American Made is a movie "loosely" based on the true story of Barry Seal, an ex-TWA pilot who is enlisted by the CIA to help them build and destroy puppet governments down in South America. The consequences of all these shenanigans led to what we know today as the Iran Contra Affair. Barry, played expertly by Tom Cruise can't help but be liked even as we see him be a low life who makes selfish decisions that benefit only himself.
In the beginning we see him piloting commercial planes and he already looks bored, jostling the plane while it is in "auto pilot mode" to knock people and luggage out of their spots, to entertain himself. It isn't long before he is doing a little side business trafficking Cuban cigars from Canada or something that he gets the attention of the CIA. Enter Monty "Shafer", who first gives Bary an offer he can't refuse and after getting himself caught, he really gets him involved in a situation we the viewer can see will lead nowhere but prison or death. Initially, he is taking risky flights over countries we are not legally allowed to fly over for reconnaissance images. The CIA is very impressed and happy with the data they are getting but soon Barry gets caught and while locked up, Shafer shows up, denying he works for the CIA or that he is even there. Instead, he offers Barry an opportunity to get out of jail in South America if he will do a little more work for the CIA. Not wanting his wife to find out, or for her to get arrested and questioned, Barry agrees to whatever deal I given to him.
His new deal has him buying up thousands of acres in Arkansas. He starts life anew in Mena Arkansas, and before long is propping up the local economy to the point of the city goes from one broke bank to multiple banks, all sorts of shell companies with all sorts of shell storefronts. The movie mostly shows Barry as a likable "good ole boy" who is doing what his country tells him to do. He is given a small plane along with the airport, and land around it. Pretty soon he is up to his eyeballs in money. He is dropping it off at the banks in suitcases, hiding it at home, in the airport, and finally like Pablo Escobar in his own movie on Netflix, Barry is trying to hide the money by burying it in the ground. The movie doesn't tell us how much money he has at the top of his adventures, but he is operating with at least four small planes making daily runs to Colombia and Nicaragua. He is told he will get $2000 for transporting a kilo, which is about 2 pounds and his first plane load has 300 pounds, so we calculated about $600,000 per flight.
It is a wild fun ride until the end. As anyone who has read, crossing Pablo Escobar was never a smart thing to do and because our government uses people and chews them out when done, they double cross him, possibly Ollie North did it, but images Barry takes as proof that Escobar and associates are involved in drug laundering are shown on public television, so Escobar puts a hit on Barry and his last few days has him constantly looking over his shoulder knowing he is a marked man. He kisses his family good-bye, sending them back to Louisiana so they will be out of harms way.
Other than the end and his demise, the movie has a humorous approach even though everything Barry was doing was so full of danger and trouble. He gets shot at and has to land on one engine, he ends up in south American jail, at one point near the end, he is arrested simultaneously by FBI, DEA, state police, and maybe ATF, hell, all the big boys. He jokes with them for a bit while the attorney general is in a meeting with the governor that he will walk away, if anyone wants a Cadillac for their troubles. Sure enough, next scene, he is walking out of the courthouse, Tom Cruise flashing that smile that made him famous.
No comments:
Post a Comment