American Made * * * *

 This is an amazing true story from the 1980’s.  I’m surprised it hasn’t been dramatised before.  Like Catch Me If You Can (2002) you watch it in awe that someone is actually getting away with this.

Barry makes a small
cash deposit

        Barry Seal was a commercial airline pilot who was seconded by the CIA to take aerial photos of South American countries. And later to run guns down to Panama and Nicaragua to support the “rebels” who wished to overthrow the new Sandinista Government.  The Americans weren’t too keen on having another Communist country as a neighbour.   They even gave him his own super plane and private airport to do it  All tucked away in a nice quiet country town.

        But Barry discovered other opportunities in South America - especially in Colombia where a chap named Pablo Escobar had a load of white powder he wanted to have discreetly shipped into the United States.

        Cash was the reward and Barry received millions and millions of it.  He filled up every bank in the little town along with every cupboard in the house.  Then he started digging holes in the backyard to secret it away.

       The CIA turned a blind eye to most of Barry’s extra-curricular activities but after a while other authorities like the ATF and the DEA got wind of things.

       This rollercoaster film stars Tom Cruise doing the best work I have seen him do for a long time.

       It’s a rip roaring yarn and an extraordinary true story, that will leave you amazed at the audacity and effrontery of the whole thing.