JFK

This movie was released in 1991. Directed by Oliver Stone, this still controversial movie centered on former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison who filed conspiracy charges against a Clay Shaw in the murder of President Kennedy.

This movie has so many different plots and moving pieces it is hard until the end to discern who Stone is actually theorizing was involved in the President's death.

One thing is clear not just from the movie but from many different sources and that is that the Oswald story makes not much sense. From his being in the military, going to Russia as a defector and then his return to the United States shortly thereafter. Oswald might well have been a spy and might well have been a patsy. The easiest shot on Kennedy was clearly before the turn in Daley plaza but that was not the shot used. The magic bullet theory is all but impossible to believe. The bullet that turned up in Washington, not Dallas on a stretcher defies belief. The stories of the autopsy are documented, the removal of the body from Dallas. The tens of police cars that show up to arrest a man that refused to pay for a ticket to a movie in Dallas seemed to be forewarned. What this all means, who knows. The fact that a memo was issued days after LBJ took office removing any limits on our moving into Vietnam is troubling.

We now will never know what happened but one wonders if that was the beginning of Americans distrust in their government. Once one stops trusting it is hard to regain that trust.

The movie should not be taken as fact, it should not be taken as even a complete theory. It is merely a representation of the fact that for many the case is not solved, the story given is not true and that we will never know the truth.

For entertainment purposes the movie is a winner. Kevin Costner is strong as Jum Garrison but it is the supporting actors that make this movie click. Sissy Spacek is wonderful as his feeling neglected wife. Joe Pesci is brilliant in his role as a small time gun runner caught up in the conspiracy. Donald Sutherland has one scene in the movie playing Mr X, an informant Garrison meets on the Washington Mall, and crackles in his scene. To me the two best performances are Jack Lemmon as an associate of Guy Bannister, someone who operates on the fringe of many of the anti Castro movments. Lemmon was a wonderful actor and as he talks with Garrison at the racetrack years after the death of Kennedy and still frightened advises Garrison that he does not know what he is getting into he shines. Playing a small time attorney who says one thing to Garrison and then another on the stand is John Candy. With his constant cigarette, sweaty face, sunglasses and cool cat demeanor Candy explodes off the screen, you cannot stop looking.

Many watch the movie and take it as history. It is not. It is a depiction of events that could have been but should be taken as entertainment only. Still I do not know anyone who thinks the Warren Commission was truthful.