Noticias

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy forced television news to come of age, along with its reporters ... including Tom Brokaw.

The veteran journalist puts his perspective on Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, and its aftermath as the new NBC special "Where Were You: The Day JFK Died Reported by Tom Brokaw" airs - fittingly - on Friday, Nov. 22. People from various walks of life, some famous (Dan Rather, Steven Spielberg, etc.) and others not, discuss their memories of that day and the impact of losing Kennedy and his intentions for the U.S.

"We kept encountering the dilemmas of 50 years later," Brokaw admits to Zap2it of planning the special. "What is it that younger audiences want and need to know, and what are older audiences that were alive at the time looking for? And what more do we know now that we didn't know then? That's a big, big piece of this,...

Even before he joined NBC, Tom Brokaw knew the impact the assassination of President John F. Kennedy would have on how network news did its job.

On Nov. 22, 1963, the veteran anchor-reporter was a local TV newsman in Omaha, Neb. He broke into a garden-show broadcast to convey the information coming from Dallas, Texas -- and as much as he remembers that day's events, he presents memories from many other Americans in Friday's (Nov. 22) NBC special "Where Were You: The Day JFK Died Reported by Tom Brokaw."

"I was 20 years old when he was elected and 23 when he was killed," Brokaw tells Zap2it. "I thought at that time that John F. Kennedy and his style, and his use of television and politics, was going to be the game plan for the foreseeable future. That was a new way of doing things in American public life.

"He was unique. He was...

Picturehouse

NEW YORK -- It's appropriate that Don Hewitt is the executive producer of this documentary, because "Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock?" resembles nothing so much as an extended segment on "60 Minutes". But that doesn't detract from the fascinating nature of the story, about Teri Horton, a 73-year-old retired long-haul truck driver who bought a painting in a California thrift shop for $5 that may or may not be a lost Jackson Pollock.

The title question was delivered in more graphic form by the feisty Horton, who had no clue that the bizarre canvas she purchased as a gag gift for a friend could conceivably be worth millions. Her lengthy and continuing battle with the art world over the painting's authenticity is the subject of this film written and directed by Harry Moses, which at times plays like a Capra-esque comedy about the little guy vs. the establishment.

Said establishment is entertainingly personified here by former Metropolitan Museum director Thomas Hoving, who dismisses both Horton and the painting with a snooty officiousness that provides the film a wonderfully entertaining villain.

Other colorful figures on display include: Peter Paul Biro, a "forensics art authenticator" who, through the use of CSI-like techniques, discovers matching fingerprints on the found painting and a can of paint from Pollock's East Hampton studio; Tod Volpe, an art dealer who once spent time in jail for fraud, who is enlisted by Horton to sell the painting; and friends and colleagues of Pollock's who offer varying opinions as to the authenticity of the canvas.

Prosaic in its storytelling and feeling overlong even with its brief 74-minute running time, the film isn't impressive on any stylistic level. But its fascinatingly ambiguous tale and bizarre cast of characters make it one of the more entertaining documentaries in recent memory.

The South by Southwest Film Festival, which runs March 10-18 in Austin, will kick off with the North American premiere of Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion, an adaptation of Garrison Keiller's radio show, and will conclude with the closing-night feature American Dreamz, a satirical look at politics and pop culture directed by Paul Weitz and starring Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid and Mandy Moore. The festival's Spotlight Premieres section will include several features about real-life figures. The lineup includes Mary Harron's The Notorious Bettie Page, about the '50s pinup model; Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus' Al Franken in God Spoke, about political commentator Al Franken; Tom Caltabiano's 95 Miles to Go, which follows comedian Ray Romano on a stand-up tour; Barry Poltermann and Frank Anderson's The Life of Reilly, in which Charles Nelson Reilly performs his one-man show; Ron Mann's Tales of the Rat Fink, a look at hot-rod designer Ed "Big Daddy" Roth; and Harry Moses' Who the $#%& is Jackson Pollock, about painter Jackson Pollock.