Friday, 15 December 1995 22:35

On Company Business: Light in the Darkness

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An excerpt from Probe's "Media Watch" in which Jim DiEugenio reviews the documentary "the best film ever made about the CIA".


[...] every once in awhile something good manages to slip through. The Blockbuster video rental chain is another example of a behemoth targeting and then wiping out the corner merchant. Wayne Huzienga now has the biggest video chain in the country. He now sponsors college football bowl games and owns the Miami Dolphins. But at some of his stores, you can actually rent the best film ever made about the CIA. This splendid documentary is called "On Company Business", and from its opening scenes with Senator Frank Church confronting Bill Colby with a flechette pistol designed for assassination, one knows that this will be an unflinching look at what the Company's business has wreaked. We won't detail the many jewels of this program. Trust us and run, don't walk, to get it. We would like to describe some of the travails of the film's director, Allan Francovich, and how he encountered two of the research community's more familiar characters.

When Francovich completed "On Company Business" in 1980, he had a predictably tough time getting it shown in America. Finally, it got shown on WNET in New York. The CIA insisted on debating the merits of the program afterwards since they realized the show would create a public sensation, which it did. The man chosen to debate Allan was David Phillips. Since "On Company Business" candidly deals with the Agency's use of assassination as a tool, the moderator asked Phillips how he could condone such acts. Phillips reportedly replied "Murder is such a harsh word. Can't you use something else?"

Francovich has recently done another documentary, this one on the downing of Pan Am 103 over Scotland in 1988. The CIA originally stated that Syria and the Iranians were responsible. Later, they changed the official story to blame the Libyans. Why? Because Syria became an ally against Hussein in the Gulf War. The Francovich film blames the original perpetrators. So when it was scheduled to be shown in London, again a debate had to take place. Who spoke for the official U.S. "Libya did it" line? Oliver "Buck" Revell, FBI point man on, among other things, the Kennedy assassination. When Francovich's film then showed in Australia, who showed up to debate him via satellite? Again, it was Revell. The same man, who, as revealed in last month's Probe, insists there was no relation between Oswald and the FBI. It should be noted that, while in the Navy, Revell became their liaison to the Warren Commission. It is here where he became acquainted with the FBI. He liked the organization and decided to join up when he got out. To this day, he defends the official Warren Report line he helped formulate.

Last modified on Wednesday, 02 November 2016 04:57
James DiEugenio

One of the most respected researchers and writers on the political assassinations of the 1960s, Jim DiEugenio is the author of two books, Destiny Betrayed (1992/2012) and The JFK Assassination: The Evidence Today (2018), co-author of The Assassinations, and co-edited Probe Magazine (1993-2000).   See "About Us" for a fuller bio.

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