If you’re an old guy like me, you’re certain you’ve heard every story, seen every movie, and read every book about the smartly dressed man who hijacked a commercial flight in 1971, got $200,000 buck and finally parachuted from the back stairs of the plane (727s had aft staircases that opened out – I have disembarked that way onto the tarmac many a time back in the day). The man was never found, dead or alive, and that wasn’t his real name.
The Question Is: After More Than 50 Years, Is There Anything Left to Learn?
Well, yes and no. There has been no shortage of amateur detectives, Internet sleuths or official investigations over the years. What works well about this particular doc is that it doesn’t spend its whole time re-hashing the known facts, though it does do a good job of re-capping economically.
Instead, the film devotes time to hearing from people who were actually there. They are 50 years older, but they offer some firsthand perspective that’s interesting to hear.
And the main element that made this a movie worth watching is the focus on the people who are certain, beyond any doubt, that they have solved the mystery of the identity to the now pop culture icon. Of course, many, if not most of these kinds of people are barking mad. Bat sh*t crazy, or at the very least eccentric.
One guy who gets a lot of face time is Thomas Colbert, a man who you’d probably call more “obsessed” than “Kooky”, but there is definitely disagreement even on that. He’s devoted so many resources to his investigation that he’s even got his own website with the URL: https://dbcooper.com/
To me, it’s Colbert story that brings something “new” to the story – at least for me. I leave it to you to learn why Colbert is so sure that he knows who D.B. Cooper really was. Of course, there are credible sources who will testify that there’s absolutely no way the gentlemanly jumper could have survived.
For me? This case is still not solved, but you will find the stories of the people trying to close the half century old crime to be compelling. This doc surprised me with its stylistic and historical take on things.
D.B. Cooper: Where Are You? Is now streaming on Netflix | 3 out of 4 Stars| 4-episode docuseries
