I have lived in Dallas all my life and have studied the Kennedy assassination in great detail, including watching just about every theatrical film and documentary concerning the event. I looked forward to this movie to see if there was anything they could add to my knowledge, and since I haven't read the Vincent Bugliosi book on which the film is based, I was optimistic. Having just finished it, I find myself wondering why they bothered doing this in the first place.
First, points for acting, and points for authentic sets, vehicles, etc. Massive reduced points for filming it in Austin when Dallas is four hours up the road. Small points for not making the Dallas citizens and law enforcement officers into chaw spittin' stereotypes. Giamatti is good, and everybody does just fine with the material they are given. Its just that nobody is given much to do.
If there can be such a thing as a spoiler for this movie, I guess I should warn you of that now. I can't reveal the end where the actual killer is revealed because history hasn't made up its mind yet.
There is absolutely nothing in this movie that was new news to me. I learned nothing. For students of the assassination, this is a dry hole. You don't actually even see any of the events reenacted...not Kennedy, Tippet, or Oswald. There are no statements or actions that could support or contradict any of the conflicting opinions as to what really happened. With the exception of the Parkland parking lot, the action mainly takes place in a series of small rooms.
So rather than concentrate on the crime or the actions of law enforcement to solve it, here is what we get: Oswald's mother (nuts) and brother (sad and stoic, with a small undercurrent of rage). Neither of them really have anything to do with the event. We get to see some angst among the Secret Service and FBI. We get to see the assassination not through Abraham Zapruder's camera, but from the vantage point of a camera filming him while he is filming the assassination. Big drama fails to erupt as he gets it developed, has to go somewhere else to get some copies made, and then sells the original to Life, who has to promise not to publish the frame with the head shot.
And how about the doctors at Parkland? There are two...one wakes up and has to work on Kennedy, the other is called out of a meeting. After a few minutes of basic CPR, they are covered in blood and JFK is dead. If anything, this one scene might do a good job of shutting down those who complained that the doctors and medical examiner should have done more...turned him over...examined him more closely. It goes by in a blur and once its over they are too stunned to move.
One of the events depicted that some people might not know is the physical struggle between the Secret Service (who wanted to remove JFK (illegally) from the hospital) and the Dallas ME and Dallas cops who, rightfully, tried to stop them, but ultimately failed.
Oh, and the Secret Service had to remove two rows of seats on Air Force One to accommodate the coffin. And it looked heavy. And the press had to serve as pallbearers at LHO's funeral because nobody else was available. Oh, and 8mm film is actually 16mm film cut in half. That's about it.
Watching this film is like watching a football game on TV, but the cameramen and announcers are covering the bench warmers, the beer guys, and the officials. Was there a hue and cry for these ancillary characters to have their stories told? No? Okay, I guess that explains why the thing cost 10 million bucks to shoot and didn't even make a million at the box office.
If you REALLY want to know anything about the JFK Assassination, look to some of the fine documentaries that have been made about the subject, first and foremost, Portrait of an Assassination, the fine documentary about the journey the Zapruder film took, as well as a dozen enhanced versions of it that you have never seen before, shown in restored, digital clarity.
History Channel's Unsolved History: Death in Dealy Plaza explores all of the other camera and film footage shot that day. And I can't remember the name, but there was a GREAT special done by ABC, narrated by Peter Jennings, where they created a digital model of Dealy plaza so that you were able to reenact the assassination from any camera angle...proving, according to them...that the "magic bullet" was far from magic and that its path was actually plausible.
And if you want to walk on the wild side and explore the conspiracies, Oliver Stone's JFK is a great place to start, as is the series The Men Who Killed Kennedy. (Warning...LOTS of factual errors and leaps of logic) Some of the theories get pretty wacky, but even the conservative ones, presented in monotone by a professor type is twice as interesting and informative as Parkland.
So you learn nothing about the event, you learn more than you probably wanted to know about the characters on the sidelines, and you get to see some very upset people in small rooms, some covered in blood.
It almost works as a kinda "you were there" documentary, except the events you get to see seem like they were decided on in a committee meeting run by the Warren Commission. Like a report on something where all the interesting stuff is blacked out.
And they filmed it in AUSTIN, for the love of God...come ON...
First, points for acting, and points for authentic sets, vehicles, etc. Massive reduced points for filming it in Austin when Dallas is four hours up the road. Small points for not making the Dallas citizens and law enforcement officers into chaw spittin' stereotypes. Giamatti is good, and everybody does just fine with the material they are given. Its just that nobody is given much to do.
If there can be such a thing as a spoiler for this movie, I guess I should warn you of that now. I can't reveal the end where the actual killer is revealed because history hasn't made up its mind yet.
There is absolutely nothing in this movie that was new news to me. I learned nothing. For students of the assassination, this is a dry hole. You don't actually even see any of the events reenacted...not Kennedy, Tippet, or Oswald. There are no statements or actions that could support or contradict any of the conflicting opinions as to what really happened. With the exception of the Parkland parking lot, the action mainly takes place in a series of small rooms.
So rather than concentrate on the crime or the actions of law enforcement to solve it, here is what we get: Oswald's mother (nuts) and brother (sad and stoic, with a small undercurrent of rage). Neither of them really have anything to do with the event. We get to see some angst among the Secret Service and FBI. We get to see the assassination not through Abraham Zapruder's camera, but from the vantage point of a camera filming him while he is filming the assassination. Big drama fails to erupt as he gets it developed, has to go somewhere else to get some copies made, and then sells the original to Life, who has to promise not to publish the frame with the head shot.
And how about the doctors at Parkland? There are two...one wakes up and has to work on Kennedy, the other is called out of a meeting. After a few minutes of basic CPR, they are covered in blood and JFK is dead. If anything, this one scene might do a good job of shutting down those who complained that the doctors and medical examiner should have done more...turned him over...examined him more closely. It goes by in a blur and once its over they are too stunned to move.
One of the events depicted that some people might not know is the physical struggle between the Secret Service (who wanted to remove JFK (illegally) from the hospital) and the Dallas ME and Dallas cops who, rightfully, tried to stop them, but ultimately failed.
Oh, and the Secret Service had to remove two rows of seats on Air Force One to accommodate the coffin. And it looked heavy. And the press had to serve as pallbearers at LHO's funeral because nobody else was available. Oh, and 8mm film is actually 16mm film cut in half. That's about it.
Watching this film is like watching a football game on TV, but the cameramen and announcers are covering the bench warmers, the beer guys, and the officials. Was there a hue and cry for these ancillary characters to have their stories told? No? Okay, I guess that explains why the thing cost 10 million bucks to shoot and didn't even make a million at the box office.
If you REALLY want to know anything about the JFK Assassination, look to some of the fine documentaries that have been made about the subject, first and foremost, Portrait of an Assassination, the fine documentary about the journey the Zapruder film took, as well as a dozen enhanced versions of it that you have never seen before, shown in restored, digital clarity.
History Channel's Unsolved History: Death in Dealy Plaza explores all of the other camera and film footage shot that day. And I can't remember the name, but there was a GREAT special done by ABC, narrated by Peter Jennings, where they created a digital model of Dealy plaza so that you were able to reenact the assassination from any camera angle...proving, according to them...that the "magic bullet" was far from magic and that its path was actually plausible.
And if you want to walk on the wild side and explore the conspiracies, Oliver Stone's JFK is a great place to start, as is the series The Men Who Killed Kennedy. (Warning...LOTS of factual errors and leaps of logic) Some of the theories get pretty wacky, but even the conservative ones, presented in monotone by a professor type is twice as interesting and informative as Parkland.
So you learn nothing about the event, you learn more than you probably wanted to know about the characters on the sidelines, and you get to see some very upset people in small rooms, some covered in blood.
It almost works as a kinda "you were there" documentary, except the events you get to see seem like they were decided on in a committee meeting run by the Warren Commission. Like a report on something where all the interesting stuff is blacked out.
And they filmed it in AUSTIN, for the love of God...come ON...