%%* EnsembleDarkhorse: Gust.
* GeniusBonus: When President Zia asks Charlie if he has the authority to make these deals, Charlie replies that he has none, and is pretty close to violating the Logan Act. Although the delivery is funny, it's ten times funnier if you know that the Logan Act was passed back in 1799, and forbids unauthorized persons from negotiating with foreign governments. The comedy is that the Logan Act is so ''incredibly'' vaguely worded that no one has ever even been prosecuted for violating it, let alone convicted, in the last 214 years. It's a measure of how far beyond his authority Charlie is going, that this is actually on his mind.
* HarsherInHindsight: Gust, in the movie, spells out to Charlie that if he doesn't get money to rebuild Afghanistan, the radicals will come to power. The movie ends with Charlie failing, and worrying about the fallout of his actions. The film was originally intended as a bitter reminder on the failure of securing the country in the early 90s from the radicals armed to fight the Soviets, but when in 2021 the USA pulled out of Afghanistan, the country was once ''again'' re-taken by the Taliban, yet again due to failure to secure there a stable government with functional administration.
* MagnificentBastard: Gust "Gus" Avrokatos is a snarky and incredibly competent CIA agent who joins the covert operation against the USSR in Afghanistan after falling out with his previous bosses. Gus puts Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson in contact with CIA weapons experts and jointly arranges a major weapons deal with Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan to supply the Mujihideen with Soviet military material to bleed the Red Army dry and ultimately cause the collapse of the Soviet Union. Committed to serving American interests above all else, Gus takes massive pride in his record while also being world-wise enough to foresee what negative consequences arming [[MiddleEasternTerrorists islamic radicals]] [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror might have in the future]], teaching the idealistic Charlie an important lesson as his parting gift.
* OneSceneWonder: Technically two scenes, but Creator/KenStott as Zvi Rafah surely takes some sort of prize - witness the number of quotes from his short appearance on the main page.
* RetroactiveRecognition: Had roles for Creator/AmyAdams, Creator/RachelNichols, and Creator/EmilyBlunt who would all go on to bigger roles as time went on.
* TearJerker:
** The scene when Charlie stands in an Afghan refugee camp, and the camera pulls back to note ''how big the camp is''...
** When the movie comes full circle, and the audience comes to understand [[spoiler: [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror why]] Charlie Wilson [[HeroicBSOD is grimacing instead of smiling]] at the awards ceremony]]...
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