Sticking to His Guns

Charlie Wilson: The Wild Card Image Was The Real Deal

"Charlie did not drink in the office," said Elaine Lang Cornett. "At least not until the end of the day."

"He did drink a good bit, though," said Carol Simons Huddleston. "Hence the heart transplant."

"I think they over-exaggerated his drug use -- but don't quote me on that," said another of Charlie's Angels.

Charlie Wilson couldn't make it to the Washington premiere of the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" last week -- he got that heart transplant in September, at age 74, and isn't traveling much. But about 20 of Charlie's Angels were on hand, decked out in cocktail dresses and eager to see what Hollywood did with the story of their legendary ex-boss.

Charlie's Angels were the women who worked in Wilson's office during his gloriously colorful 24-year career in Congress, and they were famous on Capitol Hill for their pulchritude and general foxiness. Now a decade or two older, they were amused to see themselves portrayed on screen wearing sexy, low-cut dresses in the office.

"We did not show cleavage in the office," said Huddleston. "I had no cleavage to show."

Sure, the Angels loved the movie and thought Tom Hanks made a terrific Charlie, but they grumbled when the film took liberties with their Charlie.

"His apartment didn't really look like it did in the movie," said Amy Maccarone.

"No, it was much cheesier in real life," said D'Anna Tindal, laughing. "It was floor-to-ceiling mirrors."

"The movie made it seem like he called us all jailbait," said Maccarone. "He never called us jailbait."

Well, actually, Charlie really did call a fetching 17-year-old intern "jailbait," Cornett recalled.

And what about that scene where Charlie takes a sexy Texas belly dancer to Cairo and she does a sultry dance for the Egyptian defense minister while Charlie and an Israeli arms dealer try to convince the Egyptian to sell them weapons for the Afghan rebels -- that's gotta be a Hollywood fabrication, right?