Review: JFK
The story of dedicated D.A. Jim Garrison’s (Kevin Costner) pursuit of the
truth behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In a massive cast,
the most prominent are Sissy Spacek as Garrison’s worried wife, Gary Oldman as
the one and only (or is he?) Lee
Harvey Oswald, Joe Pesci as toupee wearing David Ferrie (an apparent associate
of Oswald’s, flamboyantly gay man, and possible paedophile), Michael Rooker one
of Garrison’s loyal co-workers, and Tommy Lee Jones is the flamboyant
businessman Clay Shaw, whom Garrison charges with the President’s murder and
who he obsessively pursues. Cameos include Donald Sutherland as ‘X’, Garrison’s
ghostly Pentagon source, Kevin Bacon as gay convict Willie O’Keefe (who informs
Garrison of the homosexual leanings of Ferrie, Shaw, and Oswald as well as an
apparent triangulated assassination plan they hatched), Jack Lemmon plays an
investigator (who has met Ferrie on numerous occasions), and Walter Matthau a
senator who doesn’t buy the ‘Oswald acted alone’ theory, either.
Even though there’s way too much information flying about to really
follow it in one sitting, this 1991 Oliver Stone (“Platoon”, “Born on
the 4th of July”) film is admirably exhaustive stuff and highly
fascinating for conspiracy buffs (of which I am at least a part-timer) and film
buffs (who can play a game of ‘spot the star cameo’).
Extremely well-acted across the board, with a very credible Costner the
anchor (in perhaps a thankless role, which Stone had originally wanted Harrison
Ford or Mel Gibson for), and scene-stealing turns by a flashy Jones (earning
his first Oscar nomination), bizarro Pesci (chewing every bit of scenery in
sight, with a dopey red-brown wig), seedy Bacon, old pros Lemmon and Matthau,
and especially the spooky Sutherland and a non-comedic John Candy as you’ve
never seen him before. Oldman is also well-cast as Oswald, though the role
isn’t terribly well-developed, surprisingly.
The scenes of Garrison’s marital woes with a wasted Spacek are entirely
unnecessary and clichéd. Spacek’s character behaves entirely unreasonably in my
view. Her husband has a very important job to do and she’s bitching that he’s
always working and putting their lives in danger? Gimme a break, woman. The
President got freakin’ assassinated, for cryin’ out loud!
I can’t say I was able to keep up with it all the time, but at no point
was I bored during this absorbing extremely well-made flick. Kudos to Stone for
not making a total mess out of it or a three-hour boring history lesson.
Nominated for several Oscars (including Picture, Direction and Writing) it won
for Cinematography by Robert Richardson (“Platoon”, “Born on the 4th
of July”), and Editing. The screenplay is by the director and Zachary Sklar
(based on books by Jim Marss and Jim Garrison himself, who plays Earl Warren in
the film). Stone probably takes a lot of
dramatic license, but that’s OK for what is more of a conspiracy theory
thriller anyway. I think a lot of people miss the big point on this one. It’s Oliver Stone’s “JFK”, not
American history’s “JFK”. There’s a big difference, and so long as you
can appreciate that, this is pretty compelling stuff.
Rating: B
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