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.

The Company Men

his movie explores what happens when those of us who have it made no longer do. Ben Affleck plays a regional sales manager for a ship building company who has it all. The great house, the Porsche, the country club and then one day----he is let go after a wave of corporate down sizing.

Chris Cooper plays an older employee let go who finds himself practically unemployable at his age and is being crowded by expenses that never stop.

Tommy Lee Jones and Craig T Nelson play the CEO ( Nelson ) and his first employee when the company was starting out. ( Jones )

Tiring of Jones contunual fighting him on the job cuts Jones himself gets his walking papers. Jones remembering his own blue collar roots is upset by what is happening to the good employees who worked for the company.

This is a good movie. It moved a little slow and the subject matter of men losing their jobs hits a little home for me. While Affleck's character loses his job and then his house eventually working for his brother in law buidling houses. This character of the brother in law played by Kevin Costner has an honest decency that is perhaps the most accessible and least flawed character in the movie.

A good movie. Perhaps a lesson on what is important and what is not. A wonderful cast. Tommy Lee Jones is a great actor and Craig T Nelson is always underappreciated.

Field of Dreams

How many times have you seen this movie. In our house it is well into double figures. Everyone knows the story, Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta and Burt Lancaster made the movie star filled but it is the story, always the story. My children, boys and girls have always enjoyed the movie.

As with many men of a certain age the movie has a profound effect on me. It has for 20 years. It has the ability to choke me up. For me " the scene " , I do not have to tell you which one, makes me cry everytime. My Dad gone for over 25 years fills my heart whenever I see it.

A couple of weeks ago I got a text from my son asking me if I was watching Field of Dreams. It was on CMT. Who would have ever thought it would end up on Country Music Television. He told me to hurry it was almost over I was going to miss " it." I did not have to ask what " it " was. Men know. I watched it, my eyes watered and I remembered all that was good about childhood.

My son is 14 and we have played baseball together far more than my Dad had time to play with me. Will he think of me years and years from now when this movie comes on. I think he will. I think I am ok with that. I hope he remembers that the more things change between fathers and sons the more they stay the same. I hope he shares it with his son.

Few movies can have this generational impact. For that reason alone Iowa must be heaven.

Rating : 8.5