FILM:
One aspect Of Executive Action that enhances its plausibility is the way
the conspirators allude to their past work, from the top down to the actual
gunmen. These guys had done all this before, in Cuba, Central & South America,
the Middle East, etc. Much of it was "plausibly deniable"--done on contract or
rogue while on private corporate payrolls, not directly for the US intelligence community.
REALITY:
All of this modus operandi, which had been whispered about (In 1973, I was confided in by a pilot involved in the 1960 Congo assassination of Patrice Lumumba), was soon to be publicly documented by Congressional hearings into
the CIA. Argentina, Iran, Lebanon....all beneath the placid Eisenhower surface.
FILM:
So in the film storyline, these guys had done this so many times before, it
was second nature--and they had initially been recruited for their ability
to calmly not care...
...Except maybe Farrington. Burt Lancaster gave yet another awesome portrayal
of a guy with a (hidden) "heart." Since he ignored his "heart," overruling it
with his mind & will, his physical heart was dying, even as he killed.
--Foster knew %$#@ well it wasn't Farrington's "nerve" that was failing
as he gobbled nitro & prophesied "This is my last."
--Foster: "That was Tim. James Farrington. Heart attack."--Cold old Col. Breed
probably would have had Tim have somebody waste Farrington like the other witnesses, but nature took care of him first.
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