American Made

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JSchlansky
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American Made

Post by JSchlansky »

A solo review from Tara

Stewball
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Re: American Made

Post by Stewball »

Engaging, well told story, but with a couple of glaring historical rejiggings:
1. Seal was a drug runner for Pablo Escobar without any patriotic aspect to what he was doing.
2. According to the Washington Times reporter, Edmund Jacoby, as noted at History vs Hollywood, "Despite the movie attempting to pin (outing Seal) on Oliver North, Jacoby later said that North was not his source and that it was a deceased Special Forces and CIA guy named Ted Lunger, who at the time worked as a staff member for Representative Dan Daniel." Also, from Vulture.com, "(Director) Doug Liman's father, lawyer Arthur L. Liman, ran the Senate investigation into Iran-Contra. Arthur, the chief council, investigated the CIA and questioned Col. Oliver North, who is depicted in American Made. Doug Liman had previously modeled Chris Cooper's villain in The Bourne Identity after North, which reveals Liman's feelings about North."
I'm perfectly willing to write off the following as artistic license:
3. Barry Seal's nickname with his drug lords, at 280 lbs, was El Gordo, the Fat Man, giving him at least 100 lbs on Cruise.
4. Apparently Seal never recorded any "found footage" videotapes as depicted.
5. Seal didn't crash land a plane in a suburban neighborhood.
6. While inventive, even inspiring, there was no actual zero gravity sex scene.
In any case, overall, nice ride...er, flight. 8/10

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