JFK is one of those films that if you miss when it first comes out it’s hard to catch up on because it is so long and detailed. It’s not every day you have time for a detailed 3 hour investigative true story thriller but that’s what makes this Blind Spot series fun because I can finally check off some of these classics off my list. It’s a challenging film to write about because so much happens and there are so many characters but it was a fascinating watch nonetheless.
In the film DA Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) starts an investigation into the JFK killer because they aren’t convinced it was actually Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman.) We then follow Garrison as he interviews suspects, witnesses and more trying to figure out what actually happened and what they present is pretty compelling.
It almost plays out like a documentary the way interviews are laid out and real footage is mixed in with the actors. There is also a fantastic supporting cast including Cissy Spacek, Laurie Metcalf, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Bacon and more. While it is a long movie it felt more like a documentary than a fictional narrative and I mean that as a compliment.
In JFK we also have a film that is very well edited and directed with everyone feeding off of Costner’s energy and compelling leading performance. Most importantly it’s just an interesting topic. On one hand it’s easy to dismiss as conspiracy theories but the longer they are laid out for us the more convincing it is.
I can see why Robert Richardson won an Oscar for cinematography on this film. It is extremely well shot and again the way it combined old and new footage is very effective.
By the end it really feels like there is more to this story than The Warren Report let on. The whole thing is just fascinating! Also this is far better than Oliver Stone’s other historical films which makes it worth a rental.
It’s a super entertaining enriching film. Check it out!
7 out of 10
Smile Worthy
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What would you say your favorite film is that is about or features an American president?
Is this a fictional president or portrayal of an actual president?
portrayal of an actual president
Maybe 1776 and John Adams then
William Daniels was great as Adams!
Mine was, is now, and will always be…. The Million Dollar Duck!
After that? Superman II.
As for this movie…. Back when I had access to Netflix, I had ambitions to rent it and watch it on the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination. However, my plan was foiled by one fact: everybody else had the same idea first.
It’s a very entertaining watch
I think the final word could go to Kennedy’s son, John F. Kennedy Jr.. He refused to watch the film, and even seem to be indifferent to the theories surroudning his father’s death. He stated his reason for not seeing the film was “because that’s not entertainment for me… people, historians, filmmakers…are going to take time and money studying (the assassination).” He cared little about the controversy, stating that regardless of the truth, it would not bring his father back
The film was used for Stan Dane’s book Prayer Man: The Exoneration of Lee Harvey Oswald to have high quality frames of the James Darnell film to support a theory that a man standing on the Depository front steps during the assassination, referred to as “prayer man”, is Oswald.
If you were curious, I highly recommend (and advise to keep an open mind on them, by reading them first) the two books, Stan Dane’s book, “Prayer Man: The Exoneration of Lee Harvey Oswald”, and “Prayer Man: More Than a Fuzzy Picture” by Bart Kamp, which look at the unidentified man who was filmed by Dave Wiegman, Jr., of NBC, and James Darnell of WBAP-TV, standing on the Depository front steps during the JFK assassination, referred to as “prayer man”, theorised by some to be Lee Harvey Oswald.
I hasten to add I am neither pro lone gunman or pro conspiracy in regards to JFK controversy. To use my quote used on the website link below, I am a strong believer in “innocent until proven guilty”, which is to say that I will never definitively state that Lee Harvey Oswald or anybody else was responsible for the assassination. There are too many missing puzzle pieces and most of the evidence is circumstantial rather than direct. As someone got interested in the JFK case since 2010, I have been pro-conspiracy and pro-lone gunman at times, and by the mid 2010s, I began remaining on the neutral side, having no opinion, though I’m prepared to accept the WC findings. There’s just something I cannot put my finger on that is preventing me from calling it a lone gunman and calling it a day. I think the PM theory made me wake up to it. If the films are released and it turns out not to be Lee, then fine, I eat my words and accept the lone gunman conclusion. Indeed, I myself admit that a small part is unsure but unless/until high quality copies of the Darnell film are released and can confirm or eliminate Oswald as PM, this theory is the only JFK Conspiracy Theory that could be true IMHO. It deserves more attention and those films need to be released to end the debate or resolve it.