The Siege at Ruby Ridge

To my everlasting embarrassment as an American citizen, the stark injustice of the Ruby Ridge Incident somehow initially slipped by me. For some reason, it took the Waco Massacre to open my eyes and make me realize that our suddenly and scarily militarized police agencies--both federal and local--had but one enemy, and it was us. Although this progression has continued through the tragedy of 9/11, which just happened to give our legislators the perfect excuse to pass laws that shredded our inalienable Constitutional protections, a disappointingly small number of citizens seemed to have grasped what is going on.

That's why although the albeit imperfect "Siege of Ruby Ridge" is far from a great historical drama, it may well be an important one. If it smacks just a handful of still-clueless citizens over the head, it will be worth people's time.

I was actually surprised at how much this film got right. Certainly it was true that Vicki Weaver was the driving force behind the apocalyptic beliefs in the family. Despite his portrayal in the movie, Randy Weaver was far from a dim, subservient religious follower of Vicki, and he would not leave the major decisions regarding his family's fate to his traumatized young daughter. My main complaint would be the over-the-top portrayal of the Weaver family as obnoxious, bible-thumping, jackbooted Neo-NAZI wingnuts. Sharpening their tongues in preparation to lie about the Davidians and David Koresh, the national media did their best to simply repeat all federal agency statements that portrayed the Weavers as just the kind of neighborhood family that needs to be lined up and shot. The Weavers were far from the typical American family, but they were American citizens with the right to be left alone--a fact which the media conveniently chose to ignore.

There is a documentary film about this incident that centers on a grown-up and very appealing Rachael Weaver, along with commentary from the still irascible Randy, called "Legend of Ruby Ridge." Hearing Rachael fondly reminisce about her childhood on that mountain (which she now owns), makes the movie version seem downright ludicrous.

RUBY RIDGE: AN American TRAGEDY

A CBS Television Mini-Series

Sunday 19 May and Tuesday 21 May, 1996

The movie Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy is perhaps the most accessible summary of this case but it is not perfect: but, any attempt to present the events spread over a 1983-1992 time frame is going to be inadequate.

The Weavers were far from perfect people, but the reaction to the Weavers by federal law enforcement snowballed into an out-of-control situation that reflected badly on every agency involved.

Randall Weaver was caught up in a BATF investigation of his buddy, Frank Kumnick ("Tony Vickers" in the movie). After four years of BATF informant Gus Magisono presenting himself as a gun runner for a biker gang, Weaver agreed to make two illegal weapons in October of 1989.

In November 1989, BATF Agent handler Herb Byerly ("Burt Yeager") decided Kumnick was all talk and Weaver was just a hanger on. Byerly and Magisono intended to use Weaver to introduce Magisono to Chuck Howarth, move their investigation to Montana and drop Kumnick and Weaver. FBI informant Rico Valentino warned Weaver to avoid BATF informant Magisono. (Can we spell Turf War?) When Magisono asked Weaver to take him to meet Howarth, Weaver told Magisono people were saying he was a snitch and Weaver was not taking him anywhere. Byerly instructed Magisono to have no further contact with Weaver.

In June 1990, at a motel restaurant near town, Byerly and Gunderson approached Weaver with a deal to go undercover or go to jail. Weaver flipped Byerly's card in his face and told him where to go. Byerly filed an exaggerated report against Weaver alleging Weaver was a suspected bank robber. Beyerly had run a background check before approaching Weaver and knew Weaver did not have a police record.

Weaver was arrested and released with a 19 January 1991 court date. Pre-trial services sent Weaver a notice the hearing was moved to 20 March. The new date was actually 20 February; a fugitive warrant was issued when Weaver missed the hearing. Then a grand jury indictment was issued on 14 March before Weaver had a chance to appear in court on 20 March. This is complicated and is glossed over in the movie.

Marshal David Hunt ("Brian Jackson") was caught between a rock (US Attorney Ron Howen ("Matthew Duncan")) and a hard place (Vicki Weaver). The movie shows some of Hunt's problems, but does not explore the tangled obstacles raised by Howen.

In October 1991, Hunt was informed by the local FBI that both the BATF and the US Attorney's Office had exaggerated Weaver's connections to the white supremacists. Hunt developed a surrender deal that needed the signature of Ron Howen: Howen refused the deal insisting on unconditional surrender. Vicki refused to let Randy surrender without a written guarantee that she would keep custody of their kids.

Then the Weaver case was picked up by the Spokane newspaper and repeated by Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and others. This pressured the US Marshal Service HQ to start Operation: Northern Exposure.

The first half of the TV movie ends as the Weaver men are about to encounter three surveillance marshals in the forest at a fork in the trail called the "Y". The shooting at the "Y", the Ruby Ridge Siege, the Ruby Creek Vigil and Protest, and the Weaver-Harris Trial occupy the last half of the movie. At this point in real life, the Frank Kumnick ("Tony Vickers") character is out of the picture, and Weaver's buddy Bill Grider and wife Judy are represented by the movie characters "Tony Vickers" and his wife "Janice" which is why "Janice" pops up out of nowhere in the last half. Artistic license.

The shoot-out at the "Y" in the second half is a lot easier to follow in the movie than the real life incident: the real "Y" was in a dense Northwest rain forest; the reel "Y" is in California pine woods. As US Marshal Larry Cooper testified at the trial, there were so many things compressed into ninety seconds, it was hard to remember what happened first. Sammy Weaver, his dog Striker and US Marshal Bill Deagan ("Danny Barnett") were dead by the time the fateful fourteen shots were fired.

The reports by Dave Hunt ("Brian Jackson") to US Marshal Service Crisis Center got garbled by the time the info was passed by USMS HQ to FBI HQ to the FBI Hostage Rescue Team. The HRT Commander believed the gunfire lasted all afternoon into the night. Hunt's reports in the Crisis Center Log recorded several times that the last gunshots were heard at 11:15 am that morning. The FBI unfairly blamed the Idaho marshals for the miscommunication when it was a HQ USMS and FBI problem.

To sum up within 1000 words, Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy is not a documentary but is a fair but flawed summation of the case. The movie does not candycoat either the Weavers or the government. If anything, it paints everyone dirty.

Except for the Weavers, Kevin Harris, Bo Gritz, Gerry Spence and Paul Harvey, all the other character names are fictitious including Vicki's family.

Reel names (real names): USMS Ross Jones (Duke Smith), FBI HRT Cmdr Earl Martens (Dick Rogers), FBI Richard Atwood (Danny Coulson), FBI SAC Doug Wilkes (Eugene Glenn), FBI Dwight Stanfield (Fred Lanceley), Roy and Eve Marks (Wayne and Ruth not-Marks), FBI Ken Yamasaki (Lon Horiuchi), Judge Andrew Stratton (Judge Edward Lodge),

First, the physical setting of this movie was inaccurate. The movie was filmed hundreds of miles from the actual location (with our dense forests and tall, green trees being replaced by a few scrubby bushes).

Secondly, both the chronology and the portrayal of "actual" events were faulty. Weaver did not move directly from Iowa to "Ruby Ridge." He and his family lived in different areas of the community for quite some time prior to his moving to "Ruby Ridge" and into disfavor with the government--in which time he even ran for Sheriff. Please note that contrary to most reports he never lived on Ruby Ridge, but on the adjacent Caribou Ridge.

Finally, the fair acting could not compensate for the inaccurate script. I might have found the story quite interesting if I hadn't had any prior knowledge. Unfortunately, though, the characters in the movie had little to nothing in common with and the actual people involved in this tragic event.

I don't normally express my views or opinions about fact based movies, but the subject matter of this particular film "The Siege at Ruby Ridge" moved me. Having not paid attention to the events of Ruby Ridge at the time, to my shame, I was curious enough on a Sunday afternoon to watch the movie. At the end of the film I was convinced that either the writers and producers were overly biased towards the Weaver family and were attempting to stir up the general population with their interpretation of the siege, or, and more disturbing, the movie was a true representation. After a few hours of research I was able to conclude that the scenes accurately portrayed events with a minimal amount of poetic license. The actors were emotional and convincing and I grieved with them.

I count myself as among the conservative, (mostly) sheltered, white collar Americans, comfortable in the daily concept of living in a free democracy, protected by our constitution, and generally content with life. A highly emotional, fact based movie like this is powerful enough in it's content to shatter that illusion. And while I choose to believe that the events outlined in the movie were the sad tragic results of a huge (but hopefully unintentional) error in judgment by an imperfect government, the concern that it might not have been...lingers.....

A faithful adaptation of the excellent book, "Every Knee Shall Bow", which documented the tragedy of the Ruby Ridge incident. The first half of the movie introduces the Weaver family and friends and sets the scene for the dramatic, heartbreaking confrontation in the second half. Halfway through, one is made to feel glad the Weavers are not your neighbor. But by the end one is overwhelmed by the murderous injustice the Weavers suffer at the hands of the Federal Government. Excellent acting helps portray the Weavers as real human beings with faults and virtues instead of as devil or martyr cardboard cutouts.

The Ruby Ridge incident went largely unnoticed by the American Public until the exact same team of FBI agents were involved in the burndown of Waco a mere eight months later. This film does an excellent job of introducing the complex situation at Ruby Ridge to anyone who is still unaware of what happened there.