Making History Before It Happens

Television is history’s microwave.

CBS is about to present “Guts & Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North,” even though the extent of North’s fall--or even whether he has fallen--has not been determined.

North’s trial in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal has just ended. But the jury is not expected to have reached a verdict when this two-part docudrama airs at 9 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday on Channels 2 and 8, starring David Keith as the charismatic Marine lieutenant colonel who gained celebrity from the Iran-Contra hearings and emerged a national hero or national disgrace, depending on your point of view.

Four hours of “Guts and Glory” surely won’t decide the issue for anyone, and it’s difficult finding a rationale for television--a supposedly definitive account of a work in progress--with such a built-in contradiction.

Based on a book by Ben Bradlee Jr., “Guts and Glory” was completed before the North trial and thus excludes, for example, recently renewed suspicions about then-Vice President George Bush’s role in the Iran-Contra affair. Hence, it also omits conflicts between the trial testimonies of North and former National Security Council adviser Robert C. McFarlane, a key clash of Iran-Contra accounts on which the North verdict may partially rest.

When last seen in “Guts and Glory,” McFarlane (Paul Dooley) is leaving his National Security Council post while lauding North for bringing “integrity” to government. What a difference five years make.

Moreover, “Guts and Glory” also ends before the start of those 1987 televised congressional hearings that introduced then-anonymous North to America and helped build the Iran-Contra scandal into a melodrama every bit as mesmerizing as “Dallas” or “Dynasty.”

Polarized public reaction to those hearings and its diverse cast of characters said as much about America and its values as Iran-Contra did about North.

Although ably acted and nicely staged, “Guts and Glory” is instant, short-order history, a truncated perspective made minus the benefit of time and rushed on the air by CBS for the May ratings sweeps.

The Oliver L. North at the center of director-writer-executive producer Mike Robe’s story is an ambitious, calculating political player and ultraconservative ideologue. There are no shadings in North’s character or universe. He is guided by rigid views of patriotism and of right and wrong, and also by an unswerving allegiance to his career that puts recurring severe strains on his marriage.

As a character study of North, “Guts and Glory” is rather flat. It works best as a generic study of power and its impact on those positioned to exert it. “Arrogance of power” is a cliche that perfectly fits this shadowy milieu in which the self-righteous appoint themselves to make American foreign policy.

As CIA Director William Casey (Barnard Hughes) tells his protege North here, there are “no rules but one: Do what’s right.” Their version of “right.”

We meet North as a Commie-bashing, flag-waving midshipman at the Naval Academy with a strong personal code of honor and a meticulously detailed life plan that includes switching to the Marines and finding “the right wife” to advance his career. He chooses Betsy (Annette O’Toole).

A tour in Vietnam feeds North’s contempt for anti-war protesters at home and “the politicians” who won’t let the U.S. fight to “win.” In 1981, showing a talent for ingratiating himself to those in a position to help him advance, he’s named a military aide with the NSC in the Administration of new President Ronald Reagan (Bryan Clark). There he hires Fawn Hall (Amy Stock-Poynton) to join him on “the cutting edge of history,” passionately endorses Reagan’s support of the Contras fighting Nicaragua’s Sandinista government and begins viewing CIA chief Casey as his mentor.

Later, North will help Casey circumvent the Boland Amendment that prohibited U.S. intelligence agencies from providing money or military help to the Contras. Plus we see the seeds of the alleged “missiles for hostages” deal with Iran that went awry and evolved into a scheme to secretly divert Iran arms sales profits to the Contras without the approval of Congress. We see the plan endorsed by Casey, approved by then NSC chief John Poindexter (Peter Boyle) and executed by North, all of them ends-justifies-the-means people.

Poindexter tells North that even Reagan didn’t know about “the diversion.” But is Poindexter being truthful or merely protecting the President?

As for Bush, more than merely out of the “loop” here, he’s out of the story.

Meanwhile, we get the cover-up, the damage control, the shredding and the alleged scapegoating of North, all building toward those congressional hearings that you won’t see.

Bearing the crushing burden of playing a real-life character who has been burned into the consciousness of America, Keith conveys the crusading passion and commitment, but in no way the personal magnetism that has been attributed to North.

You can envision strangers being swayed by the real North’s sales pitches to fund the Contras. You can envision legions of disciples following him , but not Keith over the hill.

O’Toole is more convincing as the lesser-known Betsy North, whose outsider status in her husband’s life makes her a casualty in this scenario, along with the North children.

Although a head shorter, Hughes is especially effective as the late Casey, who wears the label of main malefactor here along with North, a label that will stick at least for the time being. Dead men don’t refute charges.

Ironically, the single character as central to this story as North, is not even a real character. He’s Aaron Sykes (Terry O’Quinn), identified as one of North’s NSC colleagues.

Although viewers have no way of knowing it, there is no Sykes. He’s a composite, Robe’s interjection of a moral voice to rebut and repeatedly question North’s ethics, actions and priorities.

“What you guys tried to pull was nothing short of a secret government,” Sykes lectures North.

“A Marine does what it takes...,” North responds.

TV docudrama, too, it seems.