The Kennedy Assassination, as Filmed From Different Angles
Today, November 22, marks the 45th anniversary of the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. That the tragedy in Dallas' Dealey Plaza would go on to inspire an entire subcategory of film is perhaps not much of a surprise -- especially when you consider the quantity of footage and stills that survive from photographers and witnesses who followed the motorcade, not to mention the most famous of them all, Abraham Zapruder's 8mm home video.
Although countless TV specials and documentaries have explored the events leading up to that world-altering moment -- and plenty of movies hinge on other political conspiracies (Vantage Point, The Parallax View) -- only four feature films have incorporated the actual incident into their storyline. Each of these movies unfolds the mystery from a different angle, and each brings something different to how we think about a crime that still shakes us.
JFK (1991): Oliver Stone's depiction is probably the best known of the bunch. Told from the point of view of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner), JFK focuses on his investigation into perceived inaccuracies in the Warren Report -- and the ensuing prosecution of businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones). The movie raised a ruckus -- even while it was still filming -- and led to 1992's Assassination Records Collection Act, which compiled evidence related to the assassination for public examination.
Executive Action (1973): Here the story is told from the conspirators' point of view, including Burt Lancaster as a black ops specialist. This time, it's a cabal of industrial, political and intelligence leaders behind the assassination. The first movie to present an alternative to the Warren Report, it reopened the debate as to exactly what happened on the grassy knoll -- and fed the public's fascination with it.
Ruby (1992): Starring Danny Aiello, Ruby focuses on Jack Ruby, the man who shot Kennedy assassin Lee Harvy Oswald. More fiction than fact, this movie depicts Ruby as a man who was motivated to act in order to expose a Mob and CIA conspiracy.
In the Line of Fire
(1993): While not precisely about the assassination, Clint Eastwood's
Secret Service agent character, Frank Horrigan, is introduced as the
only still-active member of the security detail on duty in Dallas that
fateful day. His residual feelings of helplessness are in part
what drives him to stop another would-be assassin (John Malkovich).
You can decide for yourself what's fact and what's fiction -- or share your own theories below.
45 years is a long time. President Kennedy was 46 when he was murdered. Add 46 and 45.
I get anxious when I view a movie like Stone's 'JFK.'
A good yarn - but the physical and historical records do not support the movie theme at all.
I can look at the 'Godfather' as a movie - and I think it is wonderful. But I can be distressed that people think - to this day- that people think this is a true chronicle of power and crime in the US in the 20th century.
If you believe movies - one could think that Bonnie and Clyde were heroes not cold-blooded murderers, which they were.
Confusing creative play - such as the film JFK does - or to transmute the willful murder of John Kennedy by Oswald to a story of conspiracy among the agents and agencies of the US or USSR or Cuban governments all the way up to Lyndon Johnson does not serve art or history.
It is just another awful tragedy.
In future- AMC - run the movie - but don't run the movie on the date-occasions - November 22 anytime.
Respectfully,
MB