JFK

There was a time when I was young and impressionable that I believed everything I was seeing on screen when watching Oliver Stone’s JFK. I was not a history buff and barely knew anything about the Kennedy Assassination at the time. I recorded this film off of HBO and watched it over and over again, even going as far as checking out Jim Garrison’s book on the subject from the school library, finding it less compelling than the film. I even convinced my high school history teacher to let us watch the movie over the course of a week as part of our lessons on the assassination. I actually believed at the time that Garrison was a crusader fighting against a government trying to hide a murder. My thoughts nowadays are a little less certain now that I know more about the real Garrison’s methods and leaps of logic as well as some of the true history of the people he believed were involved in a government conspiracy. The film was convincing to the teenaged me back in 1991 and, after over thirty years I was anxious to see if it would still be convincing.

There is no dispute that on November 22, 1963 everything changed in America. The innocence of the people ended and the idea of a deep state conspiracy within the government was introduced that has never really gone away. When President John F Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas on that fateful day many people had a hard time believing that it was the act of one man, Lee Harvey Oswald, perched up in an upper story window of a book depository with a single action bolt rifle. When polled as recently as 2009 over 70% of Americans believed that Kennedy’s assassination was the result of a conspiracy and not one man acting alone. New Orleans DA Jim Garrison believed that and to date he is the only one to bring anyone to trial over the murder. His book, On the Trail of the Assassins as well as another book, Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy serve as the basis for Oliver Stone’s fictional examination, from Garrison’s point of view, of the evidence, the people he questioned, and his personal attacks on Clay Shaw whom he alleged was deeply involved in the death of the president. The film JFK has a point of view about what really happened on that day in 1963 and paints that view in a compelling, if very inaccurate way.

The film opens with a clip from Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address as he warns about the build-up of the military-industrial complex. Kennedy, taking office, inherits the cuban missile crisis and the Bay of Pigs invasion. Midway through his term in office he is assassinated while riding in a convertible limousine in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) is arrested shortly afterwards for killing a cop, then is himself assassinated live on television by nightclub owner Jack Ruby (Brian Doyle-Murray). New Orleans DA Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) and his team investigate connections between New Orleans and the assassination of Kennedy, including a private pilot named David Ferrie (Joe Pesci), but are publicly rebuked and close the case.

Three years later Garrison is reading the Warren Report, the official investigation into Kennedy’s murder, and notices what he believes are multiple inaccuracies. He and his staff begin interrogating people who were involved with Oswald or Ferrie. This leads them to William O’Keefe (Kevin Bacon), a male prostitute serving time for solicitation. O’Keefe admits to attending a gathering that included Oswald, Ferrie and a man named Clay Bertrand where the conversation turned to assassinating Kennedy. Garrison makes the leap that Oswald was an agent for the CIA and a patsy for the assassination. As more and more people are confronted a picture begins to form in Garrison’s mind, a picture that paints New Orleans businessman Claw Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones) as possibly a main conspirator in the killing calling himself, behind scenes to protect his closeted homosexuality, by the alias Claw Bertrand. He has Clay arrested and tried for accessory to the murder. The court proceedings delve into all the inaccuracies in the Warren report, the impossibility of three shots only being fired, and little actual evidence to prove Clay was involved in any way. Garrison loses the case but has successfully planted in people’s minds that not all is as the Warren Report concluded.

The book Crossfire: The Plot to Kill Kennedy was written as a bit of a rebuttal to Jim Garrison’s work on the same subject. It points out the fallacies of Jim’s investigation along with some of the unethical steps he took to try and place blame where the evidence didn’t exist. Oliver Stone credits this book alongside Garrison’s own book as serving the basis for this script which is a bit of a surprise because the film seems to heavily imply that Garrison was on the right track in his theories and accusations. Oliver Stone also correlates the assassination of Kennedy with the Vietnam War. This is spelled out both in the prologue with Eisenhower and in pre-end credit text listing the casualties of the war as well as the cost in money and equipment. Jim Garrison will outright point the finger of blame at Kennedy’s successor Lyndon B. Johnson and make the assumption that the tensions in southeast Asia may have contributed to Kennedy’s demise.

This is the type of film that revels in conspiracy theories, many of which were known to be incorrect at the time of filming. Some of the key players were still alive in 1991 and could have easily sued for defamation for how they were treated on the screen. Others were blatantly misrepresented entirely. When David Ferrie dies suddenly it is heavily implied that he was murdered when in reality it was proven conclusively that he died from a heart attack. Likewise a lot of stock is put into placing blame on Clay Shaw whose life was completely ruined by Garrison’s investigations which targeted him fiercely. Clay was a closeted homosexual at a time in the country where being that way could cost you everything professionally. Garrison used that against the man and took him down in his relentless insistence that Clay was somehow involved. It became personal and when he brought Clay to trial the evidence was so speculative that he was easily acquitted. but the damage was already done. 

Do not under any circumstance watch this film thinking it will enlighten you as to what really happened in Dallas that day. This film will present half-truths and outright fabrications as gospel in a bid to sway your opinions on the subject. That’s not to say it doesn’t ask some compelling questions about what went down when Kennedy died. There are some leaps of logic that cannot be explained by the lone gunman theory. The Warren Commission’s explanation of how three shots accomplished what they did is not convincing in the slightest, nor is the explanation as to why Oswald didn’t fire on the president earlier when the shot was easier but waited until the cavalcade was at a crucial intersection that made for a harder shot for one man to take. This stuff is on record and suggests that there had to have been at least a second shooter. Garrison, in the film, presents this stuff during the Clay Shaw trial and it is interesting and thought provoking, if not relevant to the actual trial at hand. Costner does a good job presenting this information in a relatively concise way, making it understandable and even reasonable. There is also a scene between Garrison and Mr. X (Donald Sutherland) that adds more fuel to the conspiracy fire, suggesting military protections that would normally be in place for Kennedy were ordered to stand down the day of the assassination. 

Anyone who has read through the available information, both from the Warren Commission and from Garrison’s own works can see that there are inconsistencies and enigmas aplenty. Unfortunately we may never know what really happened that day, at least not all of it. Some of the top secret documents have been released over the years with more promised to come. But much is still held back for reasons of political stability. If Cuba was involved and the CIA got in bed with the Mafia as some, this film included, have suggested then that could destabilize relations with Cuba as well as shake the public’s confidence in their own leaders. However it truly was, the facts that we do know without a doubt are that Kennedy was killed on that date in November, 1963 amd nothing else. Beyond that, all we can do is speculate, no matter what conspiracy theorists and Oliver Stone want you to believe. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Oliver Stone and A. Kitman Ho

Best Director: Oliver Stone

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Tommy Lee Jones

Best Adapted Screenplay: Oliver Stone and Zachary Sklar

Best Cinematography: Robert Richardson (won)

Best Film Editing: Joe Hutshing and Pietro Scalia (won)

Best Original Score: John Williams

Best Sound: Michael Minkler, Gregg Landaker, and Tod A. Maitland

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Release Date: December 20, 1991

Running Time: 188 Minutes (205 Minutes Director’s Cut)

Rated R

Starring: Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Oldman, Michael Rooker, Jay O. Sanders, Sissy Spacek and Joe Pesci

Directed By: Oliver Stone