Slickly Made Succession of "What Ifs" and "Supposes", Made as a Propaganda Piece of Hidden Persuaders, All Masquarading as a Feature Film!

Rating: 7/10 (8 July 2007)

Before getting into the body of this work, let me warn the reader that all that follows is just one person's evaluation of Oliver Stone's JFK. It is just opinion, which you may find agreement, or you may reject. Likewise, Mr. Stone should have had the honesty to provide a disclaimer warning the viewer to beware of suppositions, conjecture and fantasizing.
Like any Catholic, American schoolboy of Irish descent, at 14 years of age in 1960, I was very proud to see the Gentleman from Massachusetts, Senator John F. Kennedy win the Democrat Party's nomination and subsequent election to the Office of President. Little did we know that it would be just a little more than 3 years later that we would bear witness to his murder.
And even though in the interim between the 2 events, I found myself steadily changing my Political Sympathies. My born and bred Democrat leanings gave way to a solid belief and active Conservative Political participation. That is to whatever small participation allowed to by a guy my age. I would be 18 at the time of the 1964 Presidential Election, at a period of time when one had to be 21 in order to vote.
Anyway, even though this young Irish-German, Catholic lad was now a supporter of Senator Barry M. Goldwater(R., AZ) for the Chief Executive job, I. like most Americans, felt as if some one had kicked the living guts right out of me when President Kennedy was murdered. The events of that fateful day and the days following, left America with such a feeling of Personal as well as National tragedy, loss and grief. It was as if a member of one's own family was suddenly, and without any logical reason,taken from life on Planet Earth.This is a feeling that is quite prevalent across the board for all living and old enough to remember those days.
Unlike a lot of people of my own Conservative Political persuasion, I do reject the finding of the Warren Commission. Whereas I do not buy the notion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin of President Kennedy, and did so by himself. There is just too much that does not compute! It made no sense then, it makes no sense now! In the years since that time in "Camelot", I've spent most of my adult life as 'the Man', 'the Heat', 'the Fuzz', well you get it, I was a Chicago Cop for nearly 35 years, having experience in assignment=ts to the Patrol Division, the Traffic Division, the Youth Division and finally the Detective Division. This surely acted to heighten my sense of suspicion and cynicism about current events, the media covering them and how some special interests can and do slant a story to read as they want it. (Honest Injun! Don't be Shocked, Please!!) Now in spite of all of this disbelief in the findings of the Warren Commission and discounting all the other writings that have sprouted up like mushrooms after a thunderstorm, I must register a negative opinion of JFK and will be happy to give my reasons as to just why.
First of all, let's start off by saying, without reservation, that JFK is a tremendous example of the exposition of the Cinematic Arts & Sciences at their very zenith of their powers. The photography, the editing, the use of nonsequitors is all so very well done as to draw the viewer into the story right from the very start. Cutting quickly between scenes and overlapping dialog adds to the certain feeling of "reality". Furthering this realism is the use of certain scenes which quickly follow a revelation or supposition* of a behind the scenes happening. These 'follow-up', supporting scenes, are often filmed in a diminished color, or a B & W with a dark-shadowed background. The dialog is spoken in short, fast-paced little clips in voices impersonating a well-known person involved in the whole mess.(e.g. Lyndon Johnson) This is then blurred with overlapping dialog from the previous ex positional scene. All tension is heightened by using abrupt, shrill and louder musical queues.
The result is very effective as a dramatic tool, but can be very deceiving to the senses, unconsciously gaining influence on the very last part of one's thought process to fall to sensory stimulation and mood manipulation, your logic. In a real sense, a story like this actually mesmerizes the viewer. That is it has a hypnotic effect.
As a work of monumental effort and mammoth efforts in the story telling tradition of the cinema, this certainly deserving of an A or even an A+ grade.
But we find that there is just too much of a recurring use of innuendo, supposition, conjecture and embellishment of occurrences following the assassination. The Film Maker, Extremist Left Wing Liberal Democrat, Director Oliver Stone, bends the truth just once too often and a little too much. For these reasons, this writer cannot and will not, endorse this movie. The sum of all the contrived scenes, stacked on on top another equals just a dishonest instrument of influence.
And here in Chicago, and just about anywhere else, that means it's a F*cking lie! We surely could not endorse that! Could you?