i am db cooper movie review

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"I Am D.B. Cooper" opens in 1974 with a shot of a raggedy-looking guy with two black eyes hoovering a white powder up his nose in the back seat of a car. (It could be cocaine, but as we learn later, it could just as well be an amphetamine referred to by the denizens of this movie's world as "criss-cross speed.”) We then cut back to "3 years earlier," with a depiction of the same guy, cleaned up, wearing a parachute, carrying a satchel, and jumping out of a passenger plane.

Apparently, this is what a criminal who called himself D.B. Cooper did in 1971. Boarded a plane in Portland, Oregon—its final destination being Seattle, Washington, only a half-hour away—told a flight attendant he was carrying explosives, demanded a $200,000 ransom, got it in Seattle, instructed the pilots to chart a course to New Mexico—he also got some parachutes, sure—and, a half-hour into the second flight, jumped from the plane and was never seen again. The case is still unsolved.

Until now? With this queasy mix of documentary and fiction from director T.J. Regan, the film's opening sequence climaxes, so to speak, with footage set in the present day in which one Rodney Lewis Bonnifield asserts, "I am D.B. Cooper."

Bonnifield is an old white guy, overweight and unshaven. Wow, what are the odds that D.B. Cooper would turn out to be such a person, right? Anyway, the documentary portion of the movie focuses on real-life bail bondsmen Carlos Rocha and Mike Rocha, the movie's executive producers, and how their fulfillment of a warrant for Bonnifield yielded the fantastic story Regan and company recreate in fictional mode.

"The people got a right to know what I am and who I am," Bonnifield asserts. Mostly, he comes off as the very guy the Rochas caught up with: a dumb slob who got into a knife fight. But the tale Bonnifield weaves includes sweeping adventures in criminality, as well as an on-the-road affair with singer Rita Coolidge. The filmmakers include an "interview" with a young, fictionalized Coolidge, played by Rainee Blake . As well as a fake interview with Bonnifield's parents, also played by actors, which is structured like a bad comedy routine. "He was a little entrepreneur," Fake Mom says. "He was a little bastard," counters Fake Dad.

All this is tiresome enough on its own. (And Ryan Cory's performance as the criminal, styling young 1970s Bonnifield as a thoroughly 21 st century, well, dickhead, compounds the tedium.) But wait, there's more: It's interwoven with an equally tiresome account of the Rochas looking for D.B. Cooper's loot—Bonnifield has provided them with instructions on where to find it. Spoiler alert: if you caught the Geraldo Rivera "Al Capone's Vault" live television event, you know how this is going to turn out.

Also, if I were Rita Coolidge (whose sole factual association with Cooper was contributing a couple of songs to the soundtrack of the Treat-Williams-starring "In Search of D.B. Cooper"), I'd sue these guys.

The whole enterprise brings up a question, though, which I will state in all caps, since it was playing in all caps as it repeated itself in my head, over and over, all through the movie. The question is: WHO CARES?

Yes, Cooper's crime was notable in some of its particulars. The particulars are kind of mind-numbingly stupid. (Perhaps underscoring the " This is Spinal Tap " adage about the thin line between stupid and clever.) The fact that "Cooper" has never been apprehended I think we can put down to a quirk of fate, rather than an achievement of any particular ingenuity. (And, indeed, that's how it's more or less depicted in the Bonnifield narrative, for whatever that's worth.) And, you know, $200,000 is a lot of money, but it's not a lot  of money. Remember in the "Austin Powers" movies where the 1960s standard was a million? These days, people have won billion-dollar lottery prizes spending less money than "D.B. Cooper" did on his plane ticket. From where I sat during the 1970s and beyond, the so-called legend of Cooper was one of the least consequential crossings of pop culture and true crime ever. Even if you disagree, I don't think you'll find much satisfaction or pleasure in this grievously ill-conceived exercise.

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Glenn Kenny

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I Am DB Cooper review – let the carousel of posers continue

We review the film I Am DB Cooper, which does not contain spoilers.

I love a good conspiracy theory. Combining that with a mystery that has stood the test of time is an addiction for me. The mystery of the domestic terrorist (I mean, he stole a plane, correct?) known as D.B. Cooper has remained a great conundrum. How does a man (are we sure it was a man?), over a half-century ago, supposedly leap into that dark, cold Pacific Northwest night with bags of cash strapped to his back, never been found? And virtually nothing is known about him, except he had slick, shiny jet-black hair and wore a suit like Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black. (Now that would explain it all!). So, I am ready to confess; I Am DB Cooper . I’m not the subject of this exaggerated, watered-down, Unsolved Mysteries – like film. It was me, so now we can stop making them.

I am DB Cooper reviewing and plot summary

According to this tall tale of the Cooper legend, an older adult male, Rodney Bonniefield , claims to be the notorious robber baron. He is sporting a primarily white, with a hint of grey, unkempt beard, while also wearing his trusty hat, which is coming apart at the seams. Always armored with a hoody, cheap sneakers, and probably the same pair of blue jeans over the film’s duration, yes, this man claims to jump out of that Boeing 727-51. It’s OK to wonder that this doesn’t look like a man living the high life. He lives in a home and on a plot of land that looks like a pseudo-quasi-alternative setting where you may find Steven Avery. If Bonniefield is the man, why isn’t he rich? It’s a question, surprisingly, that has no answer.

Two brothers who believe Rodney is DB Cooper are the bounty hunters who arrested him. That doesn’t exactly scream trustworthy confidence builder. However, they insist that in some of these stories and the context, Bonniefield describes the crime in a way no one else would know. The problem here is that after watching a half dozen of these documentaries over the past decade, the subject offers nothing. Other than his escape, which cannot be proven, the hook here is that Rodney claims the cash is buried under a black rock along the shoreline of the Columbia River, and time is running out. Why, exactly? Because the bounty hunters know he is going to jail for his crimes soon.

The one new item I did hear that was mildly interesting was the money discovered a few years later on a beach in the Columbia River. Yes, that part is not new, but there has been speculation that the algae detected on the money could be from the ocean. Which means the money could have floated in from there. However, this water has to be dredged annually to provide reliable passage for commercial and private traffic. The algae come up from there, which could explain why the photosynthetic organisms could be on there, to begin with.

This is mainly a rehash and regurgitation of the infamous legend with actor reenactments that would have the Robert Stack seal of approval. And the majority of the documentary’s scenes are reenactments with a highly fictional spin from director T.J. Regan ( Gap Year ) and writer Sharmila Sahni (who doubles as Cooper/Rodney’s ex-wife). Here, the team tries to make the story about Rodney having a broken heart. Ryan Cory , who resembles an Ike Barinholtz type, plays the young version of Cooper. I’m not going to lie; this is cheesy stuff, but Cory brings an undeniably entertaining spin to the Cooper legend, albeit playing the role with intentional small-dick energy you wouldn’t associate with the brass balls to make the story entertaining, but in Rob Schneider kind of way.

Is I Am DB Cooper worth watching?

The tagline of the search is over in I Am DB Cooper is remarkably premature. By the time they arrive at the spot, it is over so quickly the whole scene seems staged. Frankly, the experience has so much filler here. There are only about 40 minutes of real film here. They result in a story stretched so thinly that the lack of a story is painfully transparent. While I did get a chuckle at Regan’s wink to the audience (with a multiple-role assist by Trevor Butcher) that the subject cannot be trusted, the whole exercise is a waste of time.

Yours and mine.

What did you think of the film I Am DB Cooper Comment below.

Article by Marc Miller

Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

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I Am D.B. Cooper Reviews

This is mainly a rehash and regurgitation of the infamous legend with actor reenactments that would have the Robert Stack seal of approval.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Dec 20, 2022

Ultimately, the movie does little more than add to the growing pile of Cooper memorabilia, relying on the lure an unsolved mystery.

Full Review | Dec 17, 2022

The filmmaker undercuts the film's persuasiveness with tons of reenactments.

Full Review | Dec 13, 2022

It mixes docudrama and documentary to give one theory about the hijacker’s identity. At least, that’s the one way of looking at it. Another, more accurate way is that this film has no credibility from the start, and barely any entertainment value to boot.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Dec 13, 2022

Is he really the fugitive DB Cooper? For people old enough to have lived through the story of his hijacking a plane in 1971, bailing out and disappearing, that dominated the headlines for several weeks, if not months, it’s an interesting supposition.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 13, 2022

True crime buffs may get a kick out of I AM D.B. COOPER. Is it fiction? Is it a documentary? Who knows? It claims to be the latter. Viewers will have to decide for themselves.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 12, 2022

The question is: WHO CARES?

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Dec 9, 2022

While the story of the disappearing parachuting man will endure, I Am DB Cooper will barely be a footnote.

Full Review | Dec 8, 2022

It's two underwhelming movies in one.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Dec 6, 2022

Film Review: I Am DB Cooper Crashes To Earth

In this dubious documentary, a man claims to be the mysterious plane hijacker who parachuted to unsolved infamy in 1971..

There is something that needs to be said up front about I Am DB Cooper, a bizarre documentary by T. J. Regan ( Gap Year ), that loosely retells the true story of a mysterious hijacker who jumped from a plane with his ransom in 1971 and was never heard from again. If you’ve ever read, seen, or learned anything at all about the incident—it’s captured people’s imagination for decades and given rise to a host of theories—you aren’t going to learn anything new from this film.

The film promises a whole lot, but please be aware there are no significant revelations to the over 50 year old case.

You’ll be introduced to a man who claims that he is actually DB Cooper (Rodney Bonnifield). And, with beer in hand, he’ll throw out a whole lot of information about what happened that day, why he supposedly did it, and how he’s kept quiet about it for so long. If all that sounds far-fetched and like a flimsy premise to make an entire documentary around, it only gets worse. 

I Am DB Cooper follows a documentary crew as they attempt to find concrete proof to support Bonnifield’s claims, their scenes interspersed with extended reenactments of the 1971 hijacking. Neither of these elements play off one another in any meaningful way. Instead, the two narratives pull in different directions: The former presents an uncritical portrait of a man spinning some stories before he begins a prison sentence, and the latter leans heavily into quirky sendup gangster comedy. There are interesting nuggets in each, but the two aspects clash in ways that undercut both.

There was room for an interesting documentary to be made about Bonnifield—it's fascinating to imagine why someone would claim to be DB Cooper—but I Am DB Cooper never peers into the complex character study realm. Instead, all involved simply take Bonnifield at his word, applying only the lightest of challenges to his tale. The documentary crew appear to have really wanted this story to be true. They're swept along, but for the audience everything feels too contrived to follow. 

Considering the care put into the film's reenactments, there's a sense that the documentary could have been scrapped so the crew could fully commit to a fictionalized dramedy. Instead, it tries to have it both ways and succeeds at neither. While the story of the disappearing parachuting man will endure, I Am DB Cooper will barely be a footnote. 

I Am DB Cooper opens at Laurelhurst Theater, 2735 E Burnside, Fri Dec 9.

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I Am DB Cooper

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Rainee Blake (Rita Coolidge) Chris Bruno (Captain William Scott) Trevor Butcher (FO William Rataczak) Joshua Chessin-Yudin (Larry) Ryan Cory (DB Cooper) Les Feltmate (Senior) Chris Grounds (Marty) T.J. Regan (Wayne Shannon) Tyler Roy Roberts (DB's Brother) Sharmila Sahni (Ramona Lisa Capps)

Tells the story of hijacker DB Cooper, who remains one of the great PNW mysteries.

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I Am DB Cooper (2022)

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I Am DB Cooper Reviews

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• Drama, Horror, Suspense
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In 1971, an unsuspecting criminal by the name of DB Cooper boarded a plane, stole $190,000, and jumped out. The legend of DB Cooper only continued to grow over the years, and the case was largely considered closed, until a man came out of the woodwork to confess his crime.

I Am DB Cooper

By Josiah Teal | December 12, 2022

Awaiting a pending assault trial, Rodney “Rod” Bonnifield confesses to bail bondsman Carlos Rocha that he is the notorious hijacker DB Cooper. Bonnifield claims to have details never made public about the unsolved hijacking and, most of all, claims to know the location of DB Cooper’s hidden money. Seeing the opportunity to unravel a fifty-year mystery, Rocha considers the story to be the opportunity of a lifetime in this dramatized documentary. But how can we verify the information? Is Bonnifield’s story too good to be true? Director T.J. Regan’s  I Am DB Cooper  dives deep into Bonnifield’s claims and examines the life or lies of a man convinced he’s DB Cooper.

For the uninitiated, the infamous tale of DB Cooper starts with him as a passenger on a flight from Portland to Seattle. He then hijacks the plane and ransoms it for $200,000 from the Federal Government. As of the date of the hijacking in 1971, it is the only unsolved hijacking in the United States; unless Bonnifield’s claims prove true. The overall narrative shifts between dramatizations of Bonnifield’s life leading up to the James Bond-esque airplane heist and Rocha’s quest to verify answers to this legendary cold case.

Regan crafts a stylish and entertaining documentary worthy of the fashionable crime fantasies built into the consciousness of DB Cooper fanatics. The dramatizations are told entirely through the lens of Bonnifield’s claims, allowing screenwriters Regan and Sharmila Sahni to get the audience to catch the same sense of adventure that captivates Rocha. The filmmaker wants the audience to want Bonnifield to be Cooper, and it makes for a documentary with plenty of style, twists, and a memorable climax.

“… Bonnifield confesses to bail bondsman Carlos Rocha that he is the notorious hijacker DB Cooper .”

Admittedly, the performances and relevance of the dramatizations throughout  I Am DB Cooper  range from scene to scene. Still, Bonnifield’s purpose is evident throughout. His claims either cast suspicions or corroborate stories, depending on the viewer’s take.

Giving the classic 1-10 rating for a film like  I Am DB Cooper  proves difficult. The climax and big reveals are phenomenal. They’re the kinds of moments that make you watch documentaries like this or cause you to dive into theories on the Zodiac Killer or the identity of Banksy. It’s informative and sweet entertainment shrouded in reality — a place where truth is   much stranger than fiction.

However, the journey to the “WOW” moment   sometimes loses its footing and spends too much time adapting Bonnifield’s story into dramatizations. But it’s all purpose-driven. Regan almost overemphasizes adaptation to pay off the big reveal in literally the final scene. It’s the kind of payoff that makes moments that drag on the first viewing more enjoyable on the second or third.

Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. With  I Am DB Cooper , the destination is what makes the journey worth every minute. Fans of  The Imposter  or the DB Cooper mythos will find the film engaging, while newcomers to the story of skyway robbery will still have plenty to enjoy. The Black Keys-esque bluesy rock soundtrack adds a nice ring to the accounts of a stylish 1970s heist and only fuels the panache of Cooper’s legacy. While imperfect, the journey is enticing, and the final scene is well worth it.

I AM DB Cooper (2022)

Directed: T.J. Regan

Written: T.J. Regan, Sharmila Sahni

Starring: Rodney Bonnifield, Carlos Rocha, Rainee Blake, Trevor Butcher, Joshua Chessin-Yudin, Ryan Cory, Chris Grounds, etc.

Movie score: 7.5/10

"…a stylish and entertaining documentary..."

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The story of DB Cooper is so familiar it’s boring. Back in 1971, on a flight from Portland to Seattle, someone who called himself Cooper hijacked a plane, stole $200,000 and parachuted away. He has never been found, and coupled with how he was genial to the flight crew, he has become a folk hero. There are already multiple films about Cooper, including several documentaries, but that did not stop filmmaker TJ Regan from making I Am DB Cooper , which mixes docudrama and documentary to suggest one theory about the hijacker’s true identity. At least, that’s the generous way of looking at it. Another, more accurate way is that this film weaves documentary and fiction to tell a story that has no credibility from the start, and barely any entertainment value to boot.

The conceit of the film is that Rodney Lewis Bonnifield, a self-proclaimed outlaw who faces a prison sentence for stabbing someone, claims to be Cooper. He confesses this to a pair of bail bondsmen, who become convinced Bonnifield is telling the truth because it’s their profession to weed out liars, and there are enough details in his story that it MUST be true. Of course, anyone with basic critical thinking skills can tell that Bonnifield is full of it, and the bail bondsmen are utter morons. Bonnifield cannot keep his dates straight, for one thing, and his fantasy of the hijacking involves some bullshit about being cucked into having a death wish. Nonetheless, the bail bondsman think there’s enough credibility to the story that they go on a trip to a river where Bonnifield claims to have hidden some of the money. It will not surprise you to learn they do not find anything.

The interviews are not enough to sustain a film, so Regan flushes out the narrative with dramatized flashbacks of Bonnifield’s tall tales. Ryan Cory plays a younger Bonnifield and brings a kind of mania to the role, sort of like what we see from, say, Ike Barinholtz. Regan, who co-wrote these scenes with Sharmila Sahni, does not have much flair for dialogue or suspense. They amount to little more than you might expect from an Unsolved Mysteries episode, minus the camp. There is also little connection between Cory’s performance and Bonnifield himself, who seems like a depressed loon.

Late in I Am DB Cooper , Regan and the bail bondsman decide to do some basic factchecking. They talk to Bonnifield’s relative, who says the man is mentally ill and could not pull of the hijacking due to a childhood injury. This is the most credible thing in the film, and of course Regan waits until its final minutes to present it. He would rather lead us on a wild goose chase, following along two men who think arming themselves is the same thing as being tough, and who proudly display Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign signs in their office. The title cards read that Bonnifield is serving a four-year prison sentence for the aforementioned stabbing, and will recover the missing money upon his release. In the meantime, maybe Regan and the other saps can think about how Bonnifield, who was born in 1952 and would have to have been 19 at the time of the hijacking, could look nothing like Cooper, who by all accounts was in his 20s or early 30s.

Regan and the bail bondsman do not even bother asking Bonnifield for a photograph of him from the early ‘70s. Seriously.

Photo courtesy of Gravitas Ventures

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