Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen)

Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen)
by Mike Nichols

List Price: ~~$29.98~~
Our Price: $13.49
You Save: $16.49 (55%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases

Compare Prices for Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen)

Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD Cover Information

Actor: Amy Adams, Julia Roberts, Ned Beatty, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tom Hanks
Director: Mike Nichols
Brand: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.
Cinematographer: Stephen Goldblatt
Cinematographer: Antonia Van Drimmelen
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Arabic (Original Language); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Russian (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Universal Studios

Movie Reviews of Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen)

Movie Review: YOU CAN'T FOOL ME
Summary: 5 Stars

Let's get this out of the way off the top: I loved Charlie Wilson's War. It was patriotic, funny, sexy, well-acted and great drama. Fabulous movie. Five stars. Kudos. Love it.

That said, just wanted to let it be known that the message of this film, at least one of the sub-texts of it, did not get past me. It was made by a liberal and meant to espouse a Democrat agenda.

Hollywood is not about to make conservative movies now or in the future. Charlie Wilson's War looks like a conservative movie at first, but watch closely and you will see it is something else. Yes, it is about how America, led by the CIA under the Reagan Administration, helped bring Communism, at least the Soviet variety, to its knees and end the Cold War in victory for the U.S. Hooray.

Hollywood is about promoting Democrats and down-grading Republicans. Take for instance the recent spy thriller Breach. Since the beginning of time it seems, every spy who committed treason against America and the West was a Left-wing radical or sympathizer. Hundres of spies over decades of time. Alger Hiss, Kim Philby, Franklin's Roosevelt aides, the Rosenbergs; the list is long. What is not long is the number of movies about them. Those movies virtually do not exist. Instead they get lying portrayals of Joe McCarthy accusing innocent Jews and Democrats. After the Venona archives opened in the Soviet Union in the early 1990s we discovered that many of those accused actually were Communists and spies. The poor, disgraced filmmakers, instead of living in abject poverty caused by mean conservatives, more often than not moved to the French Riviera or Cote d'Azur and made avante garde European movies with Luc Goddard. Such imprisonment!

Then along comes Breach. Holy cow, after 200 or 400 consecutive liberal spies, none of whom seemingly by law or mandate are allowed to be portrayed on screen, Breach highlights the single conservative, Catholic man ever found top be a spy. Good movie but you can't fool me.

Now comes Charlie Wilson's War by Left-wing screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The American President, The Left, er, West Wing). Like A Few Good Men, Charlie Wilson's War was honest enough that it almost killed Sorkin's liberal message in a stream of conservative triumph. Patton was a similar movie, originally planned to portray the general as a war-mongering lunatic, except that America fell in love with the idea of beating Nazi Germany and George C. Scott's portrayal of the maverick hero.

Charlie Wilson, played by Tom Hanks, was a Texas Democrat. The kind, which the movie does not tell us, who became a Republican when they saw how disgraceful the Democrats had become. A patriotic cDemocrat, which unfortunatly is an exception to the rule.

The movie would have you believe that Wilson worked against the Reagan Administration to fund and lead the Afghan resistance that ended the Soviet empire. Then it would you believe that Wilson alone warned Reagan that unless they funded schools and cultural life, "crazies" like Osama bin Laden would make us rue the day later.

Wilson deserves credit and he found some resistance here and there, but the idea that Ronald Reagan won the Cold War in Afghanistan kicking and screaming against his own policies is, well, not true. His CIA chief, Bill Casey, was wildly enthusiastic about the Afghan operation. I'll give Wilson his credit; the credit Sorkin never gives to Reagan and Casey.

Watch the little messages in the movie: Wilson tells Julia Roberts (who plays a conservative matron and never looked better in the process), "I'm a liberal." He's about as liberal as Tom DeLay. He also tells her she owes him because she "helped me out with the pro lifers," which of course is Sorkin's way of getting his vote in favor of abortion.

But the most obvious stuff concerns Charlie's drinking, drugging and womanizing. He does good things, the movie informs us, and should not be held back by indiscretions and immoralities. Who is this supposed to remind us of? Bill Clinton, who was out there making the economy hum, keeping abortion legal, doing "good work" while those evil Republicans fought him at every turn. Lying, cocaine use, drunkenness; who cares?

Sorkin gets a knock in at Rudy Giuliani. The movie was made in 2007 when Rudy was a front-runner for the 2008 GOP nomination which he eventually failed to capture.

Hey, loved Charlie Wilson's War, but it did not get past my antennae.

Write your own review

More Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen) reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Summary of Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen)

Academy Award? winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman star in this compelling and witty film from Oscar?-winning director Mike Nichols and Primetime Emmy?-winning writer Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing). Based on the outrageous true story, Charlie Wilson's War shows how one congressman who loved a good time, one Houston socialite who loved a good cause and one renegade CIA agent who loved a good fight conspired to bring about the largest covert operation in history.

Political movies about backroom negotiations need not be dry or heavy-handed, as Charlie Wilson's War delightfully proves. Based on the true story of playboy congressman Wilson's efforts to fund Afghanistan's defense against the Soviet invasion of the 1980s, the film is borne along on breezy attitude and a peppery script by West Wing scribe Aaron Sorkin. Wilson, played by Tom Hanks (who also produced), is the perfect hero for this kind of tale, because there's nothing perfect or heroic about him: He's a highball-swilling, fanny-pinching gadabout who becomes radicalized on the issue of helping the Afghans against their mighty aggressor. He has help in the form of a right-wing Texas anti-Communist (Julia Roberts) with a genius for raising money, and a sardonic CIA operative (Philip Seymour Hoffman, stealing the show) who lacks all the social skills Wilson has in abundance. Sorkin's syncopated speech is just the ticket for director Mike Nichols, who understands exactly how to keep this kind of political comedy popping (the complicated story comes in at a hair over 90 minutes, amazingly). Some scoundrels are on the right side of the angels, and the movie's Charlie Wilson is one of them. --Robert Horton

Beyond Charlie Wilson's War on DVD

More Tom Hanks
Films by Mike Nichols
More Julia Roberts

Stills from Charlie Wilson's War (Click for larger image)

Drama DVD Video

DVD Video

Movies most talked about in Amy Adams Movies and TV Shows

Doubt [Blu-ray]
Release date: 2009-04-07; DVD
Best price: $17.65
Price in other shops: ~~$34.99~~

Doubt
Release date: 2009-04-07; DVD
Best price: $14.43
Price in other shops: ~~$29.99~~

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Widescreen & Full Screen Edition)
Universal; Release date: 2008-08-19; DVD
Best price: $8.59
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen)
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.; Release date: 2008-04-22; DVD
Best price: $4.27
Price in other shops: ~~$29.98~~

Enchanted [Blu-ray]
Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2008-03-18; DVD
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops: ~~$34.99~~

Enchanted (Widescreen Edition)
Release date: 2008-03-18; DVD
Best price: $12.19
Price in other shops: ~~$19.99~~

Underdog [Blu-ray]
Disney; Release date: 2007-12-18; DVD
Best price: $9.29
Price in other shops: ~~$34.99~~

Underdog
Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2007-12-18; DVD
Best price: $6.74
Price in other shops: ~~$19.99~~

The Ex (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
WELLSPRING/GENIUS; Release date: 2007-08-21; DVD
Best price: $2.41
Price in other shops: ~~$14.95~~

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-02-27; DVD
Best price: $1.50
Price in other shops: ~~$12.98~~

Similar DVD Movies

P.S. I Love You
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-05-06; DVD
Best price: $3.15
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

No Country for Old Men
Release date: 2008-03-11; DVD
Best price: $5.54
Price in other shops: ~~$19.99~~

Fool's Gold (Widescreen Edition)
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-06-17; DVD
Best price: $3.77
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-04-15; DVD
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

27 Dresses (Widescreen Edition)
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2008-04-29; DVD
Best price: $8.48
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

Michael Clayton (Widescreen Edition)
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-02-19; DVD
Best price: $2.36
Price in other shops: ~~$14.98~~

Atonement (Widescreen Edition)
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.; Release date: 2008-03-18; DVD
Best price: $4.81
Price in other shops: ~~$29.98~~