JFK: One Day in America

Had way to many commercials me and my best friends dad enjoyed the archive footage but way to many commercials hence the two out of ten. If it had less commercials than maybe it would have been better looking forward to the history channel take on Former President John F. Kennedy. What else could I say about i had high hopes for it and i mean very high hopes for it. I am huge history buff but this hit a cord that didn't do to well I wish it was less commercials but I get why it had so many cause they need to make money somehow. I wouldn't even recommend to a history scholar that's how bad the commercials ruined the experience for me.

I was impressed with how this documentary was put together. The interviews with secret service men, journalists and actual hours of footage gave an in depth look at the events of the day that changed America and the political landscape. I appreciate that the feature did not try to push Lee Harvey Oswald as the only shooter as this version is simply not true. Facts and commonsense show he was not a lone gunman who acted alone. But putting that aside, this feature moves away from this and shows the footage, events and reactions of the event. It lives up to its title and description which is to capture the day and events unfolded. I feel we should not get too hung up or fixated on the conspiracy because it was covered up and they want to keep it that way because they got away it. I am skeptical a little with how Jack Ruby was portrayed as someone who loved the Kennedy's and conveniently was able to access the police station which held Oswald. But again it could have been sloppy police work, the day was full of sloppy protection and police work. Too many questions that did not get answered. Overall a well put together feature that captured the shocking events of the day.

This is just your usual run of the mill JFK documentary. Though it has people who are still alive and were either part of the Government at that time, involved in the City of Dallas, or had a connection with Oswald. National Geographic has added color to some of the archival footage, which didn't needed to be done but whatever.

There's not much that is really uncovered here that is new, there is plenty of information left out. Really nothing in it is new. We all know that this year marked the release of the Additional Documents Release starting in April-Aug, which is all available on line through the National Archives website.

It is worth giving it a watch, but don't expect to learn any new information or details. This is still one well kept secret.

The best part of this series is the interviews with actual participants and witnesses of that fateful day in Dallas, though by this time, so distant from those events, most seem somewhat dispassionate, and their stories, retold probably hundreds of times, sometimes take on the suggestion of a melodramatic script. Completely understandable, of course. How many docs have they been in? The constant, slow, morbid funeral home dirge in the background is laughably heavy handed.

You'd think there's nothing left to say about this subject; no new information to offer, and no new footage to be seen. But what this series has done is reprehensible. They've taken lots of the now-exhausted familiar footage of that day and falsified it with colorization. Yes, even videotape material has been infected with this falsification that has been used to attack any number of black and white films and still photographs that can be seen on the internet and other cable TV offerings.

So if every frame of a scene has been tampered with, how much trust is deserved? They also did an extremely cowardly act; the pivot point of the whole real-life incident; the Zapruder film is shown, everybody's seen it a thousand times, so we know what the fatal shot looks like. BUT HERE, IT'S BEEN REMOVED. I guess with CGI or something, so it runs smooth, but terrible or not, it's vital to show it. The audience is being protected. It's being infantalized. There are many, better documentaries on this event all ready made.

This is just run-of-the-mill story of the day leading up to the event, the event and the manhunt. Nothing new.

No mention of the umbrella man even though he's in the clips or the man with the walkie talkie next to him merely metres from JFK. No mention of how everyone turns to the grassy nole, or that behind the grassy nole there's a train station carpark that was never secured. No mention that the carcano rifle is different to the one lee holds in the photos. Nothing...

my recommendation is to take your time on youtube. There are some amazing documentaries that dive deep in the story.. unlike this dribble.

Jfk one day in america brings nothing to the table. You might as well watch a more comprehensive show that looks at all facets of that tragic day.