Pirates of Silicon Valley

UPC: 053939699623

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Adult Situations]

Summary: This tech-world biopic traces the fortunes of personal-computer companies Apple and Microsoft from their obscure dorm-room and backyard origins to their very public battle for corporate supremacy. Writer/director Martyn Burke follows the parallel lives of Microsoft founder Bill Gates (Anthony Michael Hall) and Apple co-founders Steve Jobs (Noah Wyle) and Steve Wozniak (Joey Slotnick) -- the former a crafty Harvard dropout, the latter a pair of hippies with jobs at Hewlett-Packard and a yen to sell miniature versions of corporate mainframes to small businesses and at-home enthusiasts. Much like the personal-computer industry itself, the action starts with Apple then gradually shifts to Microsoft. The former plot thread recounts how Jobs and Wozniak "borrowed" key concepts from a Xerox computer lab, eked out their success as countercultural businessmen, and finally fell out with one another over the pressure of success. The latter thread focuses on the way Gates learned from, then surpassed, the brains behind Apple and turned his company into the global powerhouse that it is today. Based on Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine's Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer, the film actually focuses only on that book's final chapters. Produced for cable channel TNT, Pirates of Silicon Valley debuted June 18, 1999. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Category: Drama

Features: DVD-exclusive introduction by Noah Wyle
TV spot
Languages & subtitles: English & Espa?ol

Pirates of Silicon Valley

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 08/30/2005

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DDS2.0 Dolby Digital w/ 4 channels

Runtime: 97 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,Spanish

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Pirates of Silicon Valley
1. Big Brother Credits [3:40]
2. Weird Places [5:32]
3. Computer Language [4:35]
4. Vision of Victory [2:18]
5. Revolutionary Ideas [3:53]
6. Businessmen [4:33]
7. Employee Zero's Trip [3:45]
8. Quit Harvard for This? [4:34]
9. The Rest of Us [4:06]
10. Computer Faire 1977 [3:20]
11. Unfit [5:32]
12. Belly of the Beast [5:02]
13. The Sound of Money [3:45]
14. The Right Name [6:08]
15. $100-Billion Head Start [4:02]
16. I Want It [2:26]
17. Who's the Pirate? [5:01]
18. Battle Casualties [4:23]
19. Torn Apart [2:35]
20. Flower Child [2:26]
21. Stealing From Us [4:18]
22. One Big Family [2:49]
23. Better Doesn't Matter [2:28]
24. Coda and End Credits [5:18]

Brian J. Dillard

Thanks to inspired casting and strong writing, this well-oiled TV biopic managed to transform the unglamorous genesis of the personal-computer industry into solid entertainment precisely at the moment when dot-com mania was sweeping the nation. Perennial '80s geek Anthony Michael Hall gets his best screen role since Six Degrees of Separation in the form of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the ultimate embodiment of the revenge of the nerds. Meanwhile, ER star Noah Wyle gets to step out of Dr. John Carter's skin and into a quietly intense portrayal of Apple guru Steve Jobs. Hall's smarmy intellect and Wyle's tortured-yuppie temper may conform closely to public perception of the men they portray, but neither performance sinks into infotainment schtick. And unlike a lot of true-life TV movies, Pirates of Silicon Valley doesn't telescope its complicated plot into a series of irritatingly unconnected vignettes. Instead, it meticulously traces the key events that shaped the Apple/Microsoft struggle and laid the foundations of today's business (and, increasingly, personal) world. There is a bit of Wired magazine-style hyperbole in the script's awe of the computer world -- a flaw that's especially obvious now, after the Internet stock crash. The overwrought treatment of Jobs' personal life, too, could have used a rewrite. But for the most part, writer/director Martyn Burke treats his subject objectively, with a dose of humor -- exactly what the material needs. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Martyn Burke  Director 
Martyn Burke  Screenwriter 
Joseph Dougherty  Executive Producer 
Frank Fitzpatrick  Composer (Music Score) 
Steven Haft  Executive Producer 
Leanne Moore  Producer 
Nick Lombardo  Executive Producer 
Noah Wyle  Actor 
Anthony Michael Hall  Actor 
Joey Slotnick  Actor 
John DiMaggio  Actor 
Josh Hopkins  Actor 
Gema Zamprogna  Actor 
Allan Royal  Actor 
Wayne Pere  Actor 

Country: USA