"I like a man who's not afraid of bad odds."

Rating: 10/10 (26 April 2018)

I've avoided watching this film intentionally ever since it came out because I didn't want to be inundated with another whole set of conspiracy theories involving the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I've generally accepted the idea that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, but if the story here of District Attorney Jim Garrison's obsession with the facts is even remotely accurate, then there's probably some room for doubt. I'm not saying I'm convinced, but what I am saying is that director Oliver Stone pieced together an intriguing and compelling film here, even if one were to hold fast to any prior opinions. What struck me as interesting was when Garrison (Kevin Costner) stated to his legal team that even if his prosecution of Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones) failed, his long term goal was to give the American people ample opportunity to weigh all the conflicting evidence and eventually force the government to reveal the classified information on the assassination. Of course, with the film made in 1991, it's already coming upon the twenty five to thirty year time span referenced by Garrison and we're no closer to finding the truth. I kind of doubt that we ever will know what really happened on that tragic day in Dallas.
For true devotees studying the Kennedy assassination, an excellent companion piece for this movie would be the 1998 documentary, "Image of an Assassination: A New Look at the Zapruder Film". It won't put to rest any of the vast conspiracy theories, nor does it try to. What it does is present an intriguing story of how the Zapruder film came about, and how it captured a defining moment in the history of America, tragic as it was. Not for the queasy or ill at ease, it's a serious piece of film making that will affect you almost as much as the actual event did for those who were alive during the era to witness the tragedy as it unfolded on television.