TV & Beyond on 2025-06-17 18:03:00

Cruise’s best sci-fi action movie in “Edge of Tomorrow.” Three years later, the filmmaker and acting pair re-teamed for a wholly different project that, while it isn’t necessarily remembered as one of Cruise’s best movies, is easily one of the actor’s most fun.

“American Made” saw Cruise play thrill-seeking pilot Barry Seal, who after working for Trans World Airlines (TWA) is recruited by the CIA in the late-70s to fly reconnaissance missions over Central America. Soon, Seal finds himself working for the Medellin Cartel, who ask the pilot to smuggle drugs back into the United States on his return flights, making the former commercial pilot very rich very quickly. Meanwhile, he starts running guns to the Nicaraguan Contras but all the while the DEA has been paying attention, and Seal quickly finds himself pursued by multiple agencies, eventually being arrested by the FBI, DEA, ATF and Arkansas State Police after the CIA abandons him. In order to avoid jail time, the pilot makes a deal to become an informant and secretly obtains evidence linking the Medellin Cartel to Nicaraguan Sandinistas. However, when the incriminating photos he captures are released, he’s prosecuted by the state attorney general and the cartel sets out for revenge. Things end in a tragic but inevitable way when Seal is gunned down by cartel assassins following his sentencing to 1,000 hours of community service.

If that sounds like an insane story, it might surprise you to learn that it’s true. That is, it’s based on the true story of Adler Berriman Seal, with writer Gary Spinelli taking some pretty big liberties in retelling the pilot’s life. That said, Seal’s real-life story is just as if not more thrilling than the movie.

The real Barry Seal

Tom Cruise's Barry Seal sits across from Domhnall Gleeson's Monty Schafer in American Made

Universal Pictures

Doug Liman spoke to /Film about “American Made,” noting that the time in which Barry Seal operated was unprecedented in so many ways. “It’s an extraordinary time in American history,” said the director, “and extraordinary time just in terms of… this was a moment when pilots could be cowboys still. That era has ended. The kind of freedom the pilots had in the ’80s, just ended.” “American Made” was one way to pay homage to such a unique time in American history, but it wasn’t entirely accurate, with Liman himself referring to the film as “a fun lie based on a true story.” For one thing, the real Seal had been a “cowboy” throughout the decade prior to the ’80s, which is just one of many aspects of the real-life story that was changed for the movie.

Despite the “based on true events” title card, writer Gary Spinelli gave himself a lot of creative freedom when crafting the script — though a cut scene from “American Made” did feature Bill Clinton getting a lap dance, the verisimilitude of which is surely not in question. Adler Berriman Seal was indeed a TWA pilot. He began working for the company as a flight engineer in the 1960s before becoming one of the youngest ever pilots in company history. By 1975 he was smuggling small amounts of marijuana but graduated to cocaine by 1978, which was more profitable. By that point, however, he’d lost his job with TWA for his involvement in a plot to smuggle explosives out of the U.S., and was flying contraband himself from an airstrip in his native Louisiana.

In the film, we see Seal develop ties with the Medellin Cartel after flying reconnaissance for the CIA, but it was actually fellow pilot William Roger Reaves who first hooked up Seal with the cartel. Seal then recruited help in the form of his ex-brother-in-law William Bottoms, who began flying drugs in and out of the U.S. In 1981, Seal and his operation started transporting cocaine for the Medellin Cartel, earning as much as $500,000 per flight. Just like in the movie, Seal would airdrop packages of drugs into remote parts of Louisiana, after which his associates would retrieve the packages and transport them to Florida where cartel connections awaited. At the height of his operation, Seal was running a dozen planes to smuggle drugs into the United States.

Barry Seal was murdered for being an informant

Tom Cruise's Barry Seal smiles as he sits in a cockpit in American Made

Universal Pictures

In “American Made,” Tom Cruise’s Barry Seal moves to the small town of Mena, Arkansas, which is somewhat based in fact. In 1980, the real Seal moved parts of his smuggling operation to Rich Mountain Aviation at the Mena Intermountain Airport after his activities in Louisiana caught the attention of both Federal investigators and the Louisiana State Police. From 1981-85, Seal is said to have used the Mena airport as a hub for his drug smuggling business, though there are conflicting reports about exactly what this airport was used for, with some claiming no drugs actually passed through the airport. However, a joint investigation by the FBI, Arkansas State Police, and IRS seemingly confirmed that Seal had actually used the Mena airport for “smuggling activity” between 1980 and 1984.

In March 1983, Seal was indicted by the DEA on several counts, including conspiracy to distribute methaqualone and possession with intent to distribute Quaaludes. Seal then cut a deal with the government in 1984 and begun working as an informant for the DEA. The agency wanted to expose the Nicaraguan Sandinista regime as a major supplier of cocaine from Colombia. In the film we see Seal recruited by Domhnall Gleeson’s CIA agent Monty Schafer in the late-’70s to fly recon missions for the CIA. In reality, Seal is said to have flown recon planes from the Mena airport only after 1984, and may have even helped transport weapons to arm the Contras in Nicaragua.

In his role as DEA informant, Seal continued to fly his smuggling routes but did so in a plane outfitted with surveillance equipment. During his trips, the pilot was able to capture photographs of Nicaraguan soldiers, members of the Sandinista government, and even Cuban officials loading up his plane his bags of cocaine. Seal is even said to have taken a shot of Pablo Escobar.

Unfortunately for Seal, the press got ahold of the story and exposed the whole operation. Naturally, the Medellin Cartel didn’t take kindly to their drug smuggler being an U.S. informant (“American Made” is definitely worth a watch if you’re a “Sicario” fan). In February 1986, Seal was killed outside a Baton Rouge Salvation Army Center when he was shot six times by a man wielding a submachine gun. Three Colombians were ultimately convicted of the murder.

TV & Beyond on 2025-06-17 18:03:00

The real Barry Seal

Barry Seal was murdered for being an informant

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