I thought its time to continue my little selection of movies to critique and look at, and this time I chose rather appropriately on as its nearing the anniversary of the JFK assassination (on 22 November) so I'm going to have a look at Oliver Stone's acclaimed epic drama JFK. JFK is a dramatisation of the events that surrounded John F. Kennedy's assassination that took place on 22 November 1963 in Dallas, Texas and the aftermath of its investigation. So here's a bit more about the storyline of the film:
On the day of the assassination, in New Orleans, District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is informed by one of his staff Lou Barnes (Jay Sanders). After Kennedy's death is announced officially on television, the suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) is arrested and taken to the station for questioning. Garrison then plans to investigate any suspects and associates of Lee Harvey Oswald's that might be under his jurisdiction in New Orleans, however before he can do that, Oswald is assassinated live on TV by Dallas mob man Jack Ruby (Brian Doyle Murray). Regardless of Oswald's shock assassination, Garrison brings in one of Oswald's alleged known associates, David Ferrie (Joe Pesci) who naturally denies he ever knew Oswald. However Ferrie gives a very shaky account of his activities on the day of the assassination which Garrison quickly disbelieves and has Ferrie detained for more questioning by the FBI, regardless of this though Ferrie is let go, after which Garrison decides not to continue investigating any further.
Three years later in 1966, after sharing a conversation with a senator (played by the late great Walter Matthau) on an airplane, Garrison starts to have serious doubts and suspicions about the events of the assassination and that Oswald was the lone gunman. After more digging around, and reading over the 26 volumes of the official assassination investigation, published by Warren Commission and conducted by chief judge Earl Warren, Garrison decides to re-open the investigation of the crime. With his small team of staff, Garrison questions many different witnesses to the shooting, and potential suspects that may have been connected to the assassination. As Garrison and his team investigate further, a name that keeps popping up is Clay Bertrand, who is later revealed to be Clay Shaw (played by Tommy Lee Jones) a well respected businessman and entrepeneur. However on bringing Shaw in for questioning, Shaw categorically denies any knowledge of Oswald, Ferrie or any one else potentially involved in the conspiracy, as well as denying his Clay Bertrand alias. But soon after their meeting, Garrison's investigation is made public and soon the press and media come down hard on him. Now forced to operate out in the open, Garrison faces tough choices ahead of him in carrying out his investigation, after receiving various death threats, crank calls, and narrowly escaping frame ups to discredit him. Eventually after rigorous investigations, including a discussion with an ex-military figure who simply calls himself "X" (Donald Sutherland) who provides him with important background knowledge to the events surrounding the assassination, Garrison decides to arrest Shaw and prosecute him for his possible involvement in the alleged conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.
JFK is without a doubt a great achievement in its own, as Oliver Stone took a controversial subject and turned into a film that is fascinating, intelligent and gripping. If you look at the events and evidence that are presented in the film, it certainly does a great job at convincing you that there was a possible conspiracy involved. Jim Garrison himself showed tremendous moral courage and character in bringing such a trial to the public eye, as he himself faced great danger in pissing off the government and endangering his own life in the process. But Garrison is never potrayed as anything else other than a very decent man who in reality at first was never really keen on Kennedy at the time, but during his investigation came to admire him for what he stood for and tried to do in the United States.
But whether or not a conspiracy took place in Dallas that day or not, no one really knows, but I do think there was potentially enough evidence to point towards one. One of key aspects of the assassination as highlighted in the film was that it seemed highly unlikely that Oswald could have fired 3 shots that from the book depository window, at a moving vehicle with trees and heavy foilage in his way, especially considering the poor quality of the firearm. It would seem more likely that a team of riflemen could have had a much better chance of killing Kennedy from fixed positions. Another crucial crux of the film and the case was, there had to be more than just 3 shots, as if for no better reason, there were four known wounds, three to Kennedy (in the throat, back and head) and one to Governor Conally (one in the back). This is where the Warren Commission presented the ridiculous "magic bullet" theory that one bullet accounted for the wounds between Connally and Kennedy. It also seems unlikely that if after Oswald committed the crime, that he would be able race down the stairs in about 90 seconds, only to face a police officer who was checking out the building, to ask whom he was, and appear not to be out of breath, which the policeman testified later that Oswald was absolutely not out of breath.
And overall too much evidence points toward the possibility of a conspiracy, with so many witnesses later on dying in mysterious circumstances, or being bribed in order to be kept quiet, the events after the assassination regarding the car also appear strange, as the car is washed and rebuilt before any forensics can be taken. There were also many different documents, interview notes from suspects that were also either torn up or burnt. But the one piece of evidence that does remain however is the film footage, taken by an onlooker Abraham Zapruder, which shows the assassination itself, and gives possible clues of the direction of where the bullets came from. The footage itself is terrible to watch, as it signified the start of several public assassinations (Oswald, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy followed), and Garrison himself later subpoenaed the Zapruder film for his trial (the footage itself was later televised for the first time in 1975 on American television). Another key point was surely, if Oswald was even the lone gunman, he would not have acted alone, as he must been acting on behalf of powerful people behind the scenes, in this regard Oswald himself could well have been a sleeper cell, who was set in motion at the key moment, but again this is just a bit of speculation.
But back to the actual film, JFK is without a doubt fascinating to watch, and features so many great performances and cameos from its a big cast. Kevin Costner, while not the best actor in the world, does give a fine performance as the DA Jim Garrison, who takes on the massive task of bringing the JFK assassination to trial, he also shows Garrison as being a man of moral decency, as well as being very strong and stubborn in the face of adversity. Joe Pesci also probably gives the film's best performance as Dave Ferrie, the crazed suspect (replete with a ridiculous wig and eyebrows!) who later admits to his involvement with Oswald, as he shows a mixture of malice and remorse. Tommy Lee Jones gives an excellent performance also as Clay Shaw, and he depicts as a very sly businessman, who is clearly also very manipulative. The other smaller character roles are equally impressive, with fine stuff from Michael Rooker as Bill (one of Garrison's staff), Laurie Metcalf as Susie, another staff member, and of course Jay Sanders as Lou Barnes, who was in reality one of Garrison's key members of staff (although the film depicts Barnes as quitting the investigation, in reality he didn't). Also Kevin Bacon, is excellent as the homosexual Willie O'Keefe (who in reality was based on one of Garrison's key witnesses, Perry Russo) who claimed to have known and had sexual relations with Shaw. Donald Sutherland is similarly great as the mysterious "X" who delivers a very lengthy 17 minute dialogue giving Garrison the background info surrounding the events leading up to the assassination. Also there is the superb Jack Lemmon as Jack Martin, who worked for another one of the possible key people behind the assassination, Guy Banister (played by Ed Asner) who died shortly after in 1964. And last but by no means least, there is Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald. Oldman is great as Oswald, and potrays him as a complex and private man, who remained a mystery even after his death. Gary Oldman also facially resembles Oswald a fair bit, and does an excellent job at reproducing his unusual American accent, which had a tinge of Russian to it.
Overall the film moves at a great pace, but also is on the verge of bombarding you with too much information at times, so it definitely takes a few viewings to get the gist of all the details. The only other thing I would say about the film that probably lets it down slightly is the melodrama of Garrison's home life, as he argues with his wife Elizabeth (Sissy Spacek) who is frustrated by the amount of time he devotes to the case. It is however key to the film as well I guess, as it is important to show how the events of the investigation impacted on Garrison's personal life, and later in reality, his first wife Elizabeth did divorce him. But not to take away from Sissy's performance, as she herself does very well with her role in the film, for her all she wants to do is get her normal life back. Another slight problem with the film, and probably the case in general is there is not much evidence that cold links Shaw to knowing Oswald, as it ultimately is just the word of people who have witnessed seeing Shaw and Oswald together in the past. But it was later revealed in 1978, four years after Shaw's death, by the at the time CIA director, Richard Helms, that Shaw did actually work for the CIA as a contractor. And based on the Richard Helms testimony, it proved that Shaw was guilty of perjury. But as Garrison in the film says people like Shaw can "walk between the rain drops" and indeed get away with murder (or assassination in this case).
However Garrison's trial definitely did raise enough questions about the dubiety of the Warren Commission's conclusions and of the many loose ends that peppered the investigation. And as portrayed in the film, a key moment where Clay Shaw gives away his alias as Bertrand to a police officer after his arrest, the officer in question Aloysius Habighorst's testimony wasn't allowed and was ruled inadmissible by the judge. This in itself seems very peculiar that the testimony wasn't allowed, and as the film almost shows that even the judge and court system was corrupt enough to cover things up. In the end of course, Clay Shaw is acquitted of the charges and found not guilty and allowed to go free, once again to "walk between the rain drops". It also does raise that Clay Shaw could also been as Ferrie in the film states as being "untouchable, with the highest clearance". Whatever way it was, Shaw was also an enigma and in the end he got away, guilty or not.
Soooooooo after that rather exhaustive entry, JFK is definitely one of my favourite films and its great to revisit it once in a while, kind of like a fine wine (don't buy (or watch) it too much in other words). And if you haven't seen it, then it certainly will be an eye opener behind the events one of America's most disgraceful crimes.
So that is that.
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