With THE GOOD SHEPHERD, Robert De Niro (A BRONX TALE) makes an ambitious return to the director's chair. A labor of love for Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (FORREST GUMP), the film tells an epic, fictionalized account of how the Central Intelligence Agency was born. Matt Damon plays Edward Wilson, a reserved young man who graduated from Yale in the late 1930s. His membership in the exclusive, hidden Skull and Bones society led him away from poetry and into a relationship with the federal government, who recruited him to help them on several covert operations. Roth's script alternates between Wilson's gradual emergence as a genuine government operative in the early 1940s and the infamous Bay of Pigs conflict in the early 1960s. Along the way, he has a sweet romance with a pretty deaf girl (a sparkling Tammy Blanchard) and ends up marrying the woman he impregnates (Angelina Jolie) out of a strong sense of duty. Throughout the film, the emergence of a mysterious tape haunts Wilson, who is determined to uncover the truth behind a leak in his secret organization.

Production designer Jeannine Claudia Oppewall (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN) and costume designer Ann Roth (THE ENGLISH PATIENT, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY) faithfully recreate these earlier periods in American history, while the imagery of Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson (J.F.K., THE AVIATOR) casts a warm, stately glow upon De Niro's assembled cast of luminaries (including Alec Baldwin, Michael Gambon, William Hurt, Billy Crudup, and Joe Pesci). The result is a production that recalls Francis Ford Coppola's THE CONVERSATION and Steven Spielberg's MUNICH.

Theatrical Release: December 22, 2006

DVD Features:

Region 1
Snap Case
Single Side - Dual Layer
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English, French
Subtitles - English (SDH), French, Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Alternate Scenes: Deleted Scenes

Matt Damon: American actor, screenwriter, GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997)
Angelina Jolie: Oscar-winning actress, GIRL, INTERRUPTED, TOMB RAIDER
Joe Pesci: American actor, GOODFELLAS (1990)
Keir Dullea: Star, NAKED CITY (1960)
Alec Baldwin: American Actor, BEETLEJUICE (1988)
Michael Gambon: Irish Stage/Film Actor - A Dry White Season/Sleepy Hollow
Billy Crudup: Actor
William Hurt: American Actor, THE BIG CHILL (1983)

Robert De Niro: Oscar Winning Actor/Director/Producer

Jane Rosenthal: 

Tariq Anwar: Editor

Included in Entertainment Weekly's "Top 10 Films Of The Year" -- "It's a movie that perches you on the edge of your brain."
"[Damon] has excelled at subverting the all-American openness he projects....Here, he's the ultimate enigma machine, a man willing to erase himself for his country." -- Grade: B
3 stars out of 5 -- "[With] a killer cast, with character-actor stalwarts like Alec Baldwin, William Hurt and Michael Gambon filling out its most minor roles."
"[T]he story it tells -- about the early years of the CIA...is simply too compelling to dismiss..."
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "Matt Damon is terrific....The rare long movie that's at its strongest near the end."
"Intelligent, cleverly written and extraordinarily well crafted and performed, THE GOOD SHEPHERD boasts a subtlety and depth you won't find in the world of Jason Bourne or James Bond."
"[De Niro] proves here that - like Clint Eastwood - he can direct a mature, questioning film without didacticism or pomp."
4 stars out of 5 -- "De Niro's faith in the audience's intelligence is refreshing, making this rewardingly complicated viewing that is bolstered by the film's ambitious scope and lavish production values."
"The period details are hypnotic, and the message is ripe for the moment."