JFK (1991)

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 is one of the most polarizing events in United States history. Some people believe it was a coup d’état by insidious forces within the U.S. government. Others think it was the act of a lone gunman who had some kind of beef with the president’s policies. Still, others believe it was the work of the Mafia, the Cubans, or the Russians. Others think it was some kind of combination of all of the above. No matter what you personally think, you’ve got to admit that a lot of strange stuff happened in the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination.

Released in 1991, Oliver Stone’s JFK tells the story of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner,) the only person to bring anyone to trial for the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In doing so, Stone also dives into the murky world of the conspiracy theories surrounding that fateful day. JFK is not and does not purport to be a documentary. If you’re interested in documentaries about the assassination of JFK, there are many to choose from, including Oliver Stone’s own JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass. I will be reviewing this film as a historical drama. As such, I will allow some leeway for a bit of fictionalization. (I say this because there are many people who dismiss the movie without seeing it because it contains some controversial claims about the assassination.)

As the movie opens, we’re shown the timeline leading up to and including the murder of the president in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Jim Garrison watches as the events unfold on TV.  He immediately directs his team of investigators to look into possible New Orleans connections to Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination. Although Garrison questions and arrests a man named David Ferrie (Joe Pesci,) the FBI immediately (and unexpectedly) clears him of any charges. Although perplexed by the feds’ actions, Garrison reluctantly closes the investigation.

Three years later, after a chance conversation with Senator Russell Long, Garrison realizes there are multiple inconsistencies in the Warren Commission Report, the official government investigation into the assassination. He quietly reopens the investigation and uncovers multiple connections between the assassination and David Ferrie, Lee Harvey Oswald, and other characters around New Orleans. He begins to speculate that the government is involved in a cover-up of some kind. Soon, Garrison and his team run into multiple legal obstacles both expected and unexpected.

As someone who’s been interested in the Kennedy Assassination since I was young, I found the story behind JFK compelling. A man named Jim Garrison really did bring someone to trial in 1969 for the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The whos, whys and hows involved get extremely complicated. Trying to tackle a subject of this magnitude in a theatrical film would present a daunting challenge to any filmmaker. Even so, Oliver Stone does an admirable job of steering the viewer through the veritable sideshow of characters who are crucial to the case.

Stone and co-writer Zachary Sklar craft a thrilling tale of a man working to uncover the facts of a case while dark forces conspire against him. Some witnesses agree to testify and then recant. Others agree and then suddenly die under strange circumstances. Thanks to an uncharacteristically ominous soundtrack by John Williams and effective editing by Joe Hutshing and Pietro Scalia, the atmosphere of JFK is quite foreboding.

An absolutely astonishing cast has been assembled for the film. Kevin Costner shines as the determined Garrison. His team, consisting of Michael Rooker, Jay O. Sanders, Gary Grubbs, Laurie Metcalf, and Wayne Knight, bristle with energy as they discover the clues leading to the arrest of Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones.) Excellent supporting performances from Kevin Bacon, Edward Asner, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and John Candy further propel the film along. Gary Oldman plays a convincingly strange Lee Harvey Oswald. Sissy Spacek, unfortunately, has little to do as Garrison’s wife, Liz, except complain that Garrison is never available for his family. Other notable appearances include Brian Doyle-Murray as Jack Ruby, Jim Garrison as Earl Warren, and Donald Sutherland as “X,” the most problematic character in the film.

If nothing else, JFK demonstrates that the cut and dry explanation of the crime by the Warren Commission was meant to pacify a grieving nation and nothing more. This film asks a lot of questions and attempts to answer some of them. Whether or not the answers provided are correct is beside the point. The fact that there are so many holes, inconsistencies, and general weirdness around the assassination and the lone gunman explanation means that we’ll probably never know the truth. It also makes for a gripping, well-constructed film. JFK is that film.

Although the director’s cut of JFK runs over three hours and twenty minutes, the final product is a taut — if sometimes confusing — thriller that provides plenty of food for thought regarding the probability of a conspiracy to assassinate the president. I’d sum up the accuracy of the movie with a quote one of Garrison’s team in the film, “There’s a lot of smoke there, but there’s some fire.”