Although he doesn't appear it, Kevin Costner was at the time of this filming -- and perhaps even today -- mentally disabled, and he does an amazing turn as a mentally disabled Kenneth O'Donnell, personal assistant to the Kennedy's in various roles, a capable man who in actual history was more of a "fly on the wall," during these issues. Costner's interpretation of O'Donnell with a strange speech impediment was an artistic choice I scratched my head over, but Kevin Costner did all those salacious things a person has to do to achieve his station (it was nice knowing you, Meritocracy). Anytime there is a story of unbelievable circumstances, you usually have someone with which the audience can identify (think Lois Lane in Superman), so I think the unskilled screenwriter made Simple Jack Costner that character. Watching his performance, I wondered if they were casting this, and Costner was jumping up and down, saying, "I want to play Kennedy! I want that role! Listen -- listen ... I been wathing The Simpsons. The mayor of Springfield is patterned after Jack Kennedy! CHOW-DAH! Say it, Frenchie! CHOWWWW_DAH! See, I can do it!" But he can't. It's not just the accent; if Costner is trying to play angry or threatening, he makes you erupt into laughter. Bruce Greenwood and Steven Culp? That's where it gets impressive. Greenwood doesn't forget John Kennedy's physical pain from war injuries, and both know the limits of their accent performance. There is an old saying in acting: "If you're doing an accent, you're acting the accent," not the character, but Greenwood and Culp probably ran around talking like that, recording themselves and correcting, because the performance bears that out.
The choices of the screenwriter are horrible, With steadicam, we could have just been in the rooms where this took place. We didn't need O'Donnell, but O'Donnell's son was an investor in the film or the production company, I forgot which. The photography of this film holds to the standard of a made-for-TV movie, but the inclusion of polished-up, actual historical footage is noteworthy while blending seemlessly into the overall film.
This is a film -- look, if you have a Sunday afternoon to kill, and you love history, this is your movie. It's a movie your dad would watch on AMC or something and say, "Yeah, that movie was alright." It gives you American good guys and Russkie bad guys. That made me wish there was a version from the Soviet perspective I could show you guys. That would be funny as hell.
The choices of the screenwriter are horrible, With steadicam, we could have just been in the rooms where this took place. We didn't need O'Donnell, but O'Donnell's son was an investor in the film or the production company, I forgot which. The photography of this film holds to the standard of a made-for-TV movie, but the inclusion of polished-up, actual historical footage is noteworthy while blending seemlessly into the overall film.
This is a film -- look, if you have a Sunday afternoon to kill, and you love history, this is your movie. It's a movie your dad would watch on AMC or something and say, "Yeah, that movie was alright." It gives you American good guys and Russkie bad guys. That made me wish there was a version from the Soviet perspective I could show you guys. That would be funny as hell.