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One of the greatest scandals in American corporate history is chronicled in the riveting documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Based on the bestselling book by Fortune magazine reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkin, and directed by Alex Gibney (who also produced The Trials of Henry Kissinger), the film is an epic morality tale, drawing upon a wealth of insider interviews and archival material to show how Enron, once the nation's seventh largest corporate entity, essentially faked its bookkeeping to report profits that never existed. The corrupt and closely-guarded mismanagement by Enron executives (including Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, later placed on criminal trial) is revealed through such heinous concepts as "Hypothetical Future Value" (a way of reaping fortunes based on false profit projections) and the use of offshore "shell" companies to hide the massive losses that eventually toppled the company (along with the venerable Arthur Anderson accounting firm) and left 20,000 employees jobless. As a maddening portrait of hubris and white-collar crime, Enron transcends political and corporate boundaries by showing how smart and powerful men grew blinded by greed and brought ruin upon themselves, along with thousands of otherwise innocent victims. For better and worse, it's a perfect double-feature with eye-opening 2004 documentary The Corporation. --Jeff Shannon
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John Beard stars. The inside story of one of history's greatest business scandals, in which top executives of America's seventh largest company walked away with over one billion dollars, while investors and employees lost everything. Based on the best sel
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194 of 206 people found the following review helpful
I went into Alex Gibney's "Smartest Guys in the Room" having read Robert Bryce's "Pipe Dreams" and Kurt Eichenwald's "Conspiracy of Fools" thinking to myself: should be good, but no way the movie is going to come close to telling the story like those two authors did.
Well, surprise, surprise: the movie is outstanding on its own terms and all credit goes to Gibney. While the books focus on unraveling all of Andy Fastow's 'Special Purpose Entities' like the Raptors, LJM, Chewco, etc., Gibney brilliantly focuses on showing us things that are simply better on film: audio recordings of Enron traders jacking the California energy system; a devastated Portland Gas line worker after his 401K has gone to seed; an uncomfortable Skilling getting grilled by a Senate panel while Sherron Watkins glowers at him from 10 feet away; some Enron HR flack urging its employees to put all their 401K money into company stock, etc.
And there are two incredible, spine-tingling moments if you know the Enron story:
- An audio recording of the famous quarterly results analyst call where Skilling loses it and calls an analyst an a------. [The analyst only asked why the company couldn't produce a balance sheet.] Reading Eichenwald's book, you know Skilling is clearly unhinged at this point. For many, this call was the turning point of the great unraveling.
- A secret video recording from Merrill Lynch of Andy Fastow's LJM2 pitch to a bunch of bankers. This is *mesmerizing* stuff. Fastow is front and center in the books, but remains a spooky, off-camera presence in the movie. However, this one piece nails him. He's perpetrating a major fraud with that spiel.
Most of all, the movie is a tribute to the work of reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, both of whom had the guts to ask at the beginning "How does Enron make money"? No one at the company could answer the question and management's response was to attempt to bully McLean and then, in turn, bully her editors. They didn't bend. The story ran. The rest is history. In business writing, this was journalism on the level of Woodward and Bernstein. All glory belongs to Ms. McLean and Mr. Elkind.
Two other great moves by Alex Gibney:
- Getting Amanda Martin on film to talk about the tragedy of Cliff Baxter's life and of Jeff Skilling's career. What a smart filmmaker. The camera *loves* Amanda Martin. Far better for your film to have her tell that story than have Ken Rice, Lou Pai or any other member of the Skilling inner circle.
- Getting Peter Coyote to narrate. His is the perfect voice for this saga.
Well, surprise, surprise: the movie is outstanding on its own terms and all credit goes to Gibney. While the books focus on unraveling all of Andy Fastow's 'Special Purpose Entities' like the Raptors, LJM, Chewco, etc., Gibney brilliantly focuses on showing us things that are simply better on film: audio recordings of Enron traders jacking the California energy system; a devastated Portland Gas line worker after his 401K has gone to seed; an uncomfortable Skilling getting grilled by a Senate panel while Sherron Watkins glowers at him from 10 feet away; some Enron HR flack urging its employees to put all their 401K money into company stock, etc.
And there are two incredible, spine-tingling moments if you know the Enron story:
- An audio recording of the famous quarterly results analyst call where Skilling loses it and calls an analyst an a------. [The analyst only asked why the company couldn't produce a balance sheet.] Reading Eichenwald's book, you know Skilling is clearly unhinged at this point. For many, this call was the turning point of the great unraveling.
- A secret video recording from Merrill Lynch of Andy Fastow's LJM2 pitch to a bunch of bankers. This is *mesmerizing* stuff. Fastow is front and center in the books, but remains a spooky, off-camera presence in the movie. However, this one piece nails him. He's perpetrating a major fraud with that spiel.
Most of all, the movie is a tribute to the work of reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, both of whom had the guts to ask at the beginning "How does Enron make money"? No one at the company could answer the question and management's response was to attempt to bully McLean and then, in turn, bully her editors. They didn't bend. The story ran. The rest is history. In business writing, this was journalism on the level of Woodward and Bernstein. All glory belongs to Ms. McLean and Mr. Elkind.
Two other great moves by Alex Gibney:
- Getting Amanda Martin on film to talk about the tragedy of Cliff Baxter's life and of Jeff Skilling's career. What a smart filmmaker. The camera *loves* Amanda Martin. Far better for your film to have her tell that story than have Ken Rice, Lou Pai or any other member of the Skilling inner circle.
- Getting Peter Coyote to narrate. His is the perfect voice for this saga.
76 of 81 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Narrated by veteran actor, Peter Coyote, this DVD is disturbingly real. It reveals the depths that people will sink at the expense of others, and it reveals how widespread it was.
First, Arthur Anderson Consulting signed off on "mark to marketing" accounting. In other words, Enron could report their projected earnings as actual profits. They could "report" profits of millions of dollars that they didn't have. They paid bonuses and other excesses with these projections.
Next, Jeff Skilling was hired by Ken Lay to run the operations of the company. Skilling was a man with fresh, or some would say, grandiose ideas. This is just what Lay wanted--a man of vision.
Skilling soon instituted promotions and bonuses for analysts who produced more than the other guy. Creating a classic cuthroat environment, the producers were given phenomenal bonuses while their less successful counterparts were shown the door. These were all being given on projected earnings.
One rebel market analyst from Merrill Lynch would not give Enron a "strong buy" rating. Skilling contacted Merrill Lynch who promptly fired the errant employee, and Enron gave Merrill Lynch a fifty million dollar contract.
Enter Andy Fastow another Enron executive in the mold of Jeff Skilling who managed to set up dummy corporations which were paying Enron. Several prominent banks knew of the scheme and went along with it. (You may even have your money in one of them.)
Another Enron executive, named Pi was an executive cuthroat who knew his predilections and his limits. He left the company after making $250,000,000 and married his pregnant, stripper girlfriend.
Skilling, Fastow, and Lay kept attempting new investments in energy and other ventures which flopped miserably. The DVD shows how they were beginning to lose their ability to think of new ideas to fool the public and the investors who never saw an Enron balance sheet or earnings statement.
The most chilling part of this is the Enron analysts who were able to create rolling black-outs through California. They invested in the stock of power companies before they called the power companies and asked them to shut down the power for hours at a time. This, in turn, created demand, which increased the price of the stock and their profits. The real chill is you hear what is tantamount to their psychopathic laughter at the misery and hardship they helped create throughout the state. In another instance, they actually began cheering when a forest fire shuts down a power plant. Their "profit cheering" with no regard for the misery of the people without power may make the viewer want to drop these guys from a tall building.
It gets even better--I mean, worse. Ken Lay said he didn't know what was going on. Interviewees told Ken Lay what his analysts were doing. None were fired or disciplined. How did he not know? He, like other top executives, sold off almost all their shares in the company just before the bad news hit. The common worker who had his or her 401K tied up in Enron stock was not allowed to sell it as the company and its stock value collapsed. They lost everything. One common power company worker who was interviewed said that his pension went from $340,000 to $1,200. This was painful to listen to.
One last thing, these "Enron entrepreneurs" fought tooth and nail to keep California's energy laws deregulated. Everything has its positives and negatives. If free market enterprise is unchecked it does lead to invention and creativity. It also leads to greed and excesses.
Maybe a little regulation is not such a bad thing.
Update: Lay and Skilling have been found guilty. Their lawyer fees, expensive. The verdict, priceless!
First, Arthur Anderson Consulting signed off on "mark to marketing" accounting. In other words, Enron could report their projected earnings as actual profits. They could "report" profits of millions of dollars that they didn't have. They paid bonuses and other excesses with these projections.
Next, Jeff Skilling was hired by Ken Lay to run the operations of the company. Skilling was a man with fresh, or some would say, grandiose ideas. This is just what Lay wanted--a man of vision.
Skilling soon instituted promotions and bonuses for analysts who produced more than the other guy. Creating a classic cuthroat environment, the producers were given phenomenal bonuses while their less successful counterparts were shown the door. These were all being given on projected earnings.
One rebel market analyst from Merrill Lynch would not give Enron a "strong buy" rating. Skilling contacted Merrill Lynch who promptly fired the errant employee, and Enron gave Merrill Lynch a fifty million dollar contract.
Enter Andy Fastow another Enron executive in the mold of Jeff Skilling who managed to set up dummy corporations which were paying Enron. Several prominent banks knew of the scheme and went along with it. (You may even have your money in one of them.)
Another Enron executive, named Pi was an executive cuthroat who knew his predilections and his limits. He left the company after making $250,000,000 and married his pregnant, stripper girlfriend.
Skilling, Fastow, and Lay kept attempting new investments in energy and other ventures which flopped miserably. The DVD shows how they were beginning to lose their ability to think of new ideas to fool the public and the investors who never saw an Enron balance sheet or earnings statement.
The most chilling part of this is the Enron analysts who were able to create rolling black-outs through California. They invested in the stock of power companies before they called the power companies and asked them to shut down the power for hours at a time. This, in turn, created demand, which increased the price of the stock and their profits. The real chill is you hear what is tantamount to their psychopathic laughter at the misery and hardship they helped create throughout the state. In another instance, they actually began cheering when a forest fire shuts down a power plant. Their "profit cheering" with no regard for the misery of the people without power may make the viewer want to drop these guys from a tall building.
It gets even better--I mean, worse. Ken Lay said he didn't know what was going on. Interviewees told Ken Lay what his analysts were doing. None were fired or disciplined. How did he not know? He, like other top executives, sold off almost all their shares in the company just before the bad news hit. The common worker who had his or her 401K tied up in Enron stock was not allowed to sell it as the company and its stock value collapsed. They lost everything. One common power company worker who was interviewed said that his pension went from $340,000 to $1,200. This was painful to listen to.
One last thing, these "Enron entrepreneurs" fought tooth and nail to keep California's energy laws deregulated. Everything has its positives and negatives. If free market enterprise is unchecked it does lead to invention and creativity. It also leads to greed and excesses.
Maybe a little regulation is not such a bad thing.
Update: Lay and Skilling have been found guilty. Their lawyer fees, expensive. The verdict, priceless!
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
OK, I admit it. I didn't get the whole Enron thing a few years back. The Enron collapse happened too soon after 9/11 and I was completely preoccupied with that and our subsequent war on terror to pay much attention to the Enron story. Plus I figured that it was probably too complex for me to understand without doing a lot of research and I just didn't want to give it that much attention. And on top of that, I had never even heard of the company before so understanding what had happened at this Texan company clearly wasn't a priority to me. So...I enjoyed the documentary in helping me to finally understood what happened... Well, now I get it. And I'm soooo suprised to learn about so many connections I hadn't put together before like California's "energy crisis", the Enron collapse, and the political (yet ignorant) motivation for naming Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor. The documentary is extremely well done, definitely kept my attention, and provides an uncomplicated, riveting look at corporate greed and narcissism. It is definitely worth a few bucks and two hours of your time.
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