Plot: What’s it about?
One of the most interesting and hard to interpret events of the last century is the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Theories abound about a conspiracy, but between all the smart minds and all the American people, this is something that is still a mystery. The Kennedy’s are our closest thing to royalty here in the United States; or at least they were. This family has been plagued with misfortune that all started on November 22, 1963. Robert Kennedy, John’s brother was killed five years later just after he had won the California primary, and more recently John F. Kennedy Jr. was killed in a plane crash as his relative, William Kennedy Smith was killed in a skiing accident a few years before. Jackie, the lovely wife of John Kennedy died a few years ago of natural causes, but the events that this movie centers around can’t help but make you think about the losses that this family has endured throughout the years. This is probably Oliver Stone’s most profound movie. To say that about an Oliver stone movie, though, can be said for most any movie that he’s done. Everyone has a favorite and everyone has one that they dislike. I think that out of all his movies, this one is either my favorite or close to it. One thing that this movie did was create a lot of controversy, as most of his movies do. In the end credits, there are several quips that tell some of the things that have happened as a result of this movie. Now that’s a movie with appeal…things happen in our government as a result of a movie! Some say that this movie was robbed of a Best Picture Academy Award for 1991, when Silence of the Lambs took home the Oscar (along with several others). It’s a toss up between the two, as Silence of the Lambs was an outstanding movie in it’s own right, but I happen to believe that in each year, the competition is different (if this movie were to be made last year, I think it would have won hands down).
Kevin Costner, in his first association with Kennedy (Thirteen Days also has him personally “interacting” with Kennedy instead of investigating his death), plays Jim Garrison, the District Attorney of New Orleans. The movie starts just a few days before the fatal bullet (or bullets…who knows) struck down Kennedy. Garrison is concerned as the nation is shocked about the events that took place in Dallas. As we all know, Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) is immediately pinned as the would be assassin. The story is that he fired three shots from the Texas Book Depository building, the third bullet being the fatal bullet. In essence, that’s it. The last half of the movie concentrates on the bullets and how the government is covering the whole thing up. Garrison is talking to a Senator (Walter Mathau) on a plane some three years later and is convinced by a comment to reopen the investigation. This has been years since Oswald was gunned down by Jack Ruby (Brian Doyle Murray) on TV, who was also said to have ties to the Mafia. Garrison and his team of investigators, most notably Bill Broussard (Michael Rooker) and Lou Ivon (Jay O. Sanders), collaborate and literally try and reconstruct what happened on that day. From what they put together, it’s not hard to imagine that there is a lot of foul play going on in the investigation of the assassination. Key witnesses tell that they have been harassed and that their statements have been changed. Key figures like David Ferrie (Joe Pesci) and Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones) don’t tell one word of the truth, as they are considered to be the key figures in what has led up to be the assassination of the President. Clay Shaw is a wealthy New Orleans businessman who is a homosexual, during this time in our country, homosexuality was looked upon as a sin (not like it is now), but one of the few places that it was rampant was in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
Garrison is literally obsessed with the whole ordeal. His wife (Sissy Spacek) tries to be understanding, but just gets fed up with his antics. Garrison proclaims that he is doing this so his kids can grow up in a world where freedom reigns and corruption is nonexistent, though the words are hollow as are his promises to his family to spend more time with them. Though the investigation process, the team comes across many people who all seem to know a little something about what happened. We, as people, are told that there were three shots fired from a building by Lee Harvey Oswald, and that the third bullet was the supposed fatal shot. Through the course of the investigation, we learn (based on the facts of the movie) that there were seven shots. People reported that a shot was fired at the grassy knoll in front of the motorcade. A man was hit by a stray fragment from a bullet under a bridge and the supposed “magic bullet” that made seven wounds, including a wound in Kennedy’s throat and two in Connelly. Now let’s talk casting…a favorite movie of mine, The Firm, had a great cast, with some ten major stars that was one of the best casts in recent memory. This movie overshadows the cast of that movie. Yes, really. Costner, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Oldman, Michael Rooker, Jay O. Sanders, Sissy Spacek, Joe Pesci, Vincent D’Onofrio, John Candy, Brian Doyle Murray and Donald Sutherland all play key roles in JFK thereby making this probably the movie with the most “star power” in the last 25 years. A noticeable improvement over the previous DVD, which was another early Warner title, this one actually has an anamorphic transfer (whereas the previous one just claimed to have a 16:9 transfer). The soundtrack has been re-mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 and sounds great. I can go on and on about the movie, but it’s a movie that is best watched (though it will fill an afternoon) and not read about. Words can’t really do it justice.
Video: How does it look?
As mentioned above, the first version of JFK claimed to have an anamorphic transfer, whereas this one actually does. There is a noticeable improvement in the 2.35:1 image. The images seem to be sharper and more vivid, though the entire palette is a bit muted. Some scenes do still seem a bit “hazy” which was an early complaint of the DVD format, but aside from all of that, JFK seems to be getting the treatment that it deserves. We see sections of the Zapruder film (the infamous film in which the assassination of Kennedy was actually caught on tape), that are fuzzy and blown up, but the transfer looks as best as it can, we have to figure that the film even then (1991) was more than twenty five years old. A majority of the movie is told as flashbacks by various members of the cast, so a number of the scenes are in black and white, with the present being in color. While some errors still exist, the edge enhancement is minimal and on the whole, the image looks remarkably better than the first go around. It’s good to see this film get this treatment.
Audio: How does it sound?
The previous versions of JFK were a Dolby Surround mix, this new version has been remixed in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and I have to say that is sounds great. I figured that there would be some sort of loss when the mix was redone, but the sound is remarkably clear and dynamic. The drum rolls that constantly come out of the front channels sound very rich and full, and the dialogue is clear as well. This movie contains just the right amount of dialogue and action that make it worth watching, and the soundtrack makes it all the more interesting to listen to.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The only real difference between this version and that of the one released a few years ago is the inclusion of a documentary. Aptly-titled “Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy”, the documentary was made at the time of the film, so it feels a bit dated. Interviews with the cast and crew of the movie along with those of the real-life characters portrayed in the movie. We see and hear from the real Clay Shaw, the real “Mr. X” (played by Donald Sutherland in the film), see photos of David Ferrie and how he tied in with Guy Bannister and Clay Shaw (Bertrand). After watching the movie, it’s amazing to see how closely the actors looked to their real-life counterparts and everyone associated with the movie seems to be on Stone’s side and shares his point of view. Walter Cronkite and other members of the media are also interviewed and it’s interesting to see how much their opinions differ on both the movie and what really happened. The inclusion of this documentary might not be enough to make you want to purchase the disc again, but if you don’t have this yet, this is the version to get.
The first disc contains the Director’s Cut of the movie, which runs at just over 200 minutes and a full-length commentary tracks as well. As hard as it may seem, he keeps talking almost the whole way through, just like the actors in the movie, he is full of dialogue and interesting insightful information about the whole Kennedy assassination, and he’s not the paranoid conspirator that we’ve all heard about. The second disc contains a theatrical trailer, some awards and cast and crew BIOS (if a movie ever needed BIOS, it’s this one, though oddly enough Michael Rooker and Kevin Bacon’s aren’t selectable). But the main features are a documentary (labeled as “Multimedia Essays”). First up is “Assassination Update: The New Documents” which is narrated by the editor of a newsletter dedicated to finding the facts on who killed Kennedy. The voice is rather annoying, but there’s some good information in there if you can stand the guy. I did have a problem with the audio on a few occasions, but I stopped the player and restarted it and it worked again. It could have been one of those things, as I’m not sure if it’s a fault of the disc itself. A featurette entitled “Meet Mr. X: The Personality and Thoughts of Fletcher Prouty” is rather interesting. Donald Sutherland played this character in the movie who gave Garrison the lowdown and the real story. We see the real Mr. X as he talks candidly about his days with the government and his association with the Kennedy assassination; the movie does a good job about defining how much of a role Mr. X has as well. Some awards and cast and crew bios can also be found as well as the theatrical trailer. Some DVD-ROM material in the form of weblinks are included as well. Finally, some extended and deleted scenes are included with optional commentary by Stone. The way I see it, why not put them in…the movie is already 205 minutes long, what is an extra 30 minutes going to do to it? Oh well. Overall, a very good movie, if not terribly long, that will really make you think twice about everything that you know–or don’t know, rather; about the Kennedy assassination. One conclusion is for certain, or at least from the movie’s point of view…it wasn’t Oswald that acted alone!
