Peter Jennings Reporting: The Kennedy Assassination - Beyond Conspiracy

First off, this is unavailable on youtube, even for a price. That tells you that many want to shut this up, rather than debate it. It does a very good job of debunking most conspiracy theories but I deduct two stars because it doesn't debunk easy ones they had time for. Examples: Jean Hill claimed she saw Kennedy's head explode but the Zapruder film clearly shows her looking in a different direction at the instant he was shot. Also the single bullet penetrated Connolly's arm but it would still be possible to for him to grip his hat. Clenched, tense fists are a common symptom of being shot. Just look at both of Kennedy's hands in the same frame....tightly clenched

This film uses Stone's film as a punching bag, trying to fit a complex subject into an hour. It's a whitewash - not necessarily of the fact that a conspiracy existed, but that we don't know. Anyone who has examined the evidence knows that there are too many unanswered questions to land definitively on either side of the fence. But when a film shows one witness claiming that Kennedy's head wound was "clearly" suffered from the rear, it tells you all you need to know: look elsewhere for honest questions, honest answers. Stone's movie was flawed - most especially by its gratuitous addition of fictional elements which have never appeared in any of the serious challenges to the Warren Commission findings. (Donald Southerland's character, for instance) But Stone has always been the master of "bulldozer" cinema; that he would play with history for his own purposes does not diminish the very real likelihood that JFK was killed by a conspiracy.

Finally, a compelling documentary that doesn't use invented facts to persuade it's audience. The assassination of John F Kennedy shocked the nation and the world. A young, charismatic and very popular U.S. president, murdered in the prime of his life. And the villain? A nobody. A loser. How can that be? Then, two days later ... he is assassinated while in police custody, on live television. Smells like a conspiracy to most rational people. That's where we begin. And through interviews with local and national journalists, we get the feeling that most truly believed that there was a much bigger story than the one the public were being told. Forty years later, and clearly a great many people (most of the U.S. population) believe we have not been told the true story. I grew up hearing about the conspiracies, not the evidence that convinced the authorities that Oswald was the killer, and he acted alone. I knew that the shots Oswald made that day were impossible, and NO ONE had duplicated that kind of accuracy in that limited amount of time. This same claim is repeated in Stone's film "JFK". We've heard about a "magic bullet", which changed directions and stopped in mid-air, before continuing into the body of Governor Connelly. This is what the public, at least those who paid attention, heard from our media. I was convinced it had to be a conspiracy. Well, what this documentary does, is shine a light on the myths first introduced by Authors pushing their version of events of that day, and those in the media who parroted them. The predominant piece of media impacting the public's view of that day, being Oliver Stone's popular film "JFK". We learn, by documented evidence, that these myths are either flat out lies, or distortions of the truth. We learn that the witnesses these authors have used to make their cases, have said things that conflict with the accounts from the authors. We learn that nearly every claim which supports the conspiracy, has been discredited by the facts ... the evidence. What do we have left? We have JFK's head moving "back and to the left" after the fatal head shot. Some people will never get past that visual. I understand that urge. But, if you want to learn the evidence of this case, in a thoughtful, rational presentation, this is the documentary to see. If you're not emotionally tied to one side or the other, and just want to know what happened? Watch this documentary.

If you are a believer in a conspiracy to murder John F. Kennedy and you have a scientific mind, you will no longer believe the conspiracy theories after viewing this special. The special supports all of its conclusions with compelling facts and evidence, directly disproving many of the fundamental assumptions of the conspiracists.

You will see many opinions by people who refuse to let go. But you will also notice that not a single one of them supports their objections to this documentary with any fact-based arguments. When they do try to argue fact, they are usually mistaken (example: reviewer Gregg Wager's assertion that this documentary does not mention the bullet that hit Gov. Connolly's wrist: untrue). Don't let them dissuade you from watching an excellently (and moreover, responsibly) crafted special.

A Great documentary I also recommend - JFK Beyond the magic bullet.