Charlie Wilson's War

When Odessa Municipal Court Assistant Judge Dennis Jones talks about Charlie Wilson, he calls him Charlie. Not Congressman Wilson, Mr. Wilson or Rep. Wilson.

Definitely not Charles.

He’s a good man, a sincere man, yes, a U.S. congressman who drank a lot more than others, and a man who loved many women a lot more than others.

But, he’s also a man who helped Judge Jones be Judge Jones.

So it’s Charlie.

Charlie made one phone call, and Jones had a clerking job at a law firm in Houston while in law school. He wrote his recommendation letter for school as well.

Without Charlie?

“It would’ve been a lot harder,” Jones said. “He helped me out tremendously. I wasn’t the only one.”

The movie “Charlie Wilson’s War” opens today, chronicling Congressman Wilson’s somewhat secret scheme funneling money and guns to help the Afghanis successfully fight off a 1980s Russian invasion and his not-so-secret bachelor, booze-filled, party-laden lifestyle.

The movie stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts and is based on a fantastic book by George Crile. It’s full of stories about the womanizing but much-loved Charlie. It’s stories about fighting communism, the Cold War and how much Charlie, born in East Texas’ Trinity, just deplored the Russians’ politics.

It’s about Charlie’s love of the little guy fighting against the odds.

At one point, Jones was somewhat the underdog himself when he developed a relationship with Wilson.

It started in 1985.

Jones was 25. He was officer Jones then.

He’d been a cop for six years. He had two children and a wife. He decided he wanted to go to law school. First, he needed to finish his undergrad schooling. He enrolled at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches. He found a two-month internship with Wilson’s district office.

Jones stuffed letters. He helped campaign. He earned a job as Charlie’s congressional aide until June 1986.

Mostly, he drove Charlie — with his cowboy hat, big booming voice and infectious laugh — from Lufkin to the Houston airport, or he drove Charlie around in the motor home Charlie bought as a mobile office to trek across Texas’ huge 2nd congressional district. They met constituents from Cayuga near Corsicana to Newton on the Louisiana border.

The district mostly loved Charlie, Jones said. Yeah, he was once found in a Las Vegas hot tub with “two beautiful, long-legged showgirls,” as Charlie described them in Crile’s book. Yeah, he was caught driving drunk.

But Charlie was honest, Jones said. He was true to himself and didn’t hide his wild life.

“That was Charlie,” Jones said. “He didn’t make any apologies for who he was. I think that’s why he felt so blessed to be re-elected.”

Behind the wheel and at stops, Jones heard a lot of voters complain about their Social Security, but he also witnessed history or as much of history as he was permitted.

“It was obvious to me things were going on,” Jones said.

Jones once accompanied Wilson to Scrappin’ Valley Lodge, Temple-Inland Lumber Co.’s Newton County retreat. Other bigwigs were there — congressmen, mov-ers, shakers — the guys who make international impact decisions.

And they talked about big international stories.

Jones listened. Wow, he thought. Here he was a boy from Lufkin High class of 1977, and the men around him were talking about the Cold War and how to solve it.

“It was very insightful to listen,” Jones said. “Let me put it this way: it was a lot different from hearing people complain about the Veterans Administration or the Social Security Administration.”

Charlie — now 74 — is part of Jones’ personal story. He’s part of how he made it through college and law school.

Jones is scheduled to be in Lufkin today, and he plans on seeing the movie.

He expects the lines to be long.

After all, it’s about an East Texas congressman.

It’s about Charlie.

And he’s a friend.

SHOW TIMES:

>> 2:10 p.m., 4:40, 7:20, 9:55 at Century Odessa 12, 4221 Preston Smith Road