JFK (1991)

First of all, RIP Roger Ebert, you will be sorely missed. But today I watched one of your favorite films in my film class. Now to be fair, I missed the first twenty minutes or so of this film, but because the film is over three hours long, that is not too much in the long run.
This film deals with reopening the Kennedy assassination to prove that it was, in fact, a conspiracy. Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner, in one of his best performances) is a district attorney in Lousiana and he decides to re-open the case, and sends the vast majority of the film gathering information and interviewing witnesses. He and his team are trying to prove that there is no way that Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman, perfect) could have acted alone. The conspiracy is so much more than Garrison ever thought. It is about the Vietnam War and how Kennedy wanted to remove troops from the country, but others didn't want that. When Garrison even goes to Washington, his version of Deep Throat, X (Donald Sutherland) arrives and tells him how deep the cover-up really is. And there is tons of cover-up, like how Kennedy's body was taken back to Washington for the autopsy but even there how the doctor was told to stop figuring out all the paths the bullets took in his body. Even witnesses testimony is tainted, with them being told that they never saw smoke coming from the other side of Dealey Plaza. The facts also just don't add up, with it being impossible for Oswald to have made the three shots, aimed perfectly in just under six seconds. And the three bullets could have never made all the wounds on the bodies of Kennedy and Texas Governor Connally. This is a great scene because Garrison references the former (and late) Pennsylvania senator, Arlen Spector, who created the magic bullet theory which Garrison dismisses as being crap.When Garrison goes onto an evening talk show, and tries to show the public some photographs, he is censored. The Zapruder film is shown at the trial for the first time. I have seen this footage serious times before. Even Robert Kennedy's assassination is part of the cover-up and an event that Garrison predicts. His own life is even in danger at times.
Garrison uncovers some crazy stories, including the homosexually of Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones) who is supposedly behind everything. (It is later revealed that he was part of the CIA.) Willie . O'Keefe (Kevin Bacon) was paid to have sex with Shaw. Joe Pesci portrays another piece of the puzzle into the idea of assassinating the president, but he is later found dead in an apparent suicide. Pesci should have received the Oscar nomination, not Jones. Sissy Spacek is great as the suffering wife of Garrison, Liz. She is struggling to care for their five children as the case consumes up more and more of her husband's time. Laurie Metcalf (Jackie from Roseanne and Mary Cooper from The Big Bang Theory) is the assistant district attorney. It is great seeing her in a different role. She is almost unrecognizable which is cool. Wayne Knight also appears as one of Garrison's minions. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau also appear in small roles.
Tons of research was done and everything appears to be historically accurate. The cinematography is great and Robert Richardson fully deserved the Oscar he received.
Though the film may not be true, if it is, then that is horribly scary. How dare the public be kept in the dark about something of this magnitude? And why was Vietnam so important that they had to kill just to stay involved over there? Though this film is incredibly lengthy, it does suck you in, despite me being horribly confused at first. There also are some funny moments, like when Pesci, Bacon and Jones dress in drag for some weird reason. The accents in this film are great and Costner is loads better here than in Dances with Wolves which actually gave him an Oscar nomination for some odd reason. I have my issues with that film, but whatever. Though this film is long, I am quite interested in the Kennedy assassination so I will probably watch it again. Grade: A