This is a 50-minute retrospective of John F. Kennedy Jr., made up entirely of recollections from his close friends, not his family or any other commentators.
For all the talk about his 'place in history', these clips confirm the blunt truth that he was not a remarkable man in any way, except in his handsome appearance and agreeable personality (part-humble, part-irreverent), which amplified his image as a wholehearted social figure of Manhattan. It might have been otherwise, if he had been allowed to follow his first ambition to be an actor, for which he was apparently well-suited (though this goes unmentioned). Instead his mother Jacqueline shoved him into the legal profession, which he never enjoyed.
Fatherless from the age of three, he came to regard Bobby Kennedy as a father-figure, only to lose him in the same way. A very different role-model, the hippie musician John Perry Barlow, reminds us of John's philosophical reflection "People often tell me I could be a great man. I'd rather be a good man." Barlow comments that he suffered from the paparazzi exploiting him like a commodity. "It's difficult to maintain your goodness when you're being treated like a thing." The part-Iranian reporter Christiane Amanpour, described as a 'roommate' from university, found the press attention 'grotesque'. But the effect of the paparazzi on his bride Carolyn was far worse, placing the marriage under serious strain. (Apparently Carolyn was a real beauty, but just not photogenic; those mad-looking eyes were not what you got close-up.)
The magazine 'George' was, of course, the arena in which he and his public hoped he might excel. Cindy Crawford dressed up as George Washington certainly made for a creative front-cover, but in trying to steer clear of editorial clichés, John wandered too far into esoteric side-alleys, and the magazine never really jelled. Someone called it 'goofy'. Also, multimedia was now in the ascendant, and people suddenly found they could do without printed magazines for the first time. By the end, investors were turning away, and he was seriously distracted - perhaps fatally so - as he climbed aboard that single-engined plane and took off into the evening haze.
There are only a few negative impressions of John. His rippled torso might suggest athletic prowess, but this was deceptive (it runs in the family too; old Joe Kennedy had to bribe the press to say that his sons were good at football.) And apparently his boardroom dialogue didn't measure up either.
But the general verdict on him is overwhelmingly positive, and all his friends went into denial - as did half the world - when the little plane unaccountably failed to arrive at Martha's Vineyard.
For all the talk about his 'place in history', these clips confirm the blunt truth that he was not a remarkable man in any way, except in his handsome appearance and agreeable personality (part-humble, part-irreverent), which amplified his image as a wholehearted social figure of Manhattan. It might have been otherwise, if he had been allowed to follow his first ambition to be an actor, for which he was apparently well-suited (though this goes unmentioned). Instead his mother Jacqueline shoved him into the legal profession, which he never enjoyed.
Fatherless from the age of three, he came to regard Bobby Kennedy as a father-figure, only to lose him in the same way. A very different role-model, the hippie musician John Perry Barlow, reminds us of John's philosophical reflection "People often tell me I could be a great man. I'd rather be a good man." Barlow comments that he suffered from the paparazzi exploiting him like a commodity. "It's difficult to maintain your goodness when you're being treated like a thing." The part-Iranian reporter Christiane Amanpour, described as a 'roommate' from university, found the press attention 'grotesque'. But the effect of the paparazzi on his bride Carolyn was far worse, placing the marriage under serious strain. (Apparently Carolyn was a real beauty, but just not photogenic; those mad-looking eyes were not what you got close-up.)
The magazine 'George' was, of course, the arena in which he and his public hoped he might excel. Cindy Crawford dressed up as George Washington certainly made for a creative front-cover, but in trying to steer clear of editorial clichés, John wandered too far into esoteric side-alleys, and the magazine never really jelled. Someone called it 'goofy'. Also, multimedia was now in the ascendant, and people suddenly found they could do without printed magazines for the first time. By the end, investors were turning away, and he was seriously distracted - perhaps fatally so - as he climbed aboard that single-engined plane and took off into the evening haze.
There are only a few negative impressions of John. His rippled torso might suggest athletic prowess, but this was deceptive (it runs in the family too; old Joe Kennedy had to bribe the press to say that his sons were good at football.) And apparently his boardroom dialogue didn't measure up either.
But the general verdict on him is overwhelmingly positive, and all his friends went into denial - as did half the world - when the little plane unaccountably failed to arrive at Martha's Vineyard.
