JFK
The story that won't go away.
CAST
Jim Garrison: Kevin Costner
Liz Garrison: Sissy Spacek
Lee Harvey Oswald: Gary Oldman
Clay Shaw: Tommy Lee Jones
David Ferrie: Joe Pesci
Supporting Roles: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau,
Kevin Bacon, John Candy, and Donald Sutherland.
A
couple weeks ago, for a paper he was writing in school, my cousin asked me,
“What is a rhetorical question?” I was
going to say the definition, but instead I said, “Who shot JFK?” When anyone asks the question, “Who shot JFK?”
they either receive no answer or someone’s opinion. Some people think Lee Harvey Oswald did, while some think the
mafia, and some think the CIA. Oliver
Stone presents evidence th
at supports each of these opinions in his visually
stunning, head-spinning masterpiece JFK.
The
first few minutes of the movie carve slate for the entire movie. There was a
combination of actual footage of November 22, 1963 and Stone’s footage, which
depicted actual things that were not on
film of the events preceding the assassination. Suddenly, in the middle of all the action, the screen turned
black. The sound of a rifle being loaded was the only sound. Then, Silence.... “Boom! Boom! Boom!” These were the shots that killed John F.
Kennedy.
Next,
Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner), the New Orleans district attorney, was introduced
as one of many people who sympathized for their dead leader. He, like every American that day, sadly
watched news reports that their leader, who kept them out of nuclear war and
strived for peace and equality, was murdered.
Soon, Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) was arrested and, a few days
later, murdered by Jack Ruby. A
frustrated Garrison decided like most Americans that since the main suspect was
murdered, it would be nearly impossible for anyone to get convictions in the
case. Since people crave closure,
Garrison like most Americans decided Oswald was the 
assassin.
Three years later after reading several books
involving the Kennedy assassination, Garrison realized his ignorance in those
few hectic days surrounding the assassination and began conducting his own
investigation. He and his assistants
researched and questioned several groups of people including Oswald’s
associates, the mob, anti-communist groups, etc. After investigating, Garrison realized that all the groups could
have been working together, and one person’s name kept appearing: Clay Shaw
(Tommy Lee Jones).
Garrison
then met with Shaw and asked him several questions. Garrison presented Shaw with evidence and quotes from interviews
he had collected to attempt to match Shaw with some of these groups of
people. But Shaw played it cool and
refused to concede that he knew any of the people mentioned by Garrison. Finally, a frustrated Garrison lost control
and accused Shaw of murdering Kennedy.
Shortly
after, “coincidently” a column of Garrison’s investigation was printed in a New
Orleans newspaper. This made people
curious of what he knew, and some of the people Garrison had interviewed began
to mysteriously die, which also must have been a coincidence. As a result, Garrison lost his chance for a
solid case against Shaw, and, since he eventually lost his case against Shaw,
his credibility was tarnished. 
Today,
Garrison’s credibility is still damaged because people believe he bribed
people, accused people whom he had feuds with, and basically manufactured false
evidence. However, few people know that
in 1979, five years after Shaw’s death, Richard Helms of the CIA testified that
Shaw was an employee of the CIA, proving that Shaw perjured himself. Although Stone may not agree with all of
Garrisons hypothesis, he still admires Garrison because he fought for what
everyone deserves, the truth. Were
Garrison’s hypotheses correct? Stone
wisely left that question up to the viewers by displaying evidence that could
point towards a number of possibilities.
This movie surfaced many questions that either remain unanswered or are met with the reply of “national security.” Why are CIA and FBI reports sealed until people familiar with the case are dead? Why can we not see the information regarding our dead President? Why, after a U.S. Senate committee determined the assassination was a probable conspiracy, has the case not been reopened? Why should hard working Americans have to beg for rights that are guaranteed in the Constitution? Once again, who killed JFK, and why?
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