I live in Dallas. Whenever I drive through Elm Street in downtown Dallas I look up towards the sixth floor window of the Dallas School Book Depository and try to visualize what it would have been like on November 22, 1963 – the day President Kennedy was assassinated. It makes me sad just by being in that area.
I was overcome by the same feeling of sadness when I watched JFK – the movie (released in 1991). A beautiful piece of art directed by Oliver Stone. Its running time of 204 minutes is a bit long but you are so engrossed with the presentation that time just flies.
The movie uses some facts and some fiction to weave a master tale that keeps you on the edge of your seat (or sofa or bean bag, whatever the case may be).
The Plot:
I will try to narrate the plot as shown in the movie. Since I am not a student of history, I have no idea what was fact and what was fiction.
JFK was assassinated while on an official visit to Dallas. He succumbs to a bullet wound and immediately the suspect Lee Harvey Oswald is captured in a nearby movie theatre. Oswald pleads “not guilty” and while he is being taken into custody – live on the TV – he gets shot by Jack Ruby. A special commission headed by Earl Warren investigates and they come to the conclusion that Oswald had acted alone and was responsible for the assassination.
Oswald was a marine who spent time in Russia – claimed to have communist tendencies and was supporting the free Cuba movement along with the Cuban exiles who were disappointed with Kennedy for not going through with the Bay of Pigs invasion and now wanted to invade Cuba on their own and overthrow Castro. Oswald does spend some time in New Orleans and this New Orleans connection forms the crux of the story.
Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is the DA in New Orleans and he is not completely convinced about the final verdict of the Warren Commission and he believes that there was a conspiracy involved including the CIA, the FBI, the Mafia and the Government. In his words:
The key to the whole case is through the looking glass. Black is white and white is black. I don’t want to be cryptic, but that’s the way it is.
With his office staff, Jim reads the Warren reports and tries to find a clue as to what could have happened. Jim finds the answer in a local businessman Clay Bernard (Tommy Lee Jones) who has become Clay Shaw. Along the way Jim meets with several others involved in the plot – David Ferrie (Joe Pesci) – a gun runner for the free Cuba movement, Willie O’Keefe (Kevin Bacon) a male prostitute who has relations with Clay, Jack Martin (Jack Lemmon) who worked in the office of Guy Bannister (Ed Asner) in whose office the alleged assassination plot seems to have originated.
Jim’s argument was that Oswald was not alone in firing those three bullets, His evidence was the film shot by Zapruder and henceforth referred to as the Zapruder Films which have not been shown to the American public.
Jim further argued that there had to be other gunmen involved – either in the grassy knoll or behind the clump of trees near the railroad. Diagrammatically he tried to represent the third bullet, the so called magic bullet which hit both JFK and Governor Connelly a total of seven times.
I would not like to divulge the entire story as it is purely Oliver Stone’s perspective and you are better off watching it and interpreting anyway which you want.
The Performances:
The film had several big time Hollywood actors and actresses – either in the main role or as a cameo.
# 1. Kevin Costner as Jim Garrison: The DA of New Orleans – Kevin gave a powerful and convincing performance as the guy who wants to know the truth. He was ready to sacrifice his wife and family to go after the truth. The highlight of his performance was the final argument in the courtroom when he tries to indict Clay for having worked with the CIA at one time. Unfortunately he was unable to establish any connection and Clay was found “Not Guilty”. Personally I do not like Kevin (Dances with Wolves, Tin Cup, Bodyguard, Water world) – but I was impressed with his portrayal of Jim Garrison.
# 2. Tommy Lee Jones as Clay Shaw / Clay Bernard: The local New Orleans business man – he had a funny hairdo but did not have much scope for showing his acting skills. His was an average performance.
# 3. Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald: He was shown in bits and pieces right through the film and looked very passionate about his missions. On his arrest soon after the assassination – he keeps saying that he is a patsy and sticks to it till the end.
# 4. Joe Pesci as David Ferrie: He played a shady underworld character who knew the entire plot and was helping in the execution. His lips are sealed as he is afraid of being black mailed by Clay for participating in an orgy along with Willie O’Keefe. He had a funny wig and Kevin was able to extract a confession from him only to find that he was signing his death warrant by being a snitch.
# 5. John Candy as Dean Andrews: John has a brief but effective role as a smooth talking lawyer who tried to represent Oswald.
# 6. Donald Sutherland as General X: With the background of the Washington monument, he tries to console Jim that whatever he did was right and gave him some more additional information about the assassination but refused to become a witness – because some of what he said were confidential and seemed far-fetched.
# 7. Sissy Spacek as Liz Garrison: The wife of Jim, who though stood by her husband during his trials and tribulations feels that he has gone too far and threatens to leave him. Her performance was convincing.
# 8. Ed Asner as Guy Bannister: The local hit man in New Orleans who helps the free Cuba movement.
# 9. Jack Lemmon as Jack Martin: An interesting cameo role for Jack – he works in Guy’s office and during the interview with Jim talks about Operation Mongoose. Jim later hears the details about this operation from several other witnesses.
# 10. Walter Mathau as Senator Long: A very brief cameo role – advises Jim while on a plane ride about his opinion that Oswald was a poor shooter and there had to be others involved.
Overall I would give this a 4/5 and would recommend to watch it at least once. Though the initial 15 minutes or so may look like you are watching a documentary – just hang in there and allow the plot to unfold itself. The editing is very crisp and some of the original file photos of the assassination have been artfully mixed with reel shooting and shown both in black and white and color which has a lasting visual impact.
I believe the assassination files will again be opened in 2029 – let us wait and see what happens then.
Watch a piece of history as perceived by Stone and Garrison. I am sure you will be educated and entertained