In the scene where CIA Agent Gust Avrakotos and U.S. Congressman Charles Wilson go to see weapons expert Mike Vickers, in Charlie Wilson's War, Wilson (Tom Hanks) wears suspenders, underneath the jacket.
They approach the group of chess players -- the weapons expert is one of them.
Wilson is disappointed and a bit ticked off when he sees this guy -- "a kid," to him.
He demands, "This is the CIA's weapons expert."
"One of them."
"And he's the most senior?"
Charlie gets impatient.
As the introductions and questions progress, the characters do a male-type "dance" of competition, proving stuff, and jockeying for ground, territory, position, credibility....
Charlie apologizes to Vickers: "As a former naval officer, Mike, I should have known better."
Mike smarts back, "As a former naval officer, I'd have been surprised if you had."
Gust: "Hey! WTF?! He said he was sorry!"
After they "contest" one another, (a verbal shoving match), they talk weapons. ("Bicycle bombs, burst transmitters"...) Vickers (actor Christopher Denham) talks fast, rapid-fire, it's like he's so smart and information-filled that when someone is interested in what he knows, it comes out like machine-gun fire.
When he finishes telling Congressman Wilson what weapons the Afghans need to seriously stand a chance against the Russian Army, he says all this information is in a report he (Vickers) wrote, which no one has read.
(Someone told him to do the report, then never followed up asking to see it. Lack of follow-up. ...)
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This scene is right after the scene in Charlie's office where there's no background music. As Wilson and Avrakotos walk in the park, toward the chess players, there's light country-blues guitar playing, lazily, barely audible. It is a nice park. A sunny day. Faintly, in the background, you hear children's voices, and an occasional dog-bark.
The congressman and the spy carry cups of coffee with them.
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{2007. Director, Mike Nichols.}
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