The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father CIA Spymaster William Colby

Movies to See Right Now

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Matthew McConaughey in KILLER JOE

Killer Joe is NC-17 for a reason and will either thrill or disgust you; that notwithstanding, it pops and crackles with excellent performances by Mathew McConaughey and Juno Temple.  Ruby Sparks is an hilariously inventive romance that probes whether realizing a fantasy can bring happiness.  The Intouchables is a crowd pleasing odd couple comedy – an attendance record breaker in France.

It’s worth seeking out the compelling documentary Searching for Sugar Man, about the hunt to uncover the secret fate of an artist that didn’t know that he was a rock star.  The same holds for Bill W., the story of the reluctant leader of a movement, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

The brilliantly made Louisiana swamp fable Beasts of the Southern Wild enters the life and imagination of a child and celebrates her indomitability. It’s on my list of Best Movies of 2012 – So Far.

Farewell, My Queen is a lavishly staged and absorbing French drama of Marie Antoinette’s Versailles at the onset of the French Revolution; it features excellent performances and was shot at Versailles itself.

The wistfully sweet and visually singular Moonrise Kingdom is another must see, and it’s hanging around some theaters.  Adults will enjoy Brave, Pixar’s much anticipated fable of a Scottish princess, and it’s a must see for kids.

The Dark Night Rises is too corny and too long, but Anne Hathaway sparkles. Magic Mike has male stripping, but no magic.  The relationship drama 360, which opens this week, is a snoozer.

I haven’t yet seen the franchise thriller The Bourne Legacy with Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker).  You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick this week is the American spy documentary, The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby.

DVD/Stream of the Week: The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby

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William Colby was a daring saboteur in World War II, an effective espionage agent in the Cold War, an architect of an especially brutal aspect of the Vietnam War and, in the post-Watergate 70s, the nation’s top spy and the Director of Intelligence who made public the CIA’s historic misdeeds.  His son, Carl Colby, explores the man who lived that life in The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby (2011).

Carl Colby makes use of family photos and filmed interviews with Colby’s colleagues, rivals and observers beginning with his secret missions in WW II.  Chief of these is Barbara Colby, William’s wife of 39 years and Carl’s mother.  The talking heads also include the likes of James Schlesinger, Robert McFarland, Brent Scowcroft, Bob Woodward, Seymour Hersh and even Oleg Kalugin (the KGB’s chief spy in the US).  We also hear the White House audio of Colby, along with JFK, RFK and Averell Harriman, discussing the upcoming overthrow of Vietnam’s Diem government.

Carl Colby admires his father’s smarts, toughness, principles, physical bravery and compulsion to serve.  He also recognizes the impact that such devotion to duty has on family responsibilities.  “It’s a terrible thing to say, but sometimes I think I would have rather worked for him than be his son,” Carl said. “I would have been closer to him.”

Carl Colby interviewed his father’s second wife but did not use the footage in the film, and he did not interview his siblings.  As discussed in this Washington Post article, those family members disagree with the film’s portrayal of Colby as an absentee parent and a suicide victim.

But those are comparatively minor parts of the story. The most historically significant (and interesting) segments are:

  • Colby’s successful secret support of Italy’s Christian Democratic Party, resulting in election victories over the Italian Communist Party.
  • His inside view of the November 1963 anti-Diem coup in Vietnam (which Colby opposed).
  • His decision to resist the Ford Administration and lay bare the CIA’s “Family Jewels”, the past illegal activities, including assassination attempts and domestic surveillance.  Not surprisingly, the always smirking Don Rumsfeld, Henry Kissinger and Dick Cheney are the bad guys in this episode.

The Man Nobody Knew is available on DVD and on Netflix streaming.  Incidentally, it now #6 on my list of Longest Movie Titles, between Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969) and Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996).