History Film / CharlieWilsonsWar

* SultryBellyDancer: A variant apparently influenced by East Texas stripper routines.
-->'''Egyptian Deputy Minister of Defense:''' That's not any belly dance I'm familiar with...

* BellyDancer: A variant apparently influenced by East Texas stripper routines.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Everyone is so obsessed with Charlie's hedonistic lifestyle and the allegations that he may have done cocaine at a party, no one is taking any notice of him dramatically increasing funds to a covert war in Afghanistan.

* HookersAndBlow: Or rather, strippers and blow, put exactly that way by a girl in a hot-tub with Charlie at the beginning. When Charlie's female friend complains that she's ''not'' a stripper (she's a Playboy model), the original girl proudly says that she is.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

-->'''Zvi:''' Pakistan and Afghanistan don't recognize our right ''to exist''!

-->'''Zvi:''' We just got done fighting a ''war with Egypt'', and every person who has ever tried to kill me and my family has been trained in ''Saudi Arabia''!

-->'''Zvi:''' I love you, Charlie. But you are a ''grown man'', who still hasn't learned to look both ways before ''he crosses the fucking street''!

''Charlie Wilson's War'' is a 2007 biographical drama film ([[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted from the non-fiction book]] by George Crile) recounting the true story of U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson who partnered with CIA operative Gust Avrakotos to launch Operation Cyclone, a program to organize and support the Afghan mujahideen in their resistance to the [[UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan Soviet occupation of Afghanistan]]. It was directed by Mike Nichols, written by Creator/AaronSorkin, and starred Creator/TomHanks, Creator/JuliaRoberts, Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman, and Creator/AmyAdams.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: The Russian MI-24 pilots are portrayed as womanizing jerks who wish each other "happy hunting" before opening fire on civillians.

* HarsherInHindsight: Invoked, the movie makes a point about how [[WonTheWarLostThePeace neglecting the aftermath paves the way for a tyrannical regime.]]
-->'''Wilson:''' These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we fucked up the endgame.

* InterserviceRivalry: When Charlie is first introduced to former Green Beret (Army [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous special forces]]) turned CIA weapons expert BadassBookworm Michael Vickers, all that Charlie can see is that Vickers looks like a nerdy kid and thinks that Gust is screwing with him. After being told Vickers' qualifications Charlie grudgingly apologizes and says that as a former Naval officer he should have known better than to judge from appearances. Vickers snarks that he would have been really surprised if an officer from the Navy had shown that much judgement. Gust, semi-diplomatically, tells the pair of them to knock that shit off and concentrate on the real issues. (And as soon as they start talking business, the two immediately put the rivalry aside and work seamlessly as a team.)

* InterserviceRivalry: When Charlie is first introduced to former Green Beret (Army [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous special forces]]) turned CIA weapons expert BadassBookworm Michael Vickers, all that Charlie can see is that Vickers looks like a nerdy kid and thinks that Gust is screwing with him. After being told Vickers' qualifications Charlie grudgingly apologizes and says that as a former Naval officer he should have known better than to judge from appearances. Vickers snarks that he would have been really surprised if an officer from the Navy had shown that much judgement. Gust, semi-diplomatically, tells the pair of them to knock that shit off and concentrate on the real issues.

The plot follows Charlie Wilson, who has a very gregarious social life of women and partying, including having his congressional office staffed with [[SexySecretary young, attractive women]]. A friend and romantic interest, Houston socialite Joanne Herring, encourages Charlie to do more to help the Afghans, and persuades Charlie to visit the Pakistani leadership. The Pakistanis complain about the inadequate support of the U.S. to oppose the Soviets, and they insist that Charlie visit a major Pakistan-based Afghan refugee camp. Charlie returns home to lead an effort to substantially increase funding to the mujahideen. The story then follows the rapid evolution of Wilson's suggestions to multi-million dollar funded projects by the United States. Teaming up with gruff but knowledgeable [=CIA=] agent Gust, Charlie starts seeing results as the Afghans fight back against the Soviets. But Charlie starts finding out there are unintended consequences happening, and that the secret war effort is slipping down a slope he didn't want...

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In universe. Charlie gets half a billion dollars in funding--to run a covert war against the Soviet Union--in under the radar, so long as he has the support of the chairman of the committee.

** Gust's diplomatic skills are lacking, if they even exists in the firs place. He is indeed coarse and sardonic to a fault, but is an extremely competent and knowledgeable intelligence officer.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Subverted. It's not Charlie's fault that Afghanistan slides into Taliban control: he's seen trying to get his fellow congressmen to send more rebuilding aid and failing. It leads to Charlie's unhappy grimace at the award ceremony that the movie both opens and closes on. In RealLife, Charlie Wilson remained worried that his actions unintentionally contributed to TheWarOnTerror, and said that every time an airliner went down, he would be afraid that one of the Stingers they gave the Afghans would be responsible.

* BittersweetEnding: Charlie Wilson succeeds in getting the American government to arm Afghan rebels and drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan. But when it comes time to rebuild the war-torn nation he can't raise one cent, allowing the extremist Taliban to take over Afghanistan. And that all led to the events surrounding TheWarOnTerror.

* {{Omniglot}}: Gust is implied to be one, befitting his profession. We know he speaks, at the very least, at least Finnish and Pashtun.

-->'''Gust:''' [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne That's not entirely true, Zvi.]] I mean, some of them were trained by us.

* EnemyMine: Charlie is able to get Liberals and Conservatives, Arabs and Israelis, and Christian and Muslim Fundamentalists to join forces with the common aim of throwing the Soviets out of Afghanistan, mostly because all of them despise the Soviets more than they do even the people who are their obvious political enemies.
** This gets brutally deconstructed in the coda of the film, after the Soviets are withdrawing from Afghanistan. For everyone involved, this was an alliance of geopolitical convenience. With the Soviets gone, there's nothing left to keep this coalition of nations together to fix the future. Charlie is heartbroken (and terrified) when he realizes that there is a big difference spending hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat the Soviets, and spending a million to build a ''single school.''

*** It's probably because they're Texans.