South Hills Native, Hollywood Filmmaker Screening Documentary This Weekend

Marijuana isn’t something people normally talk about around the dining room table, Sean Crowell said. At least, not in his family.

And yet, he heard some interesting stories murmured through the years about two of his uncles and their involvement in something … questionable. When he became a film producer, the Dormont native decided to take those stories to the screen.

Crowell’s documentary, “Grounded,” is an official selection to thePittsburgh Independent Film Festival. The film follows the story of his uncles, Terry and Jimmy Dougherty, who spent much of the 1970s smuggling marijuana from Columbia to the United States.

“Grounded” is screening this Friday, June 14 at the Father Ryan Arts Center in McKees Rocks. Tickets can be purchased through the “Grounded” movie website.

“This was something I always wanted to do,” Crowell said. “I did a broad range of film work and I enjoy the story-telling aspect of things, too. Some of my favorite projects are the ones where you can ask ‘What’s the story you want to tell?’”

Crowell, who attended Seton LaSalle High School, joined the production crew of “Unsolved Mysteries” (1987-present) after graduating from the University of West Georgia.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1993, and has worked as a Key Grip on numerous projects, including the television show “Scrubs,”(2001-2009) and films “The Hangover” trilogy (2009-2013) and “I Love You Man” (2009). He directed a documentary about the bicycling culture in Los Angeles, and then wanted to take on a more challenging project.

“I’m very close to my uncles, but it’s not one of those things where you ask about the drugs at Thanksgiving dinner,” he said. “You’d hear things. You’d be in a group of their peers and hear something intriguing, but no one ever had the whole story.”

Crowell said the Dougherty brothers’ story is fascinating because it’s essentially a great adventure story where no one gets hurt.

The market for marijuana smuggling in the 1970s was different from other drug markets. Cocaine and heroin were flashy drugs that people were willing to die for, and Hollywood films like “Blow”(2001) and “American Gangster” (2007) capture the celebrity of the smugglers and their lavish lifestyles.

But marijuana was different, Crowell said. Marijuana smugglers were “chill.”

“It was actually a really big industry at one point, but it was all really kind of peaceful,” he said. “Marijuana didn’t carry the karma of other drugs, so they didn’t really feel like they were doing anything wrong.  One of my uncles said, ‘They’ll kill you over a plane loaded with cocaine, but no one will kill you over a plane full of pot.”

The brothers, originally from Pleasant Hills, started smuggling marijuana while living in Florida in the 1970s. Terry’s skills as a pilot were in high demand—he could fly low enough on the water to remain undetected by radar.

The job lasted a little more than 10 years, and to find out how it ended, Crowell said, you have to see the film.

The documentary includes re-enactments, as well as interviews with the Dougherty brothers, and narcotics agents from the FBI and DEA who worked on the case.

Crowell said whether or not viewers believe marijuana is a problem, the film is an exciting account of a real-life event that—for better or worse—helped shape a culture.

“I’m super ecstatic that it was chosen for this, first because you’re always happy when someone likes your work, but also, in this case, because Pittsburgh is my hometown,” he said. “It’s really neat to bring it here.”

“Grounded” will be shown Friday, June 14 at 7:30 p.m. at theFather Ryan Arts Center in McKees Rocks. Click here to purchase tickets. A question-and-answer session will be held after the film.