SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

inu-qien-ankh Overall, it is a fair, balanced movie. A couple of things. The man who attempted to poison Fidel Castro Ruz was NOT made to drink the poisoned concoction. In fact the packet which held the poison FROZE to the refrigeration pipes at the Hotel Habana Libre (formerly Havana Hilton-they only say "Libre" in the movie) before the hotel's restaurant worker had a chance to put it into Castro's 'milk shake' (batido). The G2 already new of the plan before hand. The restaurant worker's name was Santos de la Caridad Perez, and he was sentenced to a very long prison term, which he completed, and he was able to come to Miami, Florida,and there join his wife and 2 grown sons, who had been waiting for him in Caracas, Venezuela. Santos de la Caridad Perez was left to his own devices and wound up working minimum wage jobs in Miami, Florida, into his 80s. No compensation for his compromised mission, and his 14 years spent in Castro's prisons was ever paid. Thanks, 'Campanela' you a-hole!.Next, it was not prop-driven 'Sea Furies' which shot down the CIA contract pilots' B26s, but T33 JETS. To the best of my recollection, NO CIA Officers came ashore with Brigade 2506. It's a travesty that only a passing mention was made of the 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, Alabama Air National Guard pilots, who were contract employees, and disobeyed direct orders to lend air support to our Cuban allies. The names of these brave men were: Leo Baker, Wade Gray, Riley Shamburger, and Thomas "Pet" Ray. The B26s they flew had no tail guns so they could accommodate more fuel. They were easy prey for Castro's jets. Some of us will remember their sacrifice with eternal gratitude, respect, admiration, and will mourn them as long as we live. G_d rest them and comfort their surviving loved ones.Other than this, it was a pretty balanced movie, but I defer to those who may have first hand knowledge of what actually went down in the Hungarian uprising. G_d bless that nation's fallen martyrs and their survivors as well.

tibor_g_balogh Very happy for Cold War studies films like this! This mini series is an accurate tool for introducing the Cold War to new students of history who have not live trough this period of time and it is also a great remembrance and respect for the struggle that is now a part of history, and all the lives lost during this period of time considered "peace- period" just after WWII and up to 1989...I also very much like films like "The Lives of Others" Stazi East-German documentary and drama film and Ted Turner 10-part series "Cold War" which is pure documentary ...Thanks for making such films!---[ this following part added NOV-2016 ]---A second look at "the Company" CIA mini-series made for television, I can sum it up as a Jewish production showcasing Jewish ladies, and how Jews controlled both sides of the "Cold War" game, trading information to their advantage at the expense of nationals everywhere, also the film could not find a proper Hungarian language speaking actor for the part of the 1956 uprising leader, it used an actor who did not even speak Hungarian what-so-ever and made the freedom fighter civilians look like in-humane UN-compromising murderers for wanting revenge against the AVH secret internal security communist police whose top political leaders were Jewish, then the film minimized the 1956 Hungarian uprising against soviet communism by the Suez Canal distraction that Hebrews engineered as an emergency measure to distract western audiences, ... it is my view that the whole film is about Jews bragging how petty their females are/were and how many non Jewish people died or were sacrificed on both sides of the Cold War that they managed ... this is in line with David Duke's opinions on WWII in his Jewish Supremacism audio-book, just that this film brags this message covertly flying above the intelligence of the general audience >>> more over >>> as Jewish Supremacism and other sources (jewish encyclopedia) highlights Jews using secret societies (Freemasons) took over first Britain and then undermined every other "crown/monarchy" in Europe creating the French revolution and sending Marx-Engels-Lenin to Russia to create Bolshevik revolution (chaos) that undermined ANY economic-empire or technical competition from Russia so that Freemason England-America- France can have UN-molested world domination, Hebrews having successfully undermined and later crashed Soviets with Germans in WWII, >>> more over >>> the film makes no mention of Donivan's OSS which is where the CIA came from, it also makes no mention of the concurrent four-eyes (us-uk- Canada-Au) plus one (New-Zealand) also known as ECHLON total world wide signals intelligence collection and analysis program ongoing since before WWII but in place for the entire Cold War period and working overtime, recording/analyzing every single UN-encrypted voice conversation, the "ENIGMA" film of BlatchleyPark-UK of WWII is a good start where ECHLON took off from, and yes USA broke the Japanese code PURPLE and were fully aware of attack on Pearl Harbor, in fact Freemasons world wide needed USA in WWII ...((I can see why some of these ideas may be missed by general audiences everywhere))

Hal Guentert "The Company" had an entertaining quality that leads you to believe you were getting inside information about the period covered. However, like other CIA/spy plots there is a main character who runs around all over the map, more or less trying to save the day, with a few other interesting characters thrown in.I wish I had read the book, but the interesting aspect to this plot was that it at least shows the spies as locals willing to sell information for money and/or a new life, not really heroic characters. However, I agree that the best aspect was Michael Keaton's portrayal of James "Jesus" Angleton as a strange person with incredible power and hold of the flow of information. He does not seem to be either worthy or trustworthy enough to hold such control over an out of control agency.Keaton's performance hints at the quirky and strange person Angleton was and made me wonder how this person could hold his position without much suspicion being place on him for all the moles who could not be found. The others were either too alcoholic or too much in denial to question Angleton and his highly questionable "friendships" in addition to the good chance of being thrown into a mental institution. Angleton's power was in knowing the dirt on everyone, and covering up his own dirt pile. Once it was learned that the mole, Ken Philby, was Angleton's close friend they should have been gone, preferably with prejudice.Although the movie or series does not really go far enough into why nothing was done to change counter intelligence personnel when moles were not uncovered in a very short period of time, it does present the CIA, including Dulles as less than efficient protectors of liberty here in America or anywhere else.After viewing "The Company", it is less surprising that Robert Hannsen, the FBI Mole, was able to sell prime secrets for years, and even become the counter intelligence agent in charge of looking for himself (a mole). The greatest problem with the CIA and similar intelligence agencies is that eventually the fox gets in charge of guarding the hen house or worse.Today, we had better learn these lessons of the past, and get members of other countries military & intelligence agencies, dual citizens, out of our government, or we will continue to self-destruct.

VeritasV This is an excellent 3 part mini-series. I watched it in one sitting which took about 6 hours including a couple of quick breaks. The pacing is slow and the movie has an overall darkness in terms of color but the characters are so engaging that I remained fascinated from the first screen shot to the last. Chris O'Donnell, Michael Keaton, Alfred Molina and Alessandro Nivola all gave terrific performances. Actually all of the actors were excellent in their roles. The Russian accents were commendable.I liked this very much. While Molina's character says that the world is black and white, good guys and bad guys, O'Donnell's character illuminates the grays for us and ultimately this is what lingers long after the DVD is over. Buy it, rent it, but definitely see it.Robert Little wrote the original book of 900 pages on which this mini-series is based. The book and the DVD differ in some aspects. I've not read the book, but I plan to. Apparently he's written a number of cold war spy novels another of which was made into a movie, "The Amateur".