The Tillman Story (2010)

Director:

Amir Bar-Lev

Writers:

Amir Bar-Lev
Mark Monroe

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Mystery | War

Tagline:

a mystery. a cover up. a crime. one family will risk everything for the truth.

Plot:

Pat Tillman never thought of himself as a hero. His choice to leave a multimillion-dollar football contract...

Plot Keywords:

Military | Death | Propaganda | False Report | Censor

Awards:

4 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Josh Brolin	...	Narrator (voice)
Pat Tillman	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mary Tillman	...	Herself (as Mary 'Dannie' Tillman)
Russell Baer	...	Himself
Patrick Tillman Sr.	...	Himself
Philip Kensinger	...	Himself
Stan Goff	...	Himself
Jason Parsons	...	Himself
Bryan O'Neal	...	Himself
Marie Tillman	...	Herself
Richard Tillman	...	Himself
Kevin Tillman	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Donald Rumsfeld	...	Himself (archive footage)

Directed by
Amir Bar-Lev

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Amir Bar-Lev
Mark Monroe

Produced by
Judy Aley	....	archival producer
John Battsek	....	producer
Kate Coe	....	archival producer
Michael Davies	....	executive producer
Robert DeBitetto	....	executive producer
Kerstin Emhoff	....	co-executive producer
Alice Henty	....	line producer
Caitrin Rogers	....	co-producer
Andrew Ruhemann	....	executive producer
Sofia Santana	....	associate producer
Robert Sharenow	....	executive producer
Molly Thompson	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Philip Sheppard

Cinematography by
Sean Kirby		(director of photography)
Igor Martinovic		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Joshua Altman
Joe Bini
Gabriel Rhodes

Production Management
Samara Levenstein	....	post-production supervisor
Samantha Levenstein	....	post-production supervisor (uncredited)
Jeff Maynard	....	executive in charge of post-production (uncredited)

Sound Department
Steven Buck Crell	....	sound recordist
Tom Efinger	....	sound re-recording mixer
Tom Efinger	....	sound supervisor
Mike Filosa	....	sound recordist
Steve French	....	sound recordist
Eric Gitelson	....	voiceover recordist
Mike Larini	....	sound recordist
Alicia Loving	....	audio coordinator
Greg Miller	....	sound recordist
Abigail Savage	....	sound designer
Jeff Seelye	....	assistant audio editor
Tim Crossley	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Wylda Byron	....	assistant camera
Giacomo Gex	....	second assistant camera
Mark Harper	....	photo enhancement
Christopher Heikel	....	goffer/grip
Don Lee	....	additional cameraman (as Donald Lee)
Ludovic Littee	....	assistant camera
Oskar Ness	....	gaffer/grip
Patrick Riley	....	assistant camera
Jason Summers	....	assistant camera
Michael Totten	....	additional cameraman

Animation Department
Anthony Kraus	....	animator
Eric Linn	....	animator
Michael Wynne	....	animator

Editorial Department
Anderson Boyd	....	assistant on-line editor
Jimmy Choi	....	assistant editor
Richard Codding	....	assistant editor
Will Cox	....	digital intermediate colorist
Ben Laffin	....	digital intermediate editor
Kristen Molina	....	digital intermediate producer

Music Department
Liz Gallacher	....	music supervisor
Richard Glasser	....	soundtrack album producer
Hilary Skewes	....	musician contractor
Roberto Borzoni	....	music co-producer (uncredited)
Jake Jackson	....	score engineer (uncredited)

Other crew
Yuki Aizawa	....	production assistant
Mitchell Benjamin	....	production intern/transcriber
Jonathan Berger	....	production attorney
George Chignell	....	production executive: Passion Pictures
Robert W. Clarida	....	production attorney (as Robert Clarida)
Charles Cook	....	production intern/transcriber
Michael Erlinger	....	production attorney
Libertad Gills	....	production intern/transcriber
Kari Giron	....	production intern/transcriber
Mark Gomez	....	production intern/transcriber
Dennis Hobbs	....	production accountant
Noah Kistler	....	production intern/transcriber
Adrienne Mills	....	production intern/transcriber
Mark Monroe	....	story consultant
Allison Moore	....	title designer
Elissa Mummolo	....	production intern/transcriber (as Elissa Mummalo)
Josh Penchina	....	field coordinator
Zac Petrillo	....	production intern/transcriber
Carlye Rubin	....	production intern/transcriber
Benjamin Rutkowski	....	production intern/transcriber
Jordan Shulkin	....	production intern/transcriber
Nicole Stott	....	production executive: Passion Pictures
Michael Trainor	....	production intern/transcriber
Maria Westcott	....	production accountant

Thanks
Wendy Asher	....	special thanks
Jonathan Bell	....	thanks
Lati Grobman	....	thanks
Patrick Tillman Sr.	....	very special thanks
Kevin Tillman	....	very special thanks
Marie Tillman	....	very special thanks
Mary Tillman	....	very special thanks (as Mary 'Dannie' Tillman)
Richard Tillman	....	very special thanks

Production Companies

• Diamond Docs (in association with)
• A&E IndieFilms
• Axis Films (in association with)
• Passion Pictures
• Prettybird (in association with)

Distributors

• Weinstein Company, The (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• Roco Films (2010) (Non-USA) (all media)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Special Effects

• Mega Playground (digitalizing and film scans)
• Noisy Neighbor Productions (animation)

Other Companies

• Dig-It Audio  audio post facility (as Dig It Audio)
• Final Frame  digital intermediate services
• Lakeshore Records  soundtrack

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for language

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45986) | Canada:14A (Ontario)

Company:

Diamond Docs

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the closing credits, it is stated that Pat Tillman's mother, Dannie, "now arranges funerals at a Catholic cemetary." The correct spelling is cemetery.

Quotes:

Mary Tillman:We have been asked over and over again, 'What can we do for your family?' And it makes me sick. It's not about our family. Our family will never be satisfied. We'll never have Pat back. But what is so outrageous is that this isn't about Pat. This is about what they did to a nation.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Maltin on Movies: Unknown & Cedar Rapids (#1.24)" (2011)

"The (Untold) Tillman Story"

Amir Bar-Lev tried to compress three movies into one: the biography of Pat Tillman, his friendly-fire death in Afghanistan, and his family's battle for the truth about his death. A difficult task; he cut the film from 2 1/2 hours to 94 minutes.

The film is a great introduction to the Pat Tillman story. But, given the time constraints, it doesn't go into much detail. If you want to learn more I'd suggest Mary Tillman's book "Boots on the Ground by Dusk " (at blurb.com) or Jon Krakauer's "Where Men Win Glory" (revised paperback now out; good detail on death and Army's cover-up. Flawed because Krakauer lost trust of most of the family).

See the film. Nearly everything most people think they know about Pat Tillman, his family, and the story is wrong. The Tillman family end up telling much of it. A close knit family with much more honor and integrity than their government. And the movie more humor to it than you would think, especially if you don't mind a few f-bombs; the original title of the film was "I'm Pat ----ing Tillman!" (I would tell you why, but that would be a bit of a spoiler).

. . .

In his "The Fog of War" interview with Jason Guerrasio, Amir Bar-Lev said: "… there's been no culpability on the second half of this tragedy, which is the higher ups trying to cover it up. … to borrow a football metaphor, they (the Tillman family) ran the ball 99 yards over four years time, they handed it off at the one-yard line to Congress and they fumbled it...."

Shortly after Sundance, Bar-Lev emailed me that "he was pretty hard on the Democratic Congress in his film." True,his film does portray Congressman Waxman's Oversight Committee as ineptly failing to get answers from the top military leadership during their hearing.

However, Bar-Lev's film missed the "untold story" that both the Democratic Congress and the Obama Presidency shielded General Stanley McChrystal from scrutiny and punishment for his central role in the cover-up of Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death. This cover-up was a thoroughly bi-partisan affair. It wasn't just a case of the Bush administration and the Army stonewalling the Democratic Congress. Congress didn't just "fumble" the ball, they threw the game.

It's not surprising that after their initial cover-up of Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death fell apart, Army officers and the Bush administration lied to protect their careers. But after they took control of both Houses of Congress in 2006, the Democrats (including Congressman Waxman, Senator Levin, Senator Webb, and Senator McCain) could have gone after those responsible. Or at least not promoted them twice!

Just before the 2006 mid-term elections, Kevin Tillman published his eloquent letter, "After Pat's Birthday". Kevin had hoped a Democratic Congress would bring accountability back to our country. But, just as with warrant-less wiretapping and torture, those responsible for the cover-up of his brother's friendly-fire death have never been held accountable for their actions.

Five years ago, Pat Tillman's family were handed a tarnished Silver Star. It was a travesty of justice that President Obama and the Senate promoted General McChrystal to the Army's highest rank, and handed him his fourth star.

Last week I posted at my feralfirefighter blog, "The (Untold) Tillman Story" – President Obama and the Bi-Partisan Congressional Whitewash of General Stanley McChrystal's Cover-up of Pat Tillman's Friendly-Fire Death.