“American Sniper,” the movie, is a box office phenomenon, having earned $281 million so far domestically since its Christmas Day release and been nominated for six Academy Awards.
But the life of Chris Kyle, the man who was the “American Sniper,” is a more complex storyline, and one without a Hollywood ending.
Kyle, a Navy SEAL who was the most successful sniper in U.S. military history, was killed in 2013 at a gun range in Erath County, in Central Texas.
The trial of his accused killer, Eddie Ray Routh, is scheduled to begin Wednesday in Stephenville, the county seat, 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
It brings renewed attention to the man and the movie. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared Feb. 2, the two-year anniversary of his death, Chris Kyle Day.
“Kyle is one of the legions of valiant warriors who made the ultimate commitment to our country: They put their lives on the line for a cause greater than themselves,” said Abbott.
Kyle and a friend, who was also killed, were trying to help Routh, a fellow Iraq War veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder. Kyle, played by Bradley Cooper in the film, was also dealing with adjusting to civilian life after four tours of combat.
In his book, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,” Kyle comes across as heroic, a sniper with 160 verified “kills.” But he also appears to have embellished some of his experiences from when he was home between tours.
In a case that went to trial, Jesse Ventura, the former Minnesota governor and pro wrestler, sued Kyle for libel over a description of a bar fight in the book that Ventura said never happened. After Kyle’s death, the suit continued (he had already given a video deposition) against his estate, and Ventura won a $1.8 million judgment. Kyle’s widow is appealing the defamation finding.
Ventura, also a former SEAL, recently gave the Associated Press his view of Kyle. “A hero must be honorable, must have honor. And you can’t have honor if you’re a liar. There is no honor in lying,” said Ventura, who said he did not plan on seeing the movie.
Kyle has told two other stories that are coming under scrutiny. In one, Kyle said he was in Cleburne, Texas, also in the central part of the state, filling up his truck at a gas station in 2009 when two gunmen tried to carjack it.
“Very calmly and coolly, he sized up which of the men was handling his pistol more comfortably,” wrote former SEAL Marcus Luttrell in his book, “Service: A Navy SEAL at Work.” “He put his hands up and told them he was going to reach into the truck to get his keys. Then his hand went under his coat.”
“From a waistband holster, he pulled his Colt 1911,” wrote Luttrell, a Kyle friend. “Swinging the pistol under his left armpit, he gave each robber two .45 caliber Hydra-Shock hollow-points to the chest.”
The problem with this account is that there is no corroboration that it ever happened. According to Kelly Summey, the spokesperson for the Cleburne Police Dept., the quiet town of about 30,000 has maybe one homicide a year.
“We have no record of anything like that happening in Cleburne,” she said of the purported double homicide. “If it had happened, I’d know about it.”
In what critics say is another tall tale, Kyle is quoted in various publications as saying that after Hurricane Katrina, the government sent him to New Orleans where from the Superdome roof he picked off 30 looters, killing them. The New Yorker was unable to verify the story and the Times-Picayune of New Orleans declared it “preposterous.”
Do these stories, which aren’t in the movie, affect Kyle’s reputation, especially if they’re not as widely known as the film?
“It used to be that nagging questions made it harder to keep your hero status,” said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. “The culture has changed.”
With figures like Tony Soprano of the hit mafia show “The Sopranos,” he said, the public does not look for purity. But in the public mind, Kyle still stands tall, despite the unverified reports.
“They raise questions about one part of the guy’s integrity,” said Thomas Doherty, professor of American Studies at Brandeis University. “His combat exploits are checked and verified.”
“I don’t think it’s going to blemish this guy’s reputation in the eyes of America,” he said.
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