D.B. Cooper doc Netflix

[Des Wigwam]

Watched this over a couple nights this week. It's only 4 parts and zips along. I never find D.B. Cooper as interesting as I feel I should but enjoyed the take on this which focusses more on the people who investigate it and those dynamics. There's a nice balance of obsession and conspiracy to keep you wrong footed.

Most fascinating thing for me is the hats the Northwest Orient flight attendants wore - like a glam version of Sean Connery's helmet (_{don't be disgusting}) in The Untouchables. Were they fashionable because women had big back-combed hair?

Funny this, as I was watching the Netflix doc on DB Cooper last night.

No excuse for this to be a 1 post thread now.

[bgmnts]

D.B Cooper is mildly interesting but it's just a bloke who did a cool robbery and got away with it really.

[The Ombudsman]

Watched this over a couple nights this week. It's only 4 parts and zips along. I never find D.B. Cooper as interesting as I feel I should but enjoyed the take on this which focusses more on the people who investigate it and those dynamics. There's a nice balance of obsession and conspiracy to keep you wrong footed.

Yeah, it's OK. I did laugh at the bit where the chap said that the man they were pursuing was definitely DB Cooper as he was listening to them and if he wasn't he'd just go away. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I'm not all the way through the doc yet, but I wonder if it mentions all the folks who died and confessed on their deathbed that they were DB. Personally, I recon it's the crew.

[Alberon]

D.B Cooper is mildly interesting but it's just a bloke who did a cool robbery and got away with it really.

May have got away with it. Probably didn't.

None of the money was spent and some decayed bundles were found near the area he jumped out many years later.

[Des Wigwam]

May have got away with it. Probably didn't.

None of the money was spent and some decayed bundles were found near the area he jumped out many years later.

Or were they planted years later as a smoke screen? Come on, get with the conspiracies man.

Yeah, it's OK. I did laugh at the bit where the chap said that the man they were pursuing was definitely DB Cooper as he was listening to them and if he wasn't he'd just go away. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Same. I liked the Roger Cook bit of all that - "why are you hiding in a storage shed if you're innocent?". It was like he'd taken 3k off a pensioner for a bathroom he'd then never fitted. That should be how we run jury trials.

[The Ombudsman]

Same. I liked the Roger Cook bit of all that - "why are you hiding in a storage shed if you're innocent?". It was like he'd taken 3k off a pensioner for a bathroom he'd then never fitted. That should be how we run jury trials.

Yes! I think I'd hide if some madman was outside my house with a film crew.

Surely the money was planted. I've not seen this far in the Netflix doc yet but I'm sure I remember from other sources it was well hidden. If you survived, you would take it all. If you died, who found it, then decided the best thing was to bury/hide it.

[Malcy]

May have got away with it. Probably didn't.

None of the money was spent and some decayed bundles were found near the area he jumped out many years later.

First I ever heard of it was when someone tried to sell one of the notes  on Pawn Stars.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmr39RWVjzQ

[up_the_hampipe]

D.B Cooper is mildly interesting but it's just a bloke who did a cool robbery and got away with it really.

He probably didn't get away with it really, thanks to the extreme weather and complete lack of visibility in the darkness. He did an elaborate robbery then immediately jumped to his death. Quite funny tbh.

[C_Larence]

I hate how every documentary about an unsolved mystery ends with someone saying something like "maybe it's better that we don't know what happened, that way the legend can live on forever". Put that bit at the start cowards.

My favourite part was the guy who was convinced he had cracked the code by converting the letters to numbers, proper boomer Facebook stuff, he was so proud of himself at the same time as talking complete shite

[Famous Mortimer]

Given we don't know who the bloke was, a 4-part documentary seems a bit of a stretch.

[bgmnts]

He probably didn't get away with it really, thanks to the extreme weather and complete lack of visibility in the darkness. He did an elaborate robbery then immediately jumped to his death. Quite funny tbh.

Oh yeah it's like cunt fell to his death and got fucked by scavengers I just mean didn't get caught.

I just feel there are way more interesting mysteries to dedicate a shitty Netflix docs to, but d.b Cooper captures the imagination for some reason.

[kalowski]

This is all you need

[elliszeroed]

I like the idea that it was one or more members of the crew.

[Des Wigwam]

My favourite part was the guy who was convinced he had cracked the code by converting the letters to numbers, proper boomer Facebook stuff, he was so proud of himself at the same time as talking complete shite

Yes! Started off so promising and he had an nsa background too then the big reveal was basically a boomer Facebook poem. He seemed a nice guy too and quite sane. Guess we all have blind spots. I liked the mathematician and cryptographer they went to the effort of bringing on for about 75 seconds total to say "yea that's bullshit".

[Darles Chickens]

I watched the first episode last night, it was all right I guess.

I didn't get the thing about Dick Briggs supposedly correctly predicting that the couple at the party were going to find some of Cooper's money, and then him being eliminated as a suspect for being a fantasist and a liar.

Almost from the time we met... he was telling us that he was, in fact, D.B. Cooper.

And he kept saying, "You don't believe me, do you?

And we ended up being at a party in 1980.

And he says, "I'm gonna tell you something that will prove to you who I am."

He said, "That couple over there." We said, "Yeah?"

He says, "They and their son..." They were a hippie-looking couple. "...are the ones that are going to find my money."

Colbert: Dick Briggs says, "On that north shore, in three days, they're gonna find some of my money."

Meaning Cooper's money.

And that's when I knew, "Whoa."

Reporter: The money was found here, just a few yards from the shoreline of the Columbia river.

The wording is weird.  Is the implication that he (or someone known to him) had stashed some money there and explicitly told them where to look?  Was it a coincidence?  Was it really the same people who discovered the cash?  How could they eliminate him as a suspect or person of interest if he was able to make such an accurate prediction?

So far I just find the documentary frustrating and unclear.  And I don't know how they can drag it over four episodes either.

[Des Wigwam]

Yes I didn't follow the dick briggs thing and thought it was just going to be "this guy's a suspect. But he couldn't have done it. Now look at this guy...." but after the first episode it takes a different tack and it doesn't really matter who the suspects are. They focus on one as a thread to tie it together and he's an interesting chap, in himself. Has a great safari suit.

Not saying it's an amazing doco but it passed a couple of nights.

[Darles Chickens]

I guess I'll stick with it.  But the script editing seems terrible so far, and they don't join the dots enough.  My wife asked: "How could they possibly know that it was the Cooper money they found?"  And sure enough, they didn't explain how banks used to keep aside a cache of money for ransom demands with all the serial numbers recorded.

I guess this is a different take on things, so far it seems more like it's a doco about Tom Colbert than D.B. Cooper himself.

[KennyMonster]

Why can't people tell stories properly anymore?

All cinema releases seem to be a minimum of 2 hours where they could easily be squeezed into 90 minutes with some efficient script editing.

4 episodes on this 'story' too.

How long does it take for someone to say "Damn fine cherry pie!" ?

I'm gonna avoid it.

[Des Wigwam]

I'll say one thing in its favour - at no point does someone's piece to camera start with them sitting down and saying something like "ok, shall I start?" or cut to them just finishing a conversation off screen then turning to camera and talking past it asking "we good to go?"

[steveh]

The HBO documentary from a couple of years back I thought was better made, more interesting on the mechanics of how it was done and was under 90 minutes.

[Uncle TechTip]

Why can't people tell stories properly anymore?

All cinema releases seem to be a minimum of 2 hours where they could easily be squeezed into 90 minutes with some efficient script editing.

4 episodes on this 'story' too.

How long does it take for someone to say "Damn fine cherry pie!" ?

I'm gonna avoid it.

It's a clear benefit to Netflix if they can stretch out a subject beyond its sensible length, hence bolstering claims they have a deep volume of content. Maybe subscribers aren't so impressed with single edition documentaries.

[Dex Sawash]

I hate trying to pick a thing to watch so being several eps is a plus

[The Ombudsman]

Watched it all now. Totally agree it could have been a better hour long thing.

The bit where they were offering him loads of cash to tell his story was deeply unethical, health concerns or not. Which made me think they would do anything to prove they were right. Why the fuck would someone who's avoided capture all these years want to admit it and spend their dying days locked up.

It's sad that team got so transfixed on one person. I don't think it was Rackstraw. I think he just liked the attention. It's conceivable that he did it just to get one over on the man and would have known the money would be traceable so no point in spending it. He seemed too much of a liability to be able to orchestrate the whole thing. I think if it was him, he'd have done others, why stop at one, especially when it was so successful.

The cryptology stuff made me laugh too. Reminds me of the film Pi. If you want to see something you will see it everywhere. Again, sad they couldn't see this. Also with the whole CIA angle, I'm sure they asked a lot of ex-military people do so shitty stuff but I doubt very much they would engage someone without having plausible deniability.

So for me, it's still an interesting case and the doc (although lacking in some respects) did pass an evening. The only thing I did learn was that it was the lead detective that sued the FBI to get their case files released.

[Mr Farenheit]

Why can't people tell stories properly anymore?

All cinema releases seem to be a minimum of 2 hours where they could easily be squeezed into 90 minutes with some efficient script editing.

4 episodes on this 'story' too.

I can't believe I watched all SIX episodes of 'Perfect Attendance' about that kid who hasn't missed a day of school.

[PlanktonSideburns]

This is all you need

One of the best gifs out there that

[markburgle]

Here's a readily available (in the UK) condensed take for anyone who can't be arsed with 240 minutes of padding:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000pqyw/storyville-the-hijacker-who-vanished-the-mystery-of-db-cooper

[Darles Chickens]

Here's a readily available (in the UK) condensed take for anyone who can't be arsed with 240 minutes of padding:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000pqyw/storyville-the-hijacker-who-vanished-the-mystery-of-db-cooper

Thanks - here it is for non-UK peeps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRUPvc8aejc

I gave up on that Netflix doco when they started talking about adding up the value of the letters, total waste of time.

[Mr_Simnock]

Here's a readily available (in the UK) condensed take for anyone who can't be arsed with 240 minutes of padding:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000pqyw/storyville-the-hijacker-who-vanished-the-mystery-of-db-cooper

That is great, found it funny how many people said they were him, shocked at just how badly any evidence was kept from the case ensuring almost no way now of finding out who it was.