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The True Story of Charlie Wilson
Posted on 12/05/2007 1:38:46 PM PST by murdoog
Charlie Wilson's War is the true story of how a playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in history. Their efforts contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, with consequences that reverberate throughout the world today. Oscar® winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman team with Academy Award®-winning director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin to bring George Crile's best-selling book to the screen.
Charlie Wilson (Hanks) was a bachelor congressman from Texas who had a habit of showing up in hot tubs with strippers and cocaine. His "Good Time Charlie" exterior, however, masked an extraordinary mind, a deep sense of patriotism and a passion for the underdog, and in the early 1980s the underdog was Afghanistan-which had just been brutally invaded by the Russians.
Charlie's longtime friend and patron and sometime lover was Joanne Herring (Roberts), one of the wealthiest women in Texas and a virulent anti-communist. Believing the American response to the Russian invasion was anemic at best, she prods Charlie into doing more for the Mujahideen (Afghan freedom fighters).
Charlie's partner in this uphill endeavor is CIA Agent Gust Avrakotos (Hoffman), a blue-collar operative in a company of Ivy League blue bloods. Together, the three of them-Charlie, Joanne and Gust-travel the world to form unlikely alliances among the Pakistanis, Israelis, Egyptians, arms dealers, law makers and a belly dancer.
Their success was remarkable. Funding for covert operations against the Soviets went from $5 million to $1 billion annually. The Red Army retreated out of Afghanistan. When asked how a group of peasants was able to deliver such a decisive blow to the army of a superpower, Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq responded simply, "Charlie did it."
I'll be you right now every Republican will be portrayed as a bumbling idiot.
Ronald Reagan didn't end the Cold War.
A Democrat playboy (like WJC) did.
“How come I think Democrats want to take credit for winning the Cold War now...EVERY SINGLE ONE of the people involved in this movie are extreme left wingers...it’s not even out and it’s already getting awards...tell me I’m wrong.”
Just saw the movie and have read the book. Yes you are wrong. Back then, Southern Democrats acted just like Republicans on foreign policy. Party affiliation wasn’t at civil war levels. You either hated Communists or you covertly enjoyed “keeping the powers balanced”.
There WAS one big sin of omission. It was Clinton who ended the humanitarian effort that would have kept the mujahedeen from totally destroying Kabul. They didn’t make that clear like in the book. Maybe the actors and the viewers will note the timelines and figure it out.
I just saw the movie myself. At the end of the movie Charlie is in a meeting and one of the people there says "I just talked to the president about Afghanistan and he asked me 'Are we still there'". Was Clinton the president he was talking about?
Here’s Ted Baher’s Movie Review:
CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR
Smug Elitism
Quality:
Released: Dec 21st, 2007
Starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty, Emily Blunt, Ken Stott, and Jud Tylor
Genre: Historical Drama
Audience: Adults
Rating: R
Runtime: TBD
Content:
(HHH, AbAbAb, PCPC, RHRH, ACAC, B, LLL, VV, SS, NNN, AA, DD, MM) Very strong humanist worldview with very strong anti-Christian, sometimes politically correct content mocking everybody, plus strong revisionist history and, except for some foul-mouthed, low-life CIA official, Christians look like frauds and womanizers, Christians are mocked for wanting Nativity scene, wealthy Christian told to tone down her Christian language, Muslims are portrayed without character, Christian Congressman yells “Allah Ackbar” with right-wing enthusiasm, plus strong revisionist history, but movie does strongly depict the collapse of the Communist Soviet Union as a good; 73 obscenities and 14 profanities; CIA officer shatters window to superior’s office, lots of war footage and lots of scenes of refugees missing arms, legs and body parts, especially children; lots of sexual scenes with strippers, Playboy bunnies and lots of discussion of sex, sex with wealthy misrepresented Christian woman, daughter sleeps with Congressman, man calls his female staff “jail bait” because they are all young buxom, female interns; lots of upper female nudity with strippers, belly dancers and wealthy Christian holds a slave auction to finance arms to Afghanistan, something that never happened during the Afghan war against the Russians in the 1980s, but is mostly used to make Christians and conservatives look bad; constant drinking to get drunk; constant smoking, cocaine use depicted, and lots of other references to drugs; and, Muslims, Jews and Christians equated with being the same, plus lying, deceit, fraud, government corruption.
Summary:
CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR tells how a hedonistic, left-wing Congressman supposedly helped the CIA single-handedly stop the Soviet Union in Afghanistan by arming the Muslim resistance there during the 1980s. The nudity, sex, drinking, and distortion of history are all excessive, but what is worse is the smug elitism of the movie’s humanist, anti-Christian perspective.
Review:
CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR is awful, pathetic, smarmy, and smug. As the movie opens, United States Congressman Charlie Wilson is honored by the CIA for single-handedly stopping the Soviet Union in Afghanistan by arming the Muslim resistance there. The story cuts quickly to Charlie Wilson, played stiffly by Tom Hanks, in a hot tub in Las Vegas with three naked women and naked strippers cavorting and serving drinks and cocaine, Wilson drinking heavily, people snorting cocaine, and a pimp asking Charlie for a favor. Bored with the excess, Charlie catches Dan Rather reporting on the Afghan invasion by the Soviets.
When Charlie returns to Washington, he’s surrounded by buxom aides whom he calls “jail bait” because they are so young. He asks the CIA to report to him on Afghanistan. As some foul-mouthed CIA officer reports to Charlie, his chief aide is under indictment for drug use.
A wealthy Houston, Texas socialite, Joanne Herring, gets Charlie to come down to Houston so she can tell him to stop the Communists in Afghanistan by providing weapons to the tribes there. Joanne is a conservative, Christian anti-Communist who is holding an auction of attractive young Texas women to finance this plan and who sleeps with Charlie. In real life, the Joanne Herring my wife knew and I met was not like this. In fact, she would have been in her senior years (perhaps in her sixties) at the time the movie takes place, so it is hard to imagine her cavorting like this, especially with her strong Christian commitment.
Charlie tells Joanne he’s a liberal and elected by the Jews. She asks how many Jews are in his Texas district. He says none, that he gets support from Jews in New York and Los Angeles. She flies Charlie to Afghanistan, where the plight of the refugees touches Charlie’s bleeding heart. Charlie returns to Washington and uses his position on the defense committee to raise the funding for arming the Afghans from $5 million to $1 billion.
CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR is not only filled with drugs, sex, dishonesty, and corruption, but it also is clearly an attempt to say that this smarmy left-wing Congressman won the war in Afghanistan, not President Ronald Reagan. For those who don’t remember, Reagan had already worked out years before his presidency a plan to finance anti-Communist rebels all over the world. Not only does Charlie Wilson’s war falsely portray history, it also bashes Christians and defames the reputation of Joanne Herring, turning her into a born again Christian society madam. The nudity, sex and drinking are all excessive, but what is worse is the smug elitism of the movie’s humanist perspective.
CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR doesn’t understand people, revises history and spends so much time misrepresenting policy that it has no time for drama, jeopardy or storytelling. Everyone involved in this movie should be ashamed. The one positive virtue is that it depicts the collapse of the Soviet Union as a good thing.
In Brief:
CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR is awful, pathetic, smarmy, smug, immoral, and revisionist. The movie opens with the CIA honoring U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson for single-handedly stopping the Soviet Union in Afghanistan by arming the Muslim resistance there. The story cuts quickly to Charlie Wilson, played stiffly by Tom Hanks, in a Las Vegas hot tub with naked strippers and while naked women serve drugs and drinks. Wilson drinks heavily, people snort cocaine, and a pimp asks Charlie for a favor. From there, the movie claims that Wilson, with help from Christian Texas socialite Joanne Herring, helped get American funding for the anti-Soviet rebels in Afghanistan, who became the Taliban.
CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR is not only filled with drugs, sex, dishonesty, and corruption, but it also is clearly an attempt to say that this smarmy left-wing Congressman won the war in Afghanistan, not President Ronald Reagan. CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR doesn’t understand people, revises history and spends so much time misrepresenting policy that it has no time for drama. The nudity, sex and drinking are all excessive, but what is worse is the smug elitism of the movie’s humanist, anti-Christian perspective.
The Lives of Others was very good. I highly recommend another foreign film. This one was about the Resistance during WWII which takes place in Holland and Germany called The Black Book. Look for it, you won’t be disappointed. Don’t know if it’s out on DVD yet, but I saw it in the theater this past summer. You actually get so engrossed in the movie that you don’t realize you’re reading subtitles. There is some rather raw sexuality and nudity which kind of makes it unsuitable for younger teens. I recommend parents view it before they let their kids see it, but it’s such a good story from a historical perspective.
In that show about the autistic boy, Bruce did away with Alec in a very satisfying manner.
Sunday, December 23 12:00 AM
Friday, December 28 08:00 AM
Friday, December 28 02:00 PM
The Good Lord works in mysterious ways! I literally begged Donna Peterson (thank GOD we didn't elect her as she turned out to be a real slimy piece of work herself!) to make another run at Charlie in 94 so that I would not have to and be free to pursue my real interest at the time which was shining a little light on the fellow who held then held the house district 18 seat in the Texas legislature, one Allen Ross Hightower. I didn't win the seat but managed to shine enough light on it so that he didn't want it anymore and neither he or his buddy from Beaumont, one Mark Stiles, chose to seek re-election after serving one more term.
Thanks for the comments. Apparently you’re not the only one who shared the same opinion about Donna Peterson.
Arthur Temple owned Charlie Wilson, true..When Donna Peterson tried to run gainst him they got into her cellphone records, hmmm and brought out she was seeing a married jewish man from Beaumont, Tx. A ealthy lawyer from Jasper did that for Temple...
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