The Mystery of D.B. Cooper

Written and directed by John Dower
Featuring Peter Caulfield, Hannah Pauley and Marla Cooper
Running time: 1 hour and 25 minutes

by Emily Maesar

“It’s an endless loop - it just sucks people in.”

There is only one unsolved plane hijacking in American history: D.B. Cooper. Set to air on HBO 49 years, almost to the day, after the November 24th, 1971 anniversary, documentarian John Dower is out to make compelling arguments for who the man might have been in The Mystery of D.B. Cooper. 

At the top of this, I want to say that one of the four suspects that Dower presents is a trans woman who is often misgendered by the people who are presenting her as an option. It doesn’t feel like it’s done with any ill will, but I’m cis and can’t speak for a community I don’t belong to. I wanted to mention it because it feels like it could, regardless of intention, be a harmful aspect of the story, and I want everyone to be aware before they jump into this one. 

The Mystery of D.B. Cooper is told in the grand tradition of unsolved cases, and it works to a degree. There are two elements that come together to tell the story: the facts and the suspects. Using interviews and reenactments, Dower tells the actual story of what happened on that plane as it flew out of Portland, Oregon. He talks to one of the pilots in the cockpit, the stewardess who sat next to Cooper and one of the passengers who was on the flight. 

The documentary also takes a look at four possible suspects, interviewing family members and friends who submit their own evidence as to why they believe D.B. Cooper was among them. All four suspects presented have the base of a compelling argument, though I would argue that some are certainly stronger than others. I’m still not sure I’m leaning one way or another, in all honesty. 

The Mystery of D.B. Cooper reminds me of the slew of documentaries about the Zodiac Killer, one of the other great unsolved cases in history, where a similar style was often evoked. Present the case and then give some interesting people some screen time to discuss why they’re 100% sure they knew who it was. It’s a strong way to frame these kinds of stories - the ones without answers. 

Now, here’s a thing: I only know about D.B. Cooper because of Mad Men. Leading up to the final season of the show, a lot of speculation surrounded what would happen to the show’s lead, Don Draper. He was a man of mystery, and changing identities was already part of his character from minute one. So, many fans believed that since the timeline was nearly right, and Don was who he was, that it was entirely possible that he might end the show pulling off one of the great unsolved mysteries, only to disappear into the night. 

That didn’t end up being the case. Instead, the show ends with the iconic Coke ad which aired only four months before D.B. Cooper stepped off a plane and parachuted into the Washington wilderness with $200,000. I mention Mad Men because, for a lot of people who are within my age bracket, give or take five years on either side, the speculation about Don Draper’s fate was the first time they’d ever heard Cooper’s name. It’s not that Cooper doesn’t come up in popular culture, though. I think that because the crime wasn’t violent in any particular way, Cooper’s name and likeness tends to come up in procedural television shows about crime, or as a sort of modern pirate treasure hunt (see 2004’s Without a Paddle for a baffling example of the latter).  

The unfortunate thing when doing a documentary about an unsolved mystery is that, at the end of the runtime, it remains unsolved. Not always, but not every amature investigation can lead to the conviction of the Golden State Killer. It tends to be more Zodiac, in that way. Never a real answer, but tons of speculation. 

I think that The Mystery of D.B. Cooper is a well-made, interesting attempt to explain questions with no clear answers. While I think that Dower would have loved to figure out who Cooper actually was, he finds a way to make the film more about the why. Not why Cooper hijacked the plane, but why people are still so obsessed with it. Why is he making a documentary? Why are all these people convinced that they know the person who did it? Why does this story, among so many other unsolved mysteries, keep coming up over and over in the fifty years since it happened?

I think that's the biggest question posed by the film: why do we still care about D.B. Cooper? Well, I think John Dower has some compelling reasons why. 

The Mystery of D.B. Cooper debuts today at 9pm eastern on HBO.

Read more from the MJ Gang in the Fall 2020 PRINT issue - available now here for purchase!