JFK

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

JFK (1991), directed by Oliver Stone, is a conspiracy theory film about an alleged plot to kill President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, that was propagated at the highest levels of the United States government. Donald Trump is not the only person who believes in the idea of a “deep state.” This movie is factually suspicious. However, the craft in making it, especially the editing and cinematography, is exemplary as it presents a vast number of clipped images that explode with information and power. As Roger Ebert said in his book, The Great Movies, the film has “emotional truth,” since it captures the feelings of the country whose citizens were confused, angry, and hungry for answers concerning this national tragedy. I think it might be best to see the film as a fictional thriller based loosely on actual events. Ebert also states that despite the numerous scenes, which include flashbacks, the feel is feverish, which fits the agitated drive that fueled the desire to answer questions about the killing of President Kennedy. The camera work often adds to the feeling of authenticity with the appearance of a documentary, as narrators speak while the images flash before the audience. Stone’s premise is that in a conspiracy, one must look below the fictitious façade to find the truth beneath.

The story is partially based on the book, On the Trail of the Assassins, by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, played by Kevin Costner, who investigated the shooting of President Kennedy. The film starts with Kennedy’s predecessor, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the general in the U. S. Army that led the Allies in World War II in Europe, who warned against the danger in the growing power of the “military-industrial complex.” (The opening narration is supplied by Martin Sheen). The opening states that Kennedy didn’t provide air cover for the anti-Castro forces at the Bay of Pigs, which was a disaster for Kennedy’s attempt to overthrow communist-led Cuba and its leader Fidel Castro. The movie states that Kennedy felt the CIA “lied” to him and attempted to “manipulate” him about the operation. In archival footage, Kennedy stated that it would be difficult to win a war in Vietnam. He also stated that he did not want the United States to dominate the world with its military, but instead wanted a one-world community. The film hypothesizes that “military-industrial complex” saw Kennedy as a threat to their existence.

Garrison investigated the New Orleans connection to the assassination by way of private pilot David Ferrie (Joe Pesci). Ferrie’s story about not knowing Oswald, who lived in New Orleans for a while, and who was in Ferrie’s military unit, and his contradictory comments about being in Texas after the assassination, cause Garrison to keep him for the FBI investigation. Garrison was rocking the boat by questioning the cover story of Ferrie, and eventually of the United States Government itself. The Federal Government dismisses any connection between Ferrie and Oswald without notifying Garrison’s office. After Jack Ruby (Brian Doyle Murray) kills the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman), the investigation ends. One member of Garrison’s team, Bill Broussard (Michael Rooker), says, after seeing Ruby shoot Oswald on TV in front of many policemen, “This is crazy.” His words reflect what practically everybody felt at the time.

However, Garrison, following the Warren Commission completed study of the killing in 1966, felt there were discrepancies in the report and reopened the investigation. There is a question as to Oswald’s ability to fire off his weapon with such accuracy and precision, and that shots were heard coming from the infamous “grassy knoll” near the assassination. Supposedly the route Kennedy took was changed which, according to Garrison’s team, would allow for a better attack from multiple shooters.

Jack Lemmon gives a great performance as Jack Martin, a frightened individual who witnessed Guy Bannister (Ed Asner), a brutal man who recruited for far-right extremist organizations and hated Kennedy, meeting with Oswald and Ferrie, along with Cuban anti-communist sympathizers in the midst of the American intelligence center in New Orleans. Bannister also conferred with Clay Bertrand (Tommy Lee Jones), a local bigwig. They were gathering guns for another Cuban invasion, which Kennedy shut down. Bannister considered the president’s death would bring about a “New Frontier,” ironically taking Kennedy’s words. Bannister beat Martin when he questioned Martin’s loyalty.

Effective supporting performances abound in this film. John Candy plays a sweating flamboyant lawyer (the sweat was real) named Dean Andrews, Jr., who says that his client, Clay Bertrand, also known, as we find out as Clay Shaw, a homosexual, wanted to hire Andrews to defend Oswald. Shaw was involved with Willie O’Keefe (Kevin Bacon) and Ferrie in gay parties. (Despite Costner's Garrison's denial of the homosexual element having anything to do with the investigation, the film portrays gay men as villains). Garrison finds out about these relationships when he meets with the imprisoned O’Keefe. The inmate says he met with Oswald once, too, through Clay. He says that Ferrie ranted about Kennedy being a Communist and that he could be taken out in an open area with triangulation of sharpshooters, with one man being sacrificed as a patsy, which is what Oswald said he was later. Garrison learns from witnesses that support Ferrie’s plan. But the belief that there were multiple shooters, and that Oswald knew Ruby were dismissed by the Warren Commission, which also showed that accounts of what happened as reported by people earlier were later changed. O’Keefe spouts pro-fascist beliefs, which makes Garrison question Oswald’s pro-communist backstory since O’Keefe said Oswald associated with far-right men. However, Broussard knows that O’Keefe’s sexual orientation and beliefs would make him less than a credible witness (especially in 1966). Garrison is funny when he says why is it that a woman, just because she is a prostitute, can’t have good eyesight.

Garrison’s group discovers that Oswald’s income tax and other records are “classified” so that even law enforcement people can’t obtain them. He supposedly defected to Russia but was able to get back in the country with his Russian wife with no problem. Garrison suggests to his team that Oswald was a CIA operative who was used by the intelligence community to take the fall for the assassination. Broussard begins to find it difficult to believe that the American intelligence community would kill the Commander-in-Chief. The movie challenges what we want to believe by suggesting there may be an alternative way of looking at what happened.

As Garrison becomes immersed in his suspicions about the assassination, his home life with his wife, Liz (Sissy Spacek), deteriorates, as he misses family events. He has nightmares about the contradictions he sees in the Warren Report. (There is a shot of Garrison’s child watching cartoons that show characters having a shootout and playing with toy guns while Garrison and his team discuss the case. These scenes show how early in life children are exposed to gun violence in the country).

As the story plays out, there is an increasing sense of doom as witnesses die, including Bannister and Ferrie, and Garrison’s investigation hits roadblocks. There is the possibility that unseen powerful forces are trying to tie up loose ends. Garrison’s office is bugged. Martin told Garrison he is “so naïve” to think nobody cares what they are investigating.

Garrison’s team supposedly finds evidence that makes it look like someone was impersonating Oswald, showing up in Dallas, acting conspicuously, so that witnesses would testify that he was staking out the area before the assassination. This activity would aid in setting up Oswald as the fall guy. This information adds to the theme of how false appearances appear to be trustworthy.

While the story continues, Stone inserts TV footage of the Vietnam War cranking up, which implies that that military-industrial complex was benefiting from the change in the presidency from Kennedy to Lyndon Johnson.

Garrison finds out that Clay Bertrand who was seeking counsel for Oswald and knew Ferrie, is really Clay Shaw, a prominent New Orleans citizen, who says he admired Kennedy. Garrison calls him in on Easter Sunday for an interview. The date seems ironic given that the holy day contrasts with the dire events that are discussed. It also adds to the idea that what is on the pleasant surface above hides the dark truth below, which is at the heart of all conspiracies. He accuses Shaw of having conducted business for the CIA, and is a secret operative, adding to the belief that the intelligence agency participated in the assassination. As Garrison said earlier, his team has gone through the looking glass, as did Alice in Wonderland, and reality is being reversed. Garrison says, “white is black, and black is white.” Garrison tries to cut through Clay’s Southern surface charm and hospitality as he tells Clay, who says he is a patriot, that he finds it odd that conspiring to kill a president is likened to being patriotic. Garrison is finding what people claim to be the truth here is suspect. After Shaw leaves, Garrison adds to the movie’s theme of hypocrisy when he quotes Shakespeare, saying, “One may smile, and smile and be a villain.”

After the interview with Shaw, the investigation becomes public, and Garrison suspects Shaw of publicizing Garrison’s actions. Reporters now hound the DA is and he is accused of grandstanding and misusing public funds. Ferrie feels he is now a target due to his association with Shaw and Oswald exposed to the public. In a hysterical scene, Ferrie admits to working for the CIA, as was Oswald. He claims Shaw is an “untouchable” in the Agency. He says that there was so much secrecy, that the truth was even hidden from the actual shooters in the assassination, so deep does the deep state go. He admits that the CIA and the Mafia worked together to try to kill Castro, which indicates that there is no defining line between what is legal and illegal.

Garrison meets with a Mr. “X” (Donald Sutherland) who was involved in “black ops,” and in many overseas coup d’états. He was transferred out just before the assassination and read a whole background story on Oswald in a New Zealand newspaper before Oswald was charged. His professional assessment was that it was a cover story (false appearance again) to distract people from the truth. He believes he was sent to the South Pole to stop him from allowing better security in hostile Dallas, where protection of the President was allowed to be lax. Kennedy fired several powerful intelligence officers and planned to withdraw what troops there were in Vietnam. Kennedy also was slashing defense spending. Kennedy’s actions were a threat to that military-industrial complex, which “X” believes got Kennedy killed. Here we have a man hiding under the surface, not even revealing his own name, but who actually wants to bring truth into the light of day.

After Garrison arrests Clay Shaw, he is dismissed as an agent involved in the assassination by Earl Warren, and the FBI gives no credence to Garrison’s assertions. There are lies put forth about how Garrison intimidated, bribed, and drugged witnesses, and that he was tied to gangsters. In this film, we again have a false front put on again, in this case a negative appearance to cover the positive motives of an individual. Garrison suffers tax audits and is forced to leave the National Guard based on what the movie sees as a persecution of Garrison for getting too close to the truth of the conspiracy.

Broussard can’t tolerate the idea that Lyndon Johnson might have been involved in the assassination, as Garrison implies. He leaves the investigation, but he returns later to tell him that he heard of a hit placed on Garrison, which follows a previous threat against the DA’s daughter. But Broussard trying to help Garrison is phony, and he actually tries to set Garrison up at an airport restroom to insinuate that Garrison had a homosexual encounter. The team discovers that Broussard turned all their findings over to the FBI. The traitor (again, someone who appears to be other than he is) in their midst is especially upsetting to Garrison and his people, who are besieged on all sides.

Martin Luther King, Jr., an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War, was assassinated in 1968. and a couple of months later, Robert Kennedy is killed. Garrison predicted that “they” wouldn’t allow Kennedy to get elected and carry on his brother’s anti-military policies. Garrison’s wife now believes her husband’s quest is a just one as the enormity of what is happening hits them both. Garrison confesses that he is now truly “scared,” not for himself, but for the country, as democracy and the virtues on which the nation was established are threatened. They find solace in each other’s arms as a sanctuary from the assault on the nation.

The trial of Clay Shaw begins, but Garrison has trouble getting subpoenas and extraditions. The defense attorney attacks the character of the state’s witnesses, accusing one of being one a liar, another a drug addict, and another unbalanced mentally. The lawyer Dean Andrews now disavows under oath any of the statements Garrison says Andrews made to him. The judge says that Saw admitting to the alias of Bertrand is inadmissible because a lawyer wasn’t present, which Garrison says is never required when someone is being asked if using another name. Shaw of course denies doing anything wrong or even knowing those who supposedly he conspired with.

Then comes the long speech by Garrison that includes discussion about the “magic bullet” theory propagated by the Warren Commission. He details how impossible is the theory of so much damage being done by one shot. By using the Abraham Zapruder film, which was locked away for five years, his point is to show to what illogical lengths the conspiracy has gone to cover up the truth.

The jury found Clay Shaw innocent based on the evidence, but one juror stated that there was a belief that there was a conspiracy. The end credits note that, later, the CIA admitted that Clay Shaw was a part-time contract agent for the intelligence agency, and that secret records concerning the assassination would not be released until 2029. Some were later released by the Trump Administration.

Garrison at the end of his speech says, “it’s up to you,” to fight for truth, to look behind the lies and preserve the ideals of the United States. He is talking to the jury, but Costner is looking right at the camera, and at us. We are the ones Oliver Stone is addressing.