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| Charlie Wilson's War (Full Screen) | 
 enlarge | Actors: Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brian Markinson, Shiri Appleby
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $3.28
You Save: $26.70 (89%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (133 reviews)
Sales Rank: 3579
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: Arabic (Original Language), English (Original Language), Russian (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 102 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: MCAD61100565D
UPC: 025195004831
EAN: 0025195004831
ASIN: B0013XZ2QA
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
What a Difference One Man Can Make January 8, 2008
20 out of 23 found this review helpful
(3.5 *'s) Lascivious, witty, yet folksy, US Representative Charlie Wilson had a plan. An inveterate jet-setter, "Good Time Charlie's" main motivation in Congress seemed to be for the expense account. In an opening scene we find him hot-tubbing in a swanky suite in a Las Vegas hotel. Joining him in the Jacuzzi are topless strippers who warm up nicely to the Congressman. He casually discusses investing money for a TV show with Crestoff, a friend and business associate. Cavalier at every turn, he still has enough wits about him to engage in politics even while chasing women. After all, that's how some of them become politicians.
One of his romantic and political ties is former fiance, Joanna Herring (Julia Roberts), a wealthy born-again Christian who's described by his main staffer (Amy Adams) as "ultra right-wing". She has a mission for her second district Texas (D) Congressman. Staunchly anti-communist, she has bought him a flight to talk the President of Pakistan about providing arms to Afghanistan in their war against The Soviet Union.
It's an offer he can't refuse. On his visit, he demonstrates a lack of protocol when he requests an alcoholic beverage in a palace that doesn't allow much less serve a drop. (In one funny scene after being taken to task, Wilson quips, "You're told you have character flaws from someone who hung his predecessor in a military coup.") From there she has him hopping his way through the Middle East getting support for a plan for infiltrating arms for the peasants' resistance of the Soviet attacks. Since most of the attacks are from helicopters, Wilson negotiates with Israel, the ones who have the largest stockpile of Soviet weapons. The logistics of negotiation, getting Israel and Egypt to work together, you can imagine, would be a piece of work.
Close on his heels back in the States is CIA operative Gus (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an irascible man who won't be pushed aside as a player in The Cold War. When Wilson and Gus cross paths, Gus doesn't think Wilson will walk the walk. He's seen it all on Capital Hill before. So how refreshing it becomes for Gus when Wilson proves to be a wheeler dealer of Texas-sized proportions. Wilson works to convince the committee chairman (Ned Beatty) to double the funds for assisting the Afghans while keeping the covert operation under the radar.
Meanwhile, his partying comes to roost when news stories trickle into his Congressional office about alleged cocaine use. Unflappable Charlie regards the charges like a pesky fly, but he relies heavily on an all-female staff who, despite their prowess at damage control, were hired much less on typing resumes than what their cleavages revealed. Crestoff, it seems, whom he turned down for his TV show sponsorship, double-crossed him, with an investigation linked all the way to New York and Rudy Guiliani.
`Charlie Wilson's War' is a thoroughly entertaining and inspiring movie. There are plenty of laughs to go along with the insight, and the film proves the honored wisdom that if you want reform, you have to see it. Just as some people needed to see African Americans hosed, beaten, and confronted by attack dogs on TV, Charlie is truly moved when he sees first hand the refugee masses in Afghanistan and the terrible atrocities done to their children.
Like all historical fiction, there may be a few liberties taken with the truth. Recent articles have raised objections about the connections to Bin Laden for the arms arrangements. Whether this is true or not, the movie is an entertaining and informative look at a secret operation before "covert operations" became a dirty word. There has to be a lot of truth to it, even it allegedly fails with a detail or two.
One of the most gratifying aspects of the movie is that the previews are perfect. Neither spoiling its contents nor misleading, the trailer is what it should always be: a warm up, a superb taster, leaving much more that is worth seeing. 'Charlie Wilson's War' has good performances and solid developments without a wasted word or scene. The movie may not be Oscar worthy, but it's a very satisfying movie to watch in every way.
 Stunning Movie! January 6, 2008
Charlie Wilson was our Congressman from 1972 until his retirement. He
had always proven to be effective in handling social security and veteran's benefits problems for the citizens of his district. He had the
nickname of "Timber Charlie" because of his relationship with Temple Industries. He was also known as "Good Time Charlie" for his partying
reputation. He was made aware of the Afghanistan situation by Houston
socialite JoAnn Herring(ably portrayed by Julia Roberts). At her insistance he made the journey to Afghanista. He was shocked at the cruel treatment the citizens were suffering at the hands of the Soviets. He was
further shocked at the primitive weapons that were being used by the mujadeen warriors. This became a personal cause for Wilson. He joined forces with a CIA agent played by Philip Hoffman. Using favors that he had gathered in Congress and his knowhow of the operations of Congress Wilson started enlarging the budget for the Afghanistan cause. Through this the Afghanis managed to obtain modern weapons to shoot down helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Thanks to these budget increases made
possible by Wilson the tide turned in Afghanistan. The Afghanis eventually defeated the Soviets. This is one of the better movies that you will see this year. It makes me proud to have known Charlie Wilson.
Consequences of Wheeling 'n Dealing on a Global Scale January 6, 2008
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
Senator Charlie Wilson from Lufkin, Texas, a ruggedly handsome man, who was a committed anti-Communist, with a few character flaws, who loved to have a good time, enjoyed alcohol and was a ladies' man ... became one of the unsung heros of the Afghanistan War. He was the only civilian to ever receive recognition and honor by the C.I.A. for his part in helping to drive the Russians out from Afghanistan. This film is based on the true stories written by the author George Crile in his book, "Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times". Essentially, there are two formulas to win this war on a global scale: the first is, "money + power = secret arms deals" and the second is, "clandestinely obtained weapons + motivated Afghani fighters = success". Serendipity often comes into play when success occurs on a global scale and Charlie Wilson seemed to benefit both from the unexpected and unknown ...
Charlie Wilson was sitting in a hot tub at Caesar's Palace with three young ladies, two of whom were strippers, and some male business partners, when he first saw Dan Rather on assignment in Afghanistan, presenting the plight of the mujahideen. Dan Rather described the difficulty they had fighting the Russians who had superior technology and arms. When he returned to Washington, he read the teletype from API, UPI, and Reuters and asked the C.I.A. how much was in their budget for clandestine operations in Afghanistan. He was told $5 million dollars, he quickly told them, "double it" [Charlie Wilson happened to be on the Senate Appropriations Committee]. From that point forward, Charlie Wilson was committed to helping free the Afghanistan people from Russian control ...
Tom Hanks does a superb job in playing the role of Charlie Wilson. At some point, he was contacted by Joanne Herring (played to perfection by Julia Roberts) who is a wealthy socialite from Texas who recently became a 'born again' Christian. She knew President Zia, the Prime Minister of Pakistan and arranged for Charlie Wilson to meet this Pakistani leader. He pled his case that the Afghanistan fighters needed better weapons to fight the Russians. He wanted the US to provide weapons *but* wanted Parkistan to control their distribution. More than 1/5 of the population of Afghanistan had escaped across the border to Pakistan and lived in squalid conditions due to the war with the Russians. At another point in the film, Charlie Wilson had a visit from Gust Avratakos, a rather independently minded C.I.A. agent [which got him into hot water with his superiors] ... who also had a stake in helping free Afghanistan. These two unlikely partners dealt in secret deals and meetings with an Israeli weapons and arms agent. They obtained the needed Stinger anti-aircraft missles for the Afghani fighters to use against the Russian bombers which turned the war around completely. At some point in the film, Charlie Wilson had gotten political and economic support from Doc Long, another Senator who had strong religious beliefs. He committed his total support to Charlie Wilson's position in this war.
While Charlie Wilson may be viewed as a flawed hero, he and Gust Avratakos single-handedly provided the weapons and arms needed by the mujahideen to win the war against the Russians. Amazingly enough, as time passed, the 10 million dollars initially committed to this clandestine venture turned into $500 billion dollars. Few men can fund a pet program and spend money of this magnitude and get away with it. This film does a superb job of presenting the circumstances and particular events which showed how the nearly impossible became reality. In many ways and on many levels, the film presents events in too much of a simplistic and entertaining fashion, for which I deduct one star. No doubt, the book is more thorough and complete in providing the complex details which led to the success which Charlie Wilson and Gust Avratakos achieved. Nevertheless, this is a most enjoyable and well done film. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]
Amusing...just don't watch a hot dog being made January 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
To paraphrase Otto von Bismarck, "Government policies are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made." I'm of two minds about Charlie Wilson's War, the story of how a charming and mediocre Congressman from East Texas managed to involve the U. S. in the largest covert operation in its history, as the CIA financed a war pitting ferocious religious fanatics, the mujahideen or "freedom fighters," against the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. On the one hand the movie is great fun as we get an inside look at the machinations and maneuvers of our elected and unelected leaders to get what they want, and the bureaucratic response that often smothers many effective initiatives. On the other hand, we're looking at a true story where millions of dollars were spent, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost and bodies maimed, and all because a few people knew how to appeal to the egos, the prejudices and the "get-on-the-bandwagon" mentality of our leaders and their minions. Watching the gray paste of meat scraps and beef, pork and chicken by-products being stirred and extruded into hot dogs is more edifying.
Basically, this partying Democratic Congressman, Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), joined by Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), a rich Republican society woman in Houston with high hair and high-handed manners, and Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymore Hoffman), a slovenly, out-of-favor CIA employee, managed to parlay a few million dollars going to Afghanistan guerillas into a real war. The government's initial goal was a quiet, deliberate effort to simply bleed the Red Army. After Charlie Wilson was finished there was a multi-million dollar commitment to arm these guerillas with everything from radar to Stinger missiles. The goal now wasn't to tie the Reds down in an endless war (which was costing the Afghans dearly in blood), but to blow up Soviet tanks, blast their helicopters out of the sky and send them back where they came from. From a deliberate war of attrition, Charlie Wilson managed to make a war of victory, and all clandestinely. It's quite a story...as long as you don't think too hard on how it was accomplished.
The director is Mike Nichols and the screenwriter is Aaron Sorkin. Both are glowing examples of America's cultural elite who tend to wear their sympathies on their sleeves. I found a little heavy-handed the hit-on-the-head moral lesson Nichols and Sorkin give us at the end. The reality is that a great victory was accomplished, but we didn't look too closely at the tribal and almost medieval religious nature of the Afghan guerillas. When the Soviets left Afghanistan, so did our support. We could think of no good reason to help rebuild the nation, provide stability and attempt to develop an ally in that area of the world. The result, of course, is that in a vacuum the most extreme, violent elements among all those fighters we armed became supreme. Anyone among us willing to take credit for the rise of the Taliban? Not on your life. This is a point which could have been made effectively and briefly. Nichols and Sorkin have chosen to make the point with such a heavy hand that it looks suspiciously like political preaching.
Charlie Wilson's War most of the time is a well-crafted example of political satire. The story truly is amazing and the three leads all do exceptionally fine work. The movie is based on George Crites book, Charlie Wilson's War. It's amusing, amazing and with minimum preaching.
Mike Nichols at his best! December 30, 2007
Okay, I have to say that this is also one of the best films of the year, because, well, it just is! The acting is marvelous - Tom Hanks and Philip Seymore Hoffman are hilarious, and Julia Roberts has won me over again - the direction is perfect, and the writing is sharp and witty. This is one of the funniest, most moving political dramas that I have ever seen, and in the past few years, we've seen many of them. This is one, besides "Babel", that I actually enjoyed to the fullest. The characters are well drawn, and you want to see them succeed. The end is very haunting, I thought. All in all, I loved this film, and I can't wait for it to come to DVD so that I can purchase it. Can't wait to see what Mike is gonna do next...Oh, by the way, if you like this one, seek out Nichols' "Primary Colors".
SEE IT!
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