Killing Kennedy

For those unfamiliar with that fateful day, this ridiculous Brothers Grimm fable does nothing but provide an outlet for those wishing to waste 2 hours. O'Reilly the so-called historian did nothing with his ' Killing Kennedy ' book turned into film except brutally murder the truth by parroting the completely discredited Warren Commission lie. Remember Bill O the one time Inside Edition reporter at large? The same guy who said he was present in Florida the moment Oswald confidant and probable CIA handler George De Morherenschilt committed suicide only to later discover the following day in was in a taped telephone conversation with the late and reputable JFK assassination researcher Gaton Fonzi asking what had happened to old George? In the JFK case alone, O'Reilly has about as much credibility for honesty as Bill or Hillary Clinton testifying under oath. Just as one example of the numerous preposterous scenes on full display, we have non-convicted assassin LHO STANDING while demonstrating his yet to be duplicated marksman proficiency gunning down JFK and wounding the Governor. Too bad the TBD 6th floor SE window at the time was only open 14 inches which meant that not only was LHO a superb marksman, he also managed to fire through a glass window three times without shattering it or leaving any trace of bullet holes. This pathetic vomit inspiring film was steered toward those completely clueless of the entire case or those clinging lone-nutter syncopates who are blind to reality of what really happened. This doesn't even take into account the illegal theft of JFK's remains from Parkland hospital later spirited away on AF-1 to its eventually place in Bethesda where the most inept, illegal and fraudulent so-called autopsy in history occurred. There isn't enough time or space available to address this case on this board. But suffice it to say that all the moronic film accomplished was nothing more that typical O'Reilly, Hanks, Posner, and Bugliosi lies to continue the dishonesty in certain halls of the US government and their lemmings in the media.

Although purportedly this film is based on Bill O'Reilly's book of the same title, Killing Kennedy might well have been based on the Warren Commission Report.

If offers tantalizing hints and glimpses at those put forth by conspiracy theorists of all kinds, the Mafia, the Communists, the ultra right wing, but no one who accepts the Warren Commission will not have any problem with this film.

That being said this is a dual story of a winner and a loser. John F. Kennedy by virtue of his birth into a rich and powerful family was destined for greatness. But as Rob Lowe as JFK ruefully remarked this was supposed to be for his older brother Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. who was killed in World War II.

The loser was ne'er do well Lee Harvey Oswald played by Will Rothbaar who became a Marxist/Leninist because he couldn't hold down a job. He went to Russia and found the Soviet Union not quite what he imagined it to be. Few did who made the journey. He did bring home a Russian wife whom he abused.

No need to go into a plot here. I think most literate people know the bare facts of the crime of the last century. Rob Lowe does well as JFK, Jack Noseworthy is in complete simpatico with Lowe playing Robert Kennedy and Ginnifer Goodwin is a believable and credible Jackie Kennedy.

This version will not however create the controversy that Executive Action or JFK did. It certainly breaks no new ground.

This is Bill O'Reilly's take on the assassination of President Kennedy. Maybe there's a greater depth in the book, but the movie is a fairly superficial examination of Kennedy (Rob Lowe) and Lee Harvey Oswalt (Will Rothhaar). Two TV hours with all the commercials is just not enough to do a deep look into two big characters like Kennedy and Oswalt.

There isn't much new here for Kennedy. It's a well traveled path. Of course Bill puts in all the hot button topics about the womanizing and the drug injections. Rob Lowe does little more than mimicry. Ginnifer Goodwin doesn't have the regal stature of Mrs Kennedy. Any number of other movies make a more compelling portrait. For example, the Cuban missile crisis was done better in Thirteen Days (2000).

My hope was for the Oswalt half. They could give him a depth that isn't out there in any movie. But I think Will Rothhaar does a relatively bland job. Michelle Trachtenberg does a much better job. Her role in the family is absolutely fascinating. The movie really needed to concentrate more on the Oswalts and sideline the Kennedys.

The technicals are relatively good for a TV movie. The style is still unimaginative. For the budget, we can't expect much more. It certainly doesn't have the tension or the suspense. We get nothing but the simplified highlights.

What a shame Rob Lowe's great portrayal of President Kennedy is wasted on such a sellout production of the notoriously inaccurate Warren Commission Report. Little if any makes sense in this story, but the real clincher is Jack Ruby's absurd scene of the teary eyed mobster all broken up for Jackie Kennedy's ordeal! Come on, give us a break! I think Lowe's portrayal is the best there's ever been, he really looks the part, but it will be forgotten in the movie's general feel of mainstream official story. Blah! Ginnifer Goodwin is also very good as Jacqueline Kennedy and she comes across as loving and dedicated as the real one must have been. Kudos also for Bobby and Ken O'Donnell. I don't think this one contains any spoilers, I mean we all know the story and how it ends, but what a waste of (prime)time!

Will Rothhaar's portrayal of Lee Harvey Oswald carries "Killing Kennedy." At two hours, with the last 35 minutes completely dominated by commercial breaks, there is simply not enough time to provide any depth or layering to JFK's side of the story. Rob Lowe does a fine impersonation of Kennedy, but ultimately he is the star of a flip book about the highlights of JFK's presidency. Oswald's ideology and personality disorders were the dominant themes of the last years of his life, more so than the outward trappings. Oswald's life was complex, too, yet the script of "Killing Kennedy" gives Rothhaar far more room to move, and this he uses to build a portrayal of a sociopath driven by paranoia, unfocused anger, misperception and arrogance.

Despite the thousands of forests that have fallen so that books might be printed about the assassination, Oswald remains an enigma to many people. Rothhaar's portrayal of Oswald ably depicts his fundamental inability to accurately assess people, organizations and situations, which left him perpetually confused, frustrated and angry. The peculiar, menacing aspects of his personality made him an abusive husband, made friendships impossible, and insured that he would be fired after only a few weeks from yet another menial job.

"Killing Kennedy" makes the case for Oswald as the lone gunman, as do Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard in their self-same titled book on which the movie is based. Whether or not you subscribe to their version of events, their portrayal of Lee Harvey Oswald as political assassin is convincing. Undeterred by his failures and dismissive of his repeated rejections, Oswald maintained the fiction that he was a revolutionary, an insurgent in movements he believed he saw happening before everyone else. There is "misguided," then there is "delusional." The former can evoke some sympathy. The latter, never.

Sociopaths have delusions of grandeur, and a notion that they are better than the groups that reject them. Lee Harvey Oswald had both, and no reason for either.