J.F.K.: A One-Man Show

I videotaped this PBS production back in 1984. Have been going through my old VHS tapes to downsize and decide what to keep and what to donate or throw away. Watched "JFK: A One Man" show again today. I am definitely keeping this tape. Am so glad I taped the program back in the day because I cannot find it for sale as VHS or DVD.

I am a JFK fan. Was 19 years old and a freshman in college when he was assassinated. In my opinion, no other president has compared to him over the years.

I've watched most of the JFK movies and feel that none of the actors come even close to capturing his personality or good looks. I disagree with reviewer who thinks Martin Sheen was the best. As far as I'm concerned, Mike Farrell's performance is the finest representation of JFK.

I remember seeing this years ago when I was in High school-- I really wish I had taped it, but I really don't think I had a VCR back then!! I remember I did enjoy the program very much and would like to see this again because it has left a mark on me and how we perceive and Receive, our political leaders. I encourage PBS or some other network or cable entity to show this again because so many young people could get a completely different perspective on our political leaders. This is one of those rare opportunities for not just younger people, but those of us who saw it but once, to see a production that is well done, again.

Mike Farrel, Who I had sent an email to about three years ago on his portrayal of JFK, was very gracious in his response to me and explained that doing this role was something he never saw himself doing, but he was glad he did it because he got to know JFK on a whole new level, and because of that, his portrayal was done with graceful enthusiasm,and it showed.

Again, a program that I haven't seen in 25 years is still with me, it must have been an extremely well produced and well acted play. If you do get find this somewhere, please pass the information along to other users because this is one production that you should not miss if you get a chance to see it.

Movies about the Kennedy clan are a dime a dozen, we might as well face that. The "one man" show is a great tradition that truly tests an actor. Hal Holbrook started it with his great portrayal in Mark Twain Tonight. Other actors who have done amazingly well at these types of shows are James Whitmore in Give 'em Hell Harry and Frank Gorshin in his one man George Burns show. I always think of Mike Farrell as BJ on MASH. I couldn't picture him as JFK, but I think he did very well. He talked about playing Kennedy and said he dreaded it at first but what he thought would be a hairy experience was a great fun one. Martin Sheen will always be the actor who played Kennedy the best, but Farrell did a fine job as well. His Boston accent was passable. He even played it for laughs sometimes. He talked about his wedding to Jackie and said "it was just a simple wedding, we only had 2,000 guests" This was a very enjoyable performance by an underrated actor and I wish they would make it available on video. I write to celebrities as a hobby and got a very nice reply from Mister Farrell several years ago.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, perhaps the most charismatic President of the 20th Century, was a man of so many contradictions that his life is a 'natural' for Hollywood. A wild, reckless youth who fraternized with movie starlets and Nazi agents, yet would become a legitimate war hero; successor, upon his older brother's death, to his corrupt, driven father's single-minded desire to put a Kennedy in the White House; sexually amoral, yet staunchly devoted to his wife and children; an idealist who could quote Proust and Robert Frost, yet was gullible enough to be talked into approving the Bay of Pigs; a pacifist who preferred blockading Cuba rather than taking more direct military options against Russia, yet would order the first major buildup of American military forces in Vietnam. Whether his assassination at 46 was the work of a 'lone gunman' or a coldly calculated conspiracy, it would forever etch the image of the dynamic, vigorous leader onto our nation's psyche, and the revelations subsequent years have disclosed have only served to increase our fascination of him.

Hollywood's attempts to 'capture' the elusive Kennedy mystique have been a mixed bag; William Devane, in "The Missiles of October" offered much of JFK's charm and power, but lacked depth; Martin Sheen, as "Kennedy", channeled his introspective qualities, but lacked his physical vitality and 'presence'; Bruce Greenwood, in THIRTEEN DAYS, barely 'captured' JFK at all, despite appearing in the most accurate version of the Cuban missile crisis. The closest an actor has come to 'looking' like Kennedy has been Art Hindle, in the TV-movie, "J. Edgar Hoover", but the role was little more than a cameo. None of the many other actors who have portrayed JFK, including Cliff Robertson, James Franciscus, Stephen Collins, and William L. Petersen, have come close to capturing the fallen President's undeniable magnetism.

All of which makes Mike Farrell's tour-de-force portrayal in "J.F.K.: A One-Man Show", more remarkable. The actor, best-known as 'B.J. Hunnicutt' in TV's "M*A*S*H", would seem a most unlikely prospect as Kennedy, but with a convincing wig, a Boston brogue, and a dynamic, yet introspective approach to the role, he captures the JFK persona far more effectively than any other actor, thus far. In the production's single set, a sort of cross between a study and the Oval Office, Farrell as Kennedy reminisces about his life, from his boyhood difficulties in winning his father's favor in the midst of the large Kennedy family ("My brother, Joe, did everything better"), to his joy at courting and marrying Jacqueline Bouvier, to entering politics, and facing both physical and political crises. While the Kennedy humor is frequently evident, the sorrow at his mistakes is equally genuine, and as Farrell sits, pondering how he will be remembered, in the famous Kennedy rocking chair, it is not hard to envision JFK himself, asking our generation the same question.

Why this remarkable portrayal is seldom aired is a mystery...I doubt if audiences will ever see a better-crafted interpretation of our most enigmatic President than Mike Farrell gives, in what I believe is the finest performance of his career.

If the opportunity arises to catch "J.F.K.: A One-Man Show", don't miss it!