Intensely interesting thriller / drama, shot in documentary style, about the conspiracy behind J.F.K.'s assassination. The 1st and best from Stone's U.S. Presidents' trilogy !

Rating: 9/10 (25 June 2019)

Absorbing thriller, written and directed by Oliver Stone, about the conspiracy behind the assassination of one of the most beloved American Presidents.
Based on the books by Jim Garrison (the real character played by Kevin Costner in the film) and Jim Marrs, "JFK" establishes the theory that Lee Harvey Oswald never acted alone.
The screenplay may be conjectural, and was accused of being one more "conspiracy theory" by the well-known controversial director from "Salvador" ('86) & "Platoon" ('86), but besides what it dares to be, thruth or not, it's an entertaining and engaging piece of great filmmaking, from the intense & frenetic editing by Joe Hutshing & Pietro Scalia (both fairly awarded with Academy awards) to the cinematography, shot almost documentary style, by Robert Richardson (also Oscar winner) and the precise direction of Stone with the 'maestro' John Williams once again providing an unforgettable original score.
The cast is fabulous and probably the best ensemble cast of 1991, led by a sober Kevin Costner, when he was at his peak in Hollywood (he started to shoot "JFK" after he won 2 Oscars for his pet project, the epic western, "Dances with Wolves"), as Jim Garrison, the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana who starts a new Kennedy assassination investigation after the 'holes' on the outcome of the Warren Commission, with Sissy Spacek playing his devoted wife, Liz and a bunch of great character actors playing Garrison's legal team: Laurie Metcalf, Jay O. Sanders, Michael Rooker, Wayne Knight & Gary Grubbs.
But it's in the supporting roles and the non-credited cameo and / or extended cameo appearances that "JFK" shines:
Tommy Lee Jones (the only member of the cast nominated for an Oscar) is splendid as the quirky Clay Shaw (alias, Clay Bertrand), Garrison's prime suspect, dominating every scene he's in, with Kevin Bacon & Joe Pesci, all playing against type as homossexuals, in a geniously & daring decision of casting.
Bacon is effective and convincing, Pesci goes a little over-the-top in some scenes, sometimes looks like he was still playing Leo Getz in "Lethal Weapon II", but still delivers without dragging the movie down.
Hollywood legendary actors and the all time screen partners, "the odd couple": Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, are great in their cameos, even if this time they don't share scenes.
Gary Oldman's metamorphosis into Lee Harvey Oswald is astonishingly 'chamaleonic' as the great method actor he is, and he deserved to be Oscar nominated as much as Tommy Lee Jones, but his performance is shorter on screen time and less 'showy', hence the snub...
Donald Sutherland as "X" could have made this kind of sinister part even in his sleep, and once again he does it very well showing what a pro he is.
The late great John Candy, in a rare appearance out of the comedy films, is fantastic as the dandy / flamboyant lawyer, Dean Andrews. His witty speech delivery is a riot to follow.
Bill Murray's older sibling, Brian Doyle-Murray plays Jack Ruby, the mafia man who shot Oswald.
Jim Garrison himself makes a cameo as Earl Warren, the head of the Warren Commission and Martin Sheen, who played Bobby Kennedy in the TV movie, "The Missiles of October" ('78) and JFK himself in the miniseries, "Kennedy" ('83), offers the intro narration of the facts that led to the Kennedy's assassination.
The "Director's Cut" is way better than the theatrical release, showing some pertinent extended scenes and added a bunch of new segments / characters that were left out in the cutting room floor like the Lolita Davidovich's interrogation sequence; Lee Harvey Oswald's impostor played by Stone's regular, Frank Whaley and John Larroquette, as a TV talkshow host, where Garrison was a guest.
Nominated for 8 Oscars, but winning just 2, "JFK" is one of the best movies of 1991 and if it wasn't for the sleeper hit, "The Silence of the Lambs" and all the bandwagon around the Hannibal Lecter character, it could have won more relevant Oscars such as Best Pic and Best Director, at least...
I give it a solid 9 !!!