Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30525 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-05-31
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

DVD Description
Eli Wurman (Academy Award winner Al Pacino) is coming apart at the seams. A legendary New York PR man whose glory days are far behind him, Wurman is lost in the blur of media, celebrity and politics. But when a seemingly routine incident, involving a temperamental starlet (Tea Leoni) and a world-famous movie star (Ryan O’Neal) leads him into the murky world of political conspiracy and murder, Eli ignores his deteriorating health and pours his manic energies into pleading, seducing, cajoling and recruiting Manhattan’s movers and shakers to come out and support his cause. In the end, Eli discovers one undeniable truth: it’s not who you are that matters, it’s who you know.

Special Features

• Sundance Festival press conference with actors Al Pacino and Richard Schiff, Director Daniel Algrant and Writer Jon Robin Baitz
  
• Cast interviews with Tea Leoni, Ryan O’Neal and Richard Schiff
  
• Trailer

Synopsis
Al Pacino transforms himself into former all-star publicist Eli Wurman in Dan Algrant's PEOPLE I KNOW. Wurman is a southern-born one-time mover and shaker who is at the end of his rope--and his career. His last major client, Cary Launer (Ryan O'Neal), is an Oscar-winning actor who has Wurman clean up his messes for him; in this case, Wurman has to get drug-addled television host Jilli Hopper (Tea Leoni) out of jail and back to California. But a detour leads Wurman into a secret sex-and-drug den filled with the rich and powerful--and also gets him involved in murder.
PEOPLE I KNOW shares its fast-paced, winner-take-all, back stabbing world with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, which also tore apart New York City's hot publicity world. The eclectic cast does a fine job, with Pacino and Leoni standing out. Kim Basinger has a supporting role as Victoria Gray, Wurman's former sister-in-law who offers him the chance to retire to a quiet life on a ranch, but Wurman first has to pull off a politically controversial fundraiser that is making a lot of people upset.

Customer Reviews

The Night He Saw too Much
"I like that about the movie," Pacino said, "There was an earlier draft in which the crime stuff was more in the foreground, but no, this isn't a crime movie, it's about Eli's personality. He has a key line: 'I just can't stop.' This is what he does. He knows people. He fixes things. He's got his causes. Maybe he's gay, but he's never explored that possibility. He just keeps moving."

Eli Wurman is an exhausted New York press agent, taking too many drugs. He is a man torn between compromise and idealism. It is a carefully-tuned performance, in which Eli descends into a long night of drugs and is finally so tired and confused he doesn't know if he has witnessed a murder, or not. Al Pacino plays Eli Wurman, and it a performance that is not over the top but not far from it. His one client, Ryan O'Neal, is caught in a big mess and it concerns a junked up minor actress, Jilli Hopper, played by Tea Leoni. He is not sure what he has seen after he escorts Jilli home- was it murder or was it not? His sister-in-law, Kim Basinger, is his one true defender and the one person who may love him. What a mess he is in. It seems everyone is after him. The dangerous client, the movie star, wants to pay Eli off ,and join a political party and he wants Elliott Sharansky, Richard Schiff to help him win a political seat. Eli needs to take charge of himself, can he do it? Can he get himself together to save things?

As one of the plots was critical about the mayor of New York, this film sat on the shelves for two years following the terrorist attacks on the USA of 9/11. We all remember that Mayor Giuliani was a hero. The film came out in late 2002. It has not made a splash. The film is disjointed at times. It is difficult to know where the film is heading. I couldn't quite like Pacino's character. I felt sorry for him, but it is not enough to carry to the film. Recommended. prisrob Feb. 06.

Pacino is magnificent
I just saw this film at Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival and it blewme away. There are no less than four scenes, any one of which, could haveearned Pacino an Academy Award. The film was to come out around 9/11 butthe inside scoop is that Miramax buried the film because the story shedsa bad light on New York City politicians at a time when the country had topull together. Nevertheless, Pacino's pill-popping, alcoholic, on theedge of a breakdown performance and the way the director village portrayshis various states of consciousness is superb. The film is a spot-ondepiction and a brilliant character study of a publicist in a last ditchattempt to launch an press event. Run, don't walk, to see this movie.

Pacino Versatility
A 'way out' film that guides you through the impossible jungle of public relations and the publicity agent. The brilliance of the film is the apparent trite yet sharp and angular content..The agony of trying to differentiate truth from lies and fantasy is conveyed by the superb script and excellent camera work. ..Al Pacino in a unique role plays his part of the broken and disillusioned publicity agent to perfection. Attempting to expose the layers of truth and lies that make up our everyday lives makes for a riveting and thought provoking film. The concept was a risky gamble that paid off. It will become a cult film.

David Turner (London UK)