Death in the West

The film is composed of three different kinds of footage: old Marlboro commercials, interviews with two Philip Morris executives, and interviews with six American cowboys who have either lung cancer or emphysema, alongside testimony from physicians that the conditions were caused by heavy cigarette use. Wakeham was also criticised for comparing the ill-effects of smoking to overconsumption of apple sauce. ==Lawsuit==

Shortly after the film aired, Philip Morris sued Thames Television, successfully obtaining a court order to prevent the film from being shown until its suit could be heard and preventing the filmmakers from publicly discussing the film. Philip Morris' suit accused Thames of both deception and breach of copyright, stating the firm was "sandbagged and double-crossed" into allowing Marlboro commercials to be used in the film, as they thought the film would depict cigarettes in a more favourable manner. Both Mother Jones magazine and The Glasgow Herald doubted this claim, since Peter Taylor had previously made three films for television which portrayed cigarette use in a negative manner. Philip Morris also spent "considerable money" in an attempt to prove the six individuals in the film were not genuine cowboys. Palmer Williams, then senior producer for 60 Minutes in the US, had expressed interest in airing part of the documentary, and the American Cancer Society had plans to use the film in their anti-smoking campaigns. The court order, however, prevented Thames from selling them the film. Philip Morris stated they would settle out of court, if Thames returned all the footage of the commercials and Phillip Morris employees, thereby effectively destroying the majority of the film. Although Thames' chances of winning the lawsuit were described as good, the filmmakers did not mount a lawsuit to recover the film, as a defence was estimated to cost £100,000, far greater than the amount of money the company could make by recovering and selling the film. Thames eventually settled out of court, signing a confidential agreement that stated they would destroy all their copies of the film. In January 1979, the original film was reported to be sealed in a London court vault. ==Aftermath==

By January 1979, four of the six cowboys interviewed in the film had died; only one was still alive in 1982. Despite Thames' having agreed to destroy all copies of the film, both the film and photocopies of the confidential agreement leaked out. The film was also shown twice during the penultimate weekend of January 1983 on Chicago's WTTW as an installment of Image Union. ==Notes and references==