Titusville man recounts life with Barry Seal, played by Tom Cruise in 'American Made'

• "American Made," starring Tom Cruise, is out in theaters Sept. 29
• The film is set in the 1980s and is based on the true-life tale of Barry Seal (Cruise)
• In the film, Seal is an "incorrigible rule breaker" recruited by the CIA
• Joe Hurston isn't sure how Barry Seal will be portrayed in Tom Cruise film, but he's excited to see it

Barry Seal was gunned down Feb. 19, 1986, in Baton Rouge, La., by two Colombian assassins hired by the powerful and infamous Medellín drug cartel.

Titusville pilot and missionary Joe Hurston, a confidant and, for lack of a better description, spiritual adviser to Seal, had understood for awhile that the end was coming soon for his friend. So did Seal, telling Hurston the night before his murder that he more or less “was a clay pigeon” because of his betrayal of the cartel. It was a violent Hollywood ending for a man whose life read like a Hollywood script.

“Barry Seal was bigger than life,” said Hurston, who met the then 25-year-old Seal at a Baton Rouge airport as a 14-year-old from a broken home. “He was just a legend.”

He also has been a Hollywood and culture favorite, his exploits popping up in different movies and books that chronicle that era of the 1970s and 1980s. The late Dennis Hopper portrayed him in a 1991 movie called “Doublecrossed.” He comes up again in the Netflix mini-series “Narcos.” His name gets into the conspiratorial tinfoil-hatted ether of the John F. Kennedy assassination and President Clinton’s alleged involvement in drug running out of Mena, Arkansas.

Hurston devotes several pages to Seal in his autobiography “Run to the Roar,” recounting how he had come to crossroads early in his life and had to choose between Seal and Jesus. Hurston chose the latter.

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Seal was a dashing pilot who traveled the world, working for Trans World Airlines, the CIA, DEA and, in the end, some of the world’s nastiest drug lords. His escapades ranged from the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba, to running weapons for various shadowy groups run by questionable regimes and finally smuggling cocaine for the likes of Pablo Escobar. He was a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal that brought down Col. Oliver North and tainted the reputation of former President George H.W. Bush.

Seal’s latest Tinstletown portrayal is by Tom Cruise in the soon-to-be-released movie “American Made.”

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Hurston, who preached at Seal’s funeral, had an up-close-and-personal view of Seal for most of his life. Seal taught Hurston to fly as a teenager long before the latter obtained his pilot’s license. He put Hurston to work, sending him on harrowing missions both on the ground and in the air, sometimes working more than 48 hours straight. He bought Hurston a new 650 Triumph motorcycle when he was 14 so he could work as a courier, often traveling 600 miles round trip to deliver packages in the early hours of the morning.

After the Triumph came a Chevy El Camino. The year after that it was a Plymouth Barracuda.

Some of Hurston’s tasks for Seal involved surveillance. Some delivering secretive documents. Never drugs. Hurston had quit working for Seal and found religion long before that chapter in Seal’s life began. But the two remained close throughout. Hurston wanted his friend to find God. He begged him. Instead Seal wanted adventure and excitement and the financial rewards that come with that type of lifestyle.

“Boy, he told me some stories,” Hurston said, shaking his head at some of the hair-raising things he heard.

Hurston isn’t sure how Seal will be portrayed in the Tom Cruise movie. His guess is there will be elements of truth in the movie, but it will be impossible to grasp Seal’s incredible persona and life in a two-hour movie.

“I’m excited to see it,” Hurston said.

By now, Seal’s exploits of working for the CIA, DEA and smuggling billions of dollars worth of cocaine, marijuana and weapons are well documented.

Seal took his first solo at 15 and gained his pilot’s license a year later. He served in the Louisiana Army National Guard and Army Reserve before joining TWA in 1968 as a flight engineer and becoming one of the youngest command pilots in the airline’s fleet.

Hurston lived across the street from the Baton Rouge airport, where Seal based his aviation sign business and became fascinated with airplanes, flying and also with Seal. Hurston’s father, a World War II veteran with a history of mental problems – probably post-traumatic stress – didn’t play much of a role in his life, and Seal became a mentor and big brother figure. It wasn’t long after that Hurston would be up in one of Seal’s three airplanes, eventually taking the controls even though he didn’t yet have a pilot’s license.

Hurston’s mother, while charmed by Seal like most everyone else, didn’t like her son’s involvement with him. Her son was supposed to be studying, playing sports and going to dances. Not working as a pilot and courier.

“My mother said he stole my childhood from me,” he said. “I think I was naive enough, and crazy enough, to do anything he asked me to do. And he asked me to do some very extraordinary things.”

Fortunately for Hurston, he also had another major influence in his life, Joe Polozola, a Baton Rouge classmate who now lives in Orlando. At the same time Hurston was working for Seal, Polozola was teaching him about the Bible and Jesus.

Slowly but surely, Polozola’s role became greater in Hurston’s life and it happened around a key moment. In 1972, Seal had been training Hurston for months to take part in a secret mission that involved transporting explosives in a DC-4 to Mexico, which was then going to be used in attempt to overthrow the Castro regime in Cuba. Hurston backed out the night before.

“I just had this gut feeling that something was wrong,” Hurston said, adding Seal was livid with his decision.

“I put my life on the line when I backed out of that deal,” Hurston said.

Sure enough, the mission was foiled and Seal was arrested for conspiracy to smuggle explosives. Seal lost his job with TWA and it wasn’t long after that he began his drug-smuggling career. Seal and Hurston, who went on to become a businessman and missionary, eventually reconciled and remained close. Hurston said he kept at Seal about accepting Jesus but couldn’t get through to Seal on that level.

Hurston eventually began using his piloting skills to deliver aid and water purification systems to remote and dangerous locales around the globe, usually after a natural disaster, through his air missionary called Air Mobile Ministries. He will go to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic to deliver aid and help victims of Hurricane Maria. Sometimes it’s white-knuckling piloting with skills he learned from his time with Seal.

Maybe that was God’s ultimate plan with he and Seal, Hurston said.

And Hurston likes to think his message about God and Jesus got through to Seal.

When a judge assigned Seal to a Salvation Army halfway house in Baton Rouge for attempting to smuggle Quaaludes into Fort Lauderdale, Seal and Hurston talked about what was likely going to be a violent end for Seal. Hurston told him to always look for Jesus.

A witness said when Seal was shot outside the halfway house, he looked to his right and left and then buried his head into the steering wheel of his white Cadillac. Hurston said he hopes, and believes, Seal was looking to Jesus at that moment.

Price is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Price at 321-242-3658

or wprice@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @Fla2dayBiz

The movie

"American Made," starring Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson and Sarah Wright, will be released in theaters Sept. 29. Usually Cruise and the friendly skies make for a great combo, though director Doug Liman initially approached the icon “because I thought he might enjoy doing something that had planes in common with Top Gun and nothing else,” the director says. Set in the 1980s, American Made is based on the true-life tale of Barry Seal (Cruise), a former TWA pilot and “incorrigible rule breaker” who was recruited by the CIA for some questionable dealings in Central America and ultimately became a drug smuggler for the Medellin Cartel. “It’s a really fun story about an outrageous character doing outrageous things with airplanes in an era where those things were still possible,” Liman says. “I’m drawn to characters who are antiheroes, and I know I’ve done my job when the audience uses nothing but the most horrendous adjectives to describe Barry Seal and then talk about how much they love him.” — USA TODAY

The book

Joe Hurston's book, "Run to the Roar: Stories About Facing Tough Challenges Head-On," is available at  Amazon.

Here's the summary: What do you do when facing lions on a spiritual safari? Veteran missionary pilot Joe Hurston uses a lion’s characteristics to teach life changing spiritual principles while demonstrating the leadership principles of perseverance and confidence in the face of difficulty to fulfill God’s plan for your life.

This thought-provoking book will show you how to:

• Run to the roar, or your problem, and not turn and run away.

• Keep pride and bullies from stopping you.

• Pick carefully the snarling feline you need to confront.

• Prevent giving up your territorial rights.

• Be on the prowl on the path of God’s plan.

• Guard against being devoured by the lion.

A successful businessman, Hurston supports each principle with anecdotal you-can-do-it stories from his life experiences on the mission field. His accounts, including many years of work in Haiti and his more recent relief outreach to victims of the tsunami in Asia, are exciting and encouraging. Combining an entrepreneur’s passion with a Christian heart, this book is an adventure lesson tool for developing strong leadership skills.