JFK (1991)

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Directed by Oliver Stone.

Starring Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Joe Pesci, Sissy Spacek.

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The November 22, 1963, assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy shocked the nation and the world. The brisk investigation of that murder conducted under the guidance of Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren distressed many observers, even though subsequent careful investigations have been unable to find much fault with the conclusions his commission drew, the central one of which was that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone. Instead of satisfying the public, one result of the Warren Commission Report was that an unimaginable number of plausible conspiracy theories were bruited about, and these have supported a sizeable publishing mini-industry ever since. In making this movie, director Oliver Stone had his pick of supposed or real investigative flaws to draw from and has constructed what some reviewers felt was one of the most compelling (and controversial) political detective thrillers ever to emerge from American cinema. Long before filming was completed, Stone was fending off heated accusations of artistic and historical irresponsibility, and these only intensified after the film was released. In the story, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is convinced that there are some big flaws in the investigation of Oswald (Gary Oldman), and he sets out to recreate the events leading up to the assassination. Along the way, he stumbles across evidence that a great many people had reason to want to see the president killed, and he is convinced that some of them worked in concert to frame Oswald as the killer. Among the suspects are Lyndon Baines Johnson (the next president), the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Mafia. Over the course of gathering what he believes to be evidence of a conspiracy, Garrison unveils some of the grittier aspects of New Orleans society, focusing on the shady activities of local businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones). Garrison's investigations culminate in his conducting a show trial that he knows he will lose and which he is sure will ruin his career in order to get his evidence into the public record where it can't be buried again. This movie won two of the many Academy Awards for which it was nominated: one for Best Photography (Robert Richardson) and the other for Editing (Joe Hutshing). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Re: ZODIAC
by Puhnner in HORROR MOVIES 101

liked it.

"Although I cared very little for Panic Room unlike all of his other works that I think very highly of, your description of the film is just great, the last sentence is particularly insightful. God, how true that seems to be.I quite enjoyed Zodiac and went on to read the 2 books that helped frame the film. The film seemed to speak to Robert Graysmith/Jake Gyllenhaal's obsessiveness ( surely a good thing ) apparent between the lines in the books. I enjoy seeing that sort of thing played out, how some thing, maybe simple, maybe very complex, grabs, enters, and envelopes the pysche and just will not let go until some sort of passionate thing is done ( or madness???)...there was that great Jim Garrison/Kevin Costner 'gotca' moment in JFK, that seemed to say it all to me. " [More]

The Great Movies: J.F.K.
by erico_77375 in erico_77375 Blog

loved it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Everybody has a conspiracy theory about the murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Some say Lee Harvey Oswald did it (though they're less in numbers now). Some say the mob or the Cubans. Others even claim aliens. What most critic's of Oliver Stone's masterpiece don't understand is that it doesn't matter who they believe did it, but that they're less likely to believe the lies behind the fact; there was more than one shooter.But Oliver Stone's film doesn't start with a president's death as much his life. We get a brief history of Kennedy's presidency. There's two good reasons for this: 1) It catches new audiences up on things that will be discussed later in the film and 2) It allows us to connect with the man before we get to his death. And even then, we do not relate to his death first-hand, but through Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner), district attorney of New Orleans. He finds that there's a link to assassins in New Orleans, but as he's ... " [More]

Re: Deception
by porcupine in Philosophy of Film

hasn't rated it.

"The thing about Fargo claiming to be factual is really fascinating. On the one hand, every movie is telling a lie in the sense that it's creating a fiction. This becomes the most troubling with films that claim to be portraying factual events (including documentaries) because we let our guard down and accept them as truth. A great example of this was how JFK lent credibility to a theory about the assassination which is now widely believed to be false, even to the point of influencing a government investigation. Even documentaries are not strictly factual, events are first seen from one perspective, then edited. Hemingway said that every true story ends in death, so I'd say that any movie that edits events into a "story" is already fiction (weather or not that fiction attempts to describe reality).But about Fargo: It seems like the issue is where the work of art ends and the real world begins. Is it fair to say that the misleading title card and the Coens' statements are ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

Despite criticism from historians and conspiracy buffs alike, Oliver Stone's docudrama JFK provides its audience with a highly controversial and thought-provoking depiction of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the assassination of America's 35th president. Centered around New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison's (Kevin Costner) personal investigation into the links between businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones) and presumed assassin Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman), JFK is as much a director's crusade as it is a landmark in raising public consciousness. After JFK's unprecedented box-office success and eight subsequent Oscar nominations, the United States government felt enough pressure to unseal the secret files related to the assassination -- a first in Hollywood/federal government relations. The problem is that Stone neglected factual consistency in the name of making a point. Many of Garrison's statements and various aspects of the conspiracy as presented in JFK are entirely false or based on precarious speculation. JFK is a double-edged sword for Stone, who was simultaneously rewarded and punished within the Hollywood system for tackling such a sensitive subject. However, with regard to the unarguably imaginative editing, JFK remains a spectacular achievement in film. Often lost amongst criticism is the existence of as many frighteningly irrefutable facts as creative liberties. This, combined with an all-star cast, beautiful cinematography, and disturbing archival footage, makes JFK a must-see for anyone interested in John F. Kennedy and the underbelly of the American government. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Tags: conspiracy , assassination , political , Zapruder , Nixon
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