Produced by
Tom Hanks, written by
Aaron Sorkin, and directed by
Mike Nichols, this adaptation of George Crile III's incendiary bestseller tells the remarkable story of the Texas congressman whose efforts to prevent the Red Army from overtaking Afghanistan eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union while simultaneously fueling the rise of radical Islam. In the early 1980s, a hastily assembled army of Afghan "freedom fighters" achieved the remarkable feat of fending off Soviet invaders despite the fact that the odds were overwhelmingly stacked against them. At the time, firebrand Texas congressman Charlie Wilson (Hanks) was a key member of the hugely powerful House Appropriations Committee. Illuminated to the specifics of this remarkable war by a high profile Houston socialite, Watson personally spearheaded an effort to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons and training to the Mujahideen with more than a little help from brilliant but suspect CIA operative Gust Avrokotos - whose handpicked selection of CIA outcasts subsequently gained a nefarious reputation for cutting through the bureaucratic red tape and bending the rules of the Agency to their breaking point. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide