Posted on 12/21/2007 7:32:45 PM PST by flattorney
Produced by Wild Eyes Prods. Executive producers, Carl H. Lindahl, David Keane; producers, Ryan Spyker, Aaron Cowden; director, Keane; writers, Bowden, Terrence Henry. Narrator: Bill Lloyd. Editor, Justin Inda; music, Michael Plowman. Running time: 120 Min.
“Charlie Wilson’s War” (Wide Release Theater Movie)
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Adaptation, Biopic and War
Running Time: 1 hr. 37 min.
Release Date: December 21st, 2007
MPAA Rating: R for strong language, nudity/sexual content and some drug use.
Distributors: Universal Pictures Distribution
Production Co.: Icarus Productions, Participant Productions, Relativity Media, Playtone
Studios: Universal Pictures
Filming Locations: Morocco
Los Angeles, California USA
Produced in: United States
- - Based on the true story of how Charlie Wilson, an alcoholic womanizer and Texas congressman, persuaded the CIA to train and arm resistance fighters in Afghanistan to fend off the Soviet Union. With the help of rogue CIA agent, Gust Avrakotos, the two men supplied money, training and a team of military experts that turned the ill-equipped Afghan freedom-fighters into a force that brought the Red Army to a stalemate and set the stage for conflicts in the Middle East that still rage to this day.
Reviews and additional movie information:
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Book: Charlie Wilson's War:
The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (April 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0871138549
ISBN-13: 978-0871138545
------
PaperBack – 550 pages
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Pub. Date: April 2004
ISBN-13: 9780802141248
Posted for FlAttorney by TAB
Agreed. I took my wife to see it today. Really, really liked it. Great acting by Hanks and Hoffman. Julia Roberts role could have been played by a dozen other women though.
But if they hadn’t cut out some wackjob part about our work in Afghanistan causing 9/11, it would have ruined the movie for me entirely.
Otherwise, it’s just great to see hollywood write a great script and perform a movie which is pro-American for once. And there was a pretty big turnout at the theatre we went to at 1pm in the afternoon.
—”I’m going for pure escapism, National Treasure.”—
It looks like a good one.
Posted for FlAttorney by TAB
They did leave in the part of our abandonment of Afghanistan contributing to 9-11, but that’s the truth. And it’s a good thing to remember now with lots of people wanting us to flee Iraq.
I’ll be interested when the DVD comes out to see if they release the much protested but apparently never seen version.
“Oh Brother,Where Art Thou?”, ????
Why that’s one of the finest pictures ever set to celuloid.
(in a quirky, sorta southern way)
I love Oh Brother Where Art Thou. Of course I’m a Coen brothers kind of guy, they have a deeply twisted sense of humor that I love.
Huh. And I can watch that film again, again and again! Truly on my top ten all time list.
I love every scene, every line of dialogue and every song.
The only George Clooney movie I like or can watch.
No accounting for or explaining taste, I guess!
We're in a tight spot!
I just saw the film a few hours ago and was amazed at it’s evenhandedness. If Joanne Herring is right about the fight she put up to change the original script’s hit-job features then she must be every inch the pistol as portrayed in the movie. Indeed, her actions may well turn out to have saved the film from being dismissed by audiences as just more politicized hackwork. It is thoroughly character-driven and Tom, Julia and Philip strike sparks off each other.
There is an amazing lack of partisan cheap shots throughout, remarkable in this season of Hollywood’s all-out blame America-thon. Yes, Charlie’s role in saving Pigeye’s flabby butt from Abscam in exchange for his appropriations assistance is made clear.
The movie does indeed end on an ominous note with Charlie being frustrated by the way we write off Afghanistan the moment Russians leave. This is entirely appropriate.
I give it four stars and will be reading the book as soon as possible and that’s the highest praise I can give for any movie.
One of my favorites too.
Let us not overlook some great music in it too.
I have read the book “No Country for Old Men” so I might understand it when I see it.
“O, Brother” is a comic masterpiece.
I lived in “Good Times” Charlie’s Congressional district while he was in Congress. Like they say, a busted clock is right twice a day, for on every other issue Charlie was a disaster. His major, perhaps sole contribution was to be a water carrier in Congress for East Texas timber baron, Arthur Temple (Temple-Inland).
Charlie’s reputation as a boozer and womanizer was well-known throughout the region, thus I was always amused and chagrined that the fine Christian folk of East Texas elected and re-elected that putz time after time. Of course, the area was yellow dog Democrat country (and had more than its share of voter irregularities), but still...
“....’Oh Brother, Where Art Though’......one of the worst movies we ever saw”.
It’s a Southern thang! You wouldn’t understand.
The movie was successful and it’s Award Winning Soundtrack was one of the most selling CD’s of the year.
This is the exact same feeling I got when I first saw the trailer for the upcoming film.
An attempt to minimize the efforts and achievements of the Reagan Administration and give credit to the Democrats for ending the Cold War.
I'm from waaaaayyy (though born in Ohio) up North and I got it.
It is one of my top 5 favorite films. The characters are unforgettable and the music is...well....what can you say other than sublime? The soundtrack is one of my most-listened-to CDs.
March 12, 2007: How Joanne Herring won Charlie Wilson's War
# Very good article in the UK Telegraph
Joanne Herring in Afghanistan with the Mujahideen
# A few months after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, she smuggled herself into that mountainous land to film the atrocities that the Russian forces were inflicting as they strafed villages from helicopter gunships.
April 13, 2007: The Belle, the Politician and the CIA
- Joanne Herring played a pivotal role in ending the Cold War
# Long article on her life and accomplishments in her hometown Houston Chronicle newspaper. Very interesting women. I have been reading for hours.
TAB
Joanne was and is still an extremely attractive woman. She’s also very rich, very smart and a strong Conservative.
How did Charlie ever let her get away?
One of your best research projects, both threads.
I will cross post them to the World of Terrorism thread.
SOOOOOO, we have Charlie Wilson and a ROGUE CIA to blame for arming Osama Bin Laden???
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