, I would say anywhere between 10, 12 thousand. 1)Should I just take the documents now? 2)If you want to do it. 1)I worked as the head of Research and Development for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company. I was a Corporate Vice President. Mr. Bergman…
1)That’s my stuff from the office. 2)Why did you take your stuff from the office? 1)I didn’t want to leave it there… 2)I don’t understand.
1)I got fired this morning… Where else am I gonna take it? 2)Why? Who said? 1)Thomas Sandefur… 2) What are we supposed to do…? What
about our medical coverage; what about our health? What about our car payments? The payments on this house? 1)There’s a severance agreement… It includes cash payouts over time and continuing medical coverage… Sure you don’t need anything? 2)No, thank you.
1)What did you want to see me about? I don’t like being back here. 2)Jeffrey says exactly what’s on his mind. Most people consider what they’re saying…social skills… Jeffrey just charges right ahead. Now, I know you understood the nature of the confidentiality portion of your severance agreement with Brown & Williamson, Jeff… 1)Chapter and verse. 2)Yeah, I know you do… You know, I came up through sales. One of the reasons I was a great salesman, was I never made a promise I couldn’t keep. I knew that if I ever broke my promise I’d suffer the consequence…1)Is that a threat? 2)…we worked together for, what was it, three years…? Now, the work we did here is confidential, not for public scrutiny…any more than are one’s family matters…1)You threatening my family, now, too? 2)Now, don’t be paranoid, Jeff. About the direction of research here, we may have had our differences of opinion…1)’Research…’ You declare, as a badge of honor, you don’t even know what makes water boil…2)That’s why we hire scientists…1)Okay.I don’t believe you can maintain corporate integrity without confidentiality agreements. I was paid well for my work. The health and welfare benefits are good. The severance package is fair. I have no intention of violating my confidentiality agreement and disclosing that which I said I wouldn’t. 2)I appreciate all that, Jeff. But, upon reflection…we’ve decided to expand our zone of comfort with you. So we’ve drafted a supplement to your agreement…it broadly defines and
expands in more detail what is ‘confidential.’ Nobody will be able to say, ‘Well, hell’s bells, Margaret, I didn’t know that was a secret…’ We’re very serious about protecting our interests. We’d like you to sign it. 1)And if I don’t? 3)If we ‘arrive’ at the conclusion 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. Wigand. 1
1/..You’re questioning our journalistic integrity??!!
2/..No… I’m questioning your hearing….you hear *reasonable* & *cautious interference* …. I hear potential Brown & Williamson law suit jeopardizing the sale of CBS to Westinghouse…. I hear *shut the segment down …… cut Wigand loose….. obey orders & fuck off!!!*…. that’s what I hear!!
1/..You’re exaggerating!!!
2/..I am???…. You pay me to go get guys like Wigand, to draw him out. To get him to trust us, to get him to go on television. I do. I deliver him… He sits… He talks… He violates his own fucking confidentiality agreement… And he’s only the key witness in the biggest public health reform issue, maybe the biggest, most-expensive corporate-malfeasance case in U.S. history… And Jeffrey Wigand, who’s out on a limb, does he go on television and tell the truth? Yes. Is it news-worthy? Yes. Are we gonna air it? Of course not. Why? Because he’s not telling the truth? No. Because he is telling the truth. That’s why we’re not going to air it. And the more truth he tells, the worse it gets!
1/_I fought for you and I still fight for you!!!
2/_You fought for me??!! You manipulated me, into where I am now!! Staring at the Brown & Williamson building! It’s all dark except for the 10th Floor!! That’s the legal department, that’s where they fuck with my life!!
1/_I have to put my family’s welfare on the line here, my friend, and what are you putting up? You’re putting up words!
2/_While you’ve been out dickin’ around in some fucking company golf tournaments, I’ve been out in the world giving my word…and backing it up with action!
1/_I’m all out of heroes, man…..guys like you are in short supply.
2/_Yeah, guys like you, too.
1/_In the real world, when you get to where I am, there are other considerations.
2/_Like what? Corporate responsibility? What, are we talking *celebrity* here?
1/_I’m not talking *celebrity*, vanity, CBS. I’m talking about when you’re nearer the end of your life than the beginning. Now, what do you think you think about then? The future? In the future I’m going to do this? Become that? What future? No. What you think is *How will I be regarded in the end?* After I’m gone. Now, along the way I suppose I made some minor impact. I did Iran-Gate and the Ayatollah, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Saddam, Sadat, etc, etc. I showed them thieves-in-suits. I’ve spent a lifetime building all that. But history only remembers most what you did last. And should that be fronting a segment that allowed a tobacco giant to crash this network? Does it give someone at my time of life pause? Yeah….
1/_Is there anything you’d like to know about me, Mr Wygand
2/_Like what? Your sign?
1/_Mr Moddly, we have rights here.
2/_Oh, you got rights … and lefts and up and downs and middles… so what?! You dont get to *instruct* anything around here. Not North Carolina, not South Carolina, nor Kentucky! This is the sovereign state of Mississippi proceeding… WIPE THAT SMURK OFF YOUR FACE!! Dr Wygand’s deposition will be part of this record and I’m gunna take my witnesses testimony whether the hell you like it or not!!
1/_Object!
2/_Is there an echo in here? Your objection’s been recorded. She typed it into her little machine over there. It’s on the record. So now I’ll proceed with my deposition of my witness.
1/_They’re afraid of you, aren’t they?
2/_They should be
1/_We are in the nicotine delivery business
2/_And that’s what cigarettes are for?
1/_A delivery devise for nicotine
2/_A delivery devise for nicotine…. put it in your mouth, light it up and you’re gunna get your fix
1/_You’re gunna get your fix
2/_You’re saying that Brown & Williamson manipulates and adjusts the nicotine fix, not by artificially adding nicotine, but by enhancing the affect of nicotine by the use of chemical elements such as ammonia
1/_The process is known as *Impact Boosting*… spiking the nicotine, they clearly manipulate it. This allows the nicotine to be more rapidly absorbed through the brain and central nervous system
1/_Where’s the hell’s the rest?? You cut it!!?? You cut the guts out of what I said???!!!
2/_There was a time consid…
1/_TIME??!!Bullshit!! You corporate lackey!! Who told YOU your incompetent little fingers had the requisite skills to edit me??!!I’m trying to band-aid a situation here and you’re too dim to….
3/_Mike…..
1/_*Mike*? *Mike*? Try *Mr. Wallace*… We work in the same corporation, doesn’t mean we work in the same profession. What are you gonna do now? You gonna finesse me? *Lawyer me* some more? I’ve been in this profession fifty fucking years!! You and the people you work for are destroying the most-respected, the highest-rated, the most-profitable show on this network!….
1/_Where’s the hell’s the rest??…. You cut it!!?? You cut the guts out of what I said???!!!
2/_There was a time consid…..
1/_TIME??!!Bullshit!!!!! You corporate lackey!!!!!! Who told YOU your incompetent little fingers had the requisite skills to edit me??!!I’m trying to band-aid a situation here and you’re too dim to….
3/_Mike….
1/_Mike???…. MIKE???…. Try *Mr. Wallace*…. We work in the same corporation, doesn’t mean we work in the same profession. What are you gonna do now? You gonna finesse me? Lawyer me some more? I’ve been in this profession fifty fucking years!! You and the people you work for are destroying the most-respected, the highest-rated, the most-profitable show on this network….. !!!
And not a lot of companies in the health field hire an ex-tobacco scientist.
No, that’s fame. You get 15 minutes of fame. Infamy lasts a little longer.
I’m Lowell Bergman from 60 Minutes… you know, you take the *60 Minutes* outta that, no-one returns your phonecalls
Are you a businessman? Or are you a newsman?
Are you a terrorist?
Dr. Wygand, I am instructing you not to answer that question in accordance to the terms of the contractual obligations undertaken by you not to disclose any information about your work at the Brown and Williamson tobacco company, and in accordance with the force and effect of the temporary restraining order that has been entered against you by the court in the state of Kentucky. that means you don’t talk!
Fame has a fifteen-minute half-life. Infamy lasts a little longer.
Fuck it. Let’s go to court.
History only remembers most, what you did last
I never left a source hang out to dry, ever!
I’m not talking celebrity, vanity, CBS. I’m talking about when you’re nearer the end of your life than the beginning. Now, what do you think you think about then? The future? In the future I’m going to do this? Become that? What future? No. What you think is How will I be regarded in the end? After I’m gone. Now, along the way I suppose I made some minor impact. I did Iran-Gate and the Ayatollah, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Saddam, Sadat, etcetera, etcetera. I showed them thieves in suits. I’ve spent a lifetime building all that. But history only remembers most what you did last. And should that be fronting a segment that allowed a tobacco giant to crash this network? Does it give someone at my time of life pause? Yeah.
If you’re curious to meet me… I’m gonna be in the lobby of the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, reading The New York Times, tomorrow, at five o’clock.
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.
Oh, hi, Doug…it’s Lowell. I’m doing this story on fire safety… People burning up from falling asleep smoking. I received a shitload of scientific papers from inside Philip Morris… Anonymous. You or anybody in FDA know someone who can translate this stuff into English for me?
Pooh’s dusty, sweetheart…he’s dusty, and you breathed him in, okay? So what’s – what’s happening to you now is… cells called mast cells told your lungs ‘don’t breathe any more of that dust in.’ …and the airways in your lungs are like branches. And when the branches close up, you get an asthmatic attack. And, we give you medicine, and you get better. Huh? Okay? You’re better already, aren’t you?
Sacrifice.
Sorry. I’m accepting an award from the Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation. It’s going to kill the rest of my day.
Tell him to PICK UP THE FUCKING PHONE!!
what do we download
What do you think? I’m going to resign in protest? To force it on the air? The answer is no. I don’t plan to spend the end of my days wandering in the wilderness of National Public Radio.
What do you think? I’m gunna resign in protest to force it on the air? The answer’s NO… I’m not gunna spend the rest of my days wandering through the backwoods of national public radio, that decision I’ve already made for myself
Will you tell him that when I conduct an interview, I sit anywhere I damn please!
You are-important to a lot of people Jeffrey, I want you to think about that, think about them. I’m runnin’ out of heroes man, what can I say? Guys like you are in a short supply.
You pay me to go get guys like Wigand, to draw him out. To get him to trust us, to get him to go on television. I do. I deliver him. He sits. He talks. He violates his own fucking confidentiality agreement. And he’s only the key witness in the biggest public health reform issue, maybe the biggest, most-expensive corporate-malfeasance case in U.S. history. And Jeffrey Wigand, who’s out on a limb, does he go on television and tell the truth? Yes. Is it newsworthy? Yes. Are we gonna air it? Of course not. Why? Because he’s not telling the truth? No. Because he is telling the truth. That’s why we’re not going to air it. And the more truth he tells, the worse it gets!
You tell him that when I conduct an interview, I sit anywhere I damn please!
You!! I’m talking to you! What the hell do you think I am, A 78 year old assassin? Do you think I’m gunna karate him to death with this note-pad!!??
You’d better look into it, because I’m getting two things: pissed off and curious.
[Tagline] Two men driven to tell the truth, whatever the cost
Page Topic: Movie Quotes from ‘Insider, The’: Quotes from the movie ‘Insider, The’