KILLING KENNEDY
US, 2013, 87 minutes, Colour.
Rob Lowe, Will Rothhaar, Ginnifer Goodwin, Michelle Trachtenberg, Jack Noseworthy, Richard Flood, Francis Guinan, Casey Siemaszko, Mary Pat Gleason.
Directed by Nelson Mc Cormick.
Since the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, there are whole archives of documentary material on the Kennedys, on 60s politics, on the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missiles, on Kennedy and his philandering, on the assassination, on Lee Harvey Oswald, on Jack Ruby. There have also been many feature films and television series on the Kennedy family, on Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, as well as a multitude of conspiracy theories, including Richard Condon’s novel, Winter Kills, and a speculation that Joseph Kennedy was responsible for his son’s death, and JFK by Oliver Stone.
In comparison, this is a rather brief television film, giving the background to the Kennedy family, the death of Joe Kennedy, JF Kennedy and his nomination, the close election, the political crises internationally and his decision to be his own man in decisions. Robert Kennedy also appears as advisor as well as challenger about his brother’s affair with the mistress of a gangster.
However, as the title indicates, this is a film about the assassination. While it is based on a book of research, it keeps close to the Warrant Report and its focusing on the role of Lee Harvey Oswald, something which did not satisfy conspiracy theorists.
Rob Lowe is the president, Ginnefer Goodwin is Jackie. There is an interesting glimpse of Lyndon Johnson by Francis Guinan.
However, most of the interest of this film is in Lee Harvey Oswald with a significant performance by Will Rothhaar. It traces Oswald’s life in the Marines, his dissatisfaction with the United States in capitalism, his attempt to settle in Russia, his meeting Marina and marrying her, his return to the US, still Marxist, encounters with the FBI, campaigning against Kennedy and the attacks on Castro. He is a moody man, violent towards his wife, wanting attention. He buys a rifle, possesses a gun.
This is an interesting portrait of Oswald, focusing as well on the day of the assassination, his activities, his escape from the book repository, bus, taxi, killing officer Tippett in the street, the arrest in the cinema, the interrogations – and his being killed by Jack Ruby who has been glimpsed at his burlesque club, a devoted patriot and supporter of the Kennedys.
Somewhat dismissed by those who want a more purist treatment of the subject, it nevertheless provides a 90 minute summary, visually, of the events of those years.
1. Audience response to stories about John F. Kennedy? Older audiences, younger? Knowledge of American history?
2. The background of documentaries, news footage? Films and television movies about the Kennedys? Facts, fiction? Conspiracies?
3. The aftermath, after half a century? The Warren Report and the focus on Lee Harvey Oswald? Book and cinema speculations, especially with Oliver Stone? Information, politics of the period, politics in Texas? Information about Lee Harvey Oswald, his time in Russia? Cuba, Bay of Pigs, the missiles? Kennedy’s connection with mobsters?
4. The film and its brief running time, snippets of sequences? The re-creation of the period? The drama? The musical score?
5. The cast, Rob Lowe as Kennedy? Expectations? The other historical characters as portrayed?
6. The opening with Lee Harvey Oswald, the Texas bookstore, setting up the shooting, aiming at the president?
7. Kennedy, his aide, talking about his brother Joe and his death, his father’s choice for president, his own war experience? The nomination? 1960 and the campaign? Close results? The role of Bobby Kennedy, the deal with Lyndon Johnson? The relationship with Jackie Kennedy, the children? The setting for the drama?
8. Kennedy, the Bay of Pigs, the advice, the decisions, the responsibilities for the lives lost, the prisoners of war? The Cuban missile crisis, the role of Kruschev? Kennedy wanting to be his own man, making decisions? Advice of Bobby Kennedy? The information about Cuba, the visuals of the missiles, Castro, the political and military meetings? Kennedy and his shrewdness with Kruschev? The Russian backdown?
9. Lee Harvey Oswald his story, his age, background, his dominant mother? As a Marine, working in radar? His anger, against capitalism in the United States? Going to Moscow, asking to announce his citizenship? The issue of his passport? Staying, going to Minsk, the social, meeting Marina, the dance? His jobs, his accent, marrying? The workers against him? His dissolution, the cold, his return to the embassy? Stating he was Marxist, coming home, a guarantee of no charges against him?
10. As a character, his life and experience, his age, early 20s? His Marxism, the confrontations with his mother, her gifts for the house, saying that he wanted to escape her? The interrogations by the FBI, his surliness, getting jobs, setting up a home, the slovenly house, Marina pregnant, the birth of the children? His violent moods? His involvement in campaigns?
11. Imagining himself as a hero, wanting the media to acknowledge him? Walker and his hawkish attitudes? Marina taking the photo of him with the guns? The headline about Walker? Setting up, shooting, missing? His continued campaigns, going to New Orleans, pamphlets against Castro, the Cubans against him? His Polish friends, the talk, their loyalties, questions about his causes? His job at the book repository?
12. The political plans for Dallas, Kennedy and the scenes of his health, his back and tablets? The relationship with Jackie, the girls and her suspicions, the closing of the pool, Bobby Kennedy challenging him about the mistress and her connection with the gangsters? The death of the baby after two days, the grief? Discussions with Johnson, with the governor of Texas? The preparation for the journey, Jackie Kennedy wearing her pink suit?
13. Oswald, buying the guns, his practice, his guns, storing them in the garage? His plans? The clash with Marina, moving out of the house? Staying with Ruth?
14. The complaints, the FBI, the files, the agents in their final jobs, checking out Oswald, closing the file?
15. 22nd of November, the night with Marina, going to the book repository, the workers, his being alone, setting up the rifle, the shooting, rushing down the stairs, travel by bus, taxi, walking, shooting officer Tippett? Going to the cinema, the arrest in the cinema? His protests, claiming his innocence, being injured, the interrogations?
16. The glimpses of Jack Ruby at his club? Patriot? Supporting Kennedy? Closing the club? Going to the police precinct, shooting Oswald?
17. The background of the news commentators of the time, the footage, Walter Cronkite? The nation’s grief at news of the death of Kennedy?
18. The shooting, the governor, Jackie Kennedy and the blood on her dress, holding her husband’s head, refusing to move? Johnson, the advisers, the information, his becoming president? Kennedy in the hospital, Jackie, the priest, death?
19. Oswald, dead, the coinciding of the two funerals, the Washington funeral, no pallbearers for Oswald?
20. An opportunity to understand more about the Kennedy assassination, moving away from the conspiracies, focusing on the role of Lee Harvey Oswald?
