Killing Kennedy I've read O'Reilly's book and tonight Mrs and I watched the NatGeo movie based on the book.
I have to say both are very, well done. This is an event that cannot be unknown to anyone born in America anytime in the last five decades since it occurred, but still it's not well understood even today, for many reasons, chief of which is the reporting and the investigations that followed. What should have brought clarity and understanding, seemed only to bring more confusion and add to the many speculations.
The book and the movie bring both clarity and understanding.
The book left a lot of wiggle room on various points related to the several major unsubstantiated theories, but that was the point I think, to stick with what the known facts are and things that have been corroborated as reliable and credible. That was a good move on O'Reilly's part, even though I hope for a more exploratory, if not investigative look, at some aspects the book didn't touch on. Points that shouldn't be ignored.
The movie. Wow. In short, it was brilliant and exceptionally well done. It's a tragic and heart-wrenching tale of the best, and the worst, of humanity and that point comes through loudly in Lee Harvey Oswald, an America despising former US Marine, self-described Marxist, and pining supporter of Fidel Castro and Communist Cuba. I've never seen that aspect of Oswald's life covered so well, if at all, in any film of Kennedy's assassination and it's a very significant aspect.
Rob Lowe's portrayal of Kennedy. Pure genius. Lowe absolutely nailed Kennedy in this movie. How he spoke, how he carried himself, even down to how Kennedy walked. It's so good, you don't see Lowe at all. You see the pain stricken former captain of the ill-fated US Navy Patrol Torpedo boat PT-109, who became President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
The care that was taken to make this movie as authentic as it was gripping, was awe inspiring as well. Right down to the blending of important actual newsreel footage from that period and the portrayal of key events that have mostly not been mentioned at all, anywhere.
This was a very well done film, as was the book it was based on, and I think both will become the definitive work on the man, JFK, America's 35th President, the time in which he lived, and the still questioned assassination account.
I have to say both are very, well done. This is an event that cannot be unknown to anyone born in America anytime in the last five decades since it occurred, but still it's not well understood even today, for many reasons, chief of which is the reporting and the investigations that followed. What should have brought clarity and understanding, seemed only to bring more confusion and add to the many speculations.
The book and the movie bring both clarity and understanding.
The book left a lot of wiggle room on various points related to the several major unsubstantiated theories, but that was the point I think, to stick with what the known facts are and things that have been corroborated as reliable and credible. That was a good move on O'Reilly's part, even though I hope for a more exploratory, if not investigative look, at some aspects the book didn't touch on. Points that shouldn't be ignored.
The movie. Wow. In short, it was brilliant and exceptionally well done. It's a tragic and heart-wrenching tale of the best, and the worst, of humanity and that point comes through loudly in Lee Harvey Oswald, an America despising former US Marine, self-described Marxist, and pining supporter of Fidel Castro and Communist Cuba. I've never seen that aspect of Oswald's life covered so well, if at all, in any film of Kennedy's assassination and it's a very significant aspect.
Rob Lowe's portrayal of Kennedy. Pure genius. Lowe absolutely nailed Kennedy in this movie. How he spoke, how he carried himself, even down to how Kennedy walked. It's so good, you don't see Lowe at all. You see the pain stricken former captain of the ill-fated US Navy Patrol Torpedo boat PT-109, who became President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
The care that was taken to make this movie as authentic as it was gripping, was awe inspiring as well. Right down to the blending of important actual newsreel footage from that period and the portrayal of key events that have mostly not been mentioned at all, anywhere.
This was a very well done film, as was the book it was based on, and I think both will become the definitive work on the man, JFK, America's 35th President, the time in which he lived, and the still questioned assassination account.