Friday, August 17, 2018

The Man Nobody Knew 2012


     Carl Colby is the director of this film and it’s about his father William Colby.  His father was the former director of the CIA and a legendary spymaster.  William Colby and his wife Barbara Heinzen met on a blind date and they were married from 1920-1984.  They had five children, Jonathan, Carl, Christine, Paul and William.  William asked for a divorce in 1984 and he married Democratic diplomat Sally Shelton-Colby.  During his marriage to Barbara, William served in WWII as a paratrooper with the Office of Strategic Services.  After the war, the family went to Italy where he worked to oppose Communist Party activities.  After living in Italy, the family moved to Saigon and Colby was involved in counterinsurgency actions and the 1963 coup in South Vietnam.  He worked with President John F. Kennedy in overseeing the Vietnam War.  He started working as Director of Central Intelligence from September 1973 to January 1976.  He revealed the existence of documents describing illegal activities by the CIA.  The Senate Church Committee and House Pike Committee interviewed him many times about these activities.  Colby disappeared and was found drowned in April 1996.
     I thought this film was interesting and probably the only person who really knew William Colby was Colby himself?  His wife Barbara was very surprised to be asked for a divorce because they had been Catholics their entire lives.  Divorce is not a tenant of the Catholic faith and they had been married for 64 years!!  I can see that Barbara,  the family and other relatives would be shocked by this event!!  Carl Colby interviewed his mother on camera for this film and she seemed to be a wonderful wife and mother.  She was dedicated to helping William with his career and she didn’t mind moving and living in locations outside of the United States.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

104 min, Doc directed by Carl Colby with Donald Rumsfeld, Zbigniew Brzezinski, James Schlesinger, Gen. Brent Scowcroft, Bob Woodard,

Note:  Imdb 6.7 out of 10, 83% critic 63% audience on Rotten Tomatoes,
Metacritic 71 out of 100 with 11 critics, Amazon 4* out of 5* with 27 reviews.

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