‘Cocaine Bear’ Proves the 1980s Were a Hell of a Time to Be a Alive
A bear goes on a drug-fueled rampage through a national park in Cocaine Bear. The genuinely bonkers part: it’s inspired by a true story.
This may be the weirdest movie by Oscar and Emmy, winners of 2023. It’s inspired by an actual incident that took place. A little background: starting in the mid-1970s, Andrew Thornton II (a blue-blooded ex-narcotics-cop turned lawyer) built a network of criminal connections worldwide, moving arms and drugs. He got caught in 1981, ran, was arrested as a fugitive, and spent six months in prison. When he got out, he went right back to it.
In 1985 he was making a run from Columbia that included 75 pounds of cocaine in his personal plane when something went wrong. Thornton jumped from his aircraft and activated his parachute. He died somewhere between the plane and the ground and landed in someone’s yard in suburban Knoxville, Tennessee. He was found wearing night vision goggles, a bulletproof vest, and Gucci loafers and carrying $4500 in cash.
via Bluegrass Conspiracy
Of course, it doesn’t end with Thornton’s demise. The $15 million of cocaine he was carrying was still out there. It was found and consumed by a 175-pound black bear in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia three months later. There’s no information about how this binge affected the bear beyond suffering an overdose. The FBI found the bear’s body among 40 opened plastic containers with traces of cocaine. Poor bear.
You can see said (now taxidermied) bear at Kentucky for Kentucky in Lexington. They offer a wide variety of merch.
via Kentucky for Kentucky
Cocaine Bear Cast & Details
The movie takes some liberties with the story and explores what a bear on cocaine could/would do. This hopped-up Ursus americanus runs through the forest, taking out campers and hikers. Check out the first poster below. I’m not sure when we’ll get a movie trailer.
After a failed drug smuggling operation, a black bear ingests a large amount of cocaine and goes on a drug-fueled rampage.
The cast includes Keri Russell, Emmy winner Margo Martindale, Emmy winner Ray Liotta, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kristofer Hivju, Kahyun Kim, Christian Convery, Brooklynn Prince, and newcomer Scott Seiss. Oscar winners Phil Lord and Chris Miller are producers, and Elizabeth Banks directs the movie.
Cocaine Bear roars into theaters on February 24th.
