And now for you conspiracy theorists - I present to you - Oliver Stone's JFK

4/13/13 JFK, Best Cinematography and Best Editing, 1991

I had breakfast today with two friends and we engaged in a mildly political discussion. I still felt in a political mood, so choosing between The Robe, Emma or JFK, I opted for JFK. Oliver Stone has never been very quiet about his political leanings, and there is very little subtlety in JFK, sometimes I felt that Kevin Costner's Jim Garrison was swinging a sledge hammer. The movie looks at the assassination of JFK and how quickly the government settled on the 'single-shooter' theory, and Garrison's alternative theory. Jim Garrison, New Orleans District Attorney, starts to dig a little bit into Lee Harvey Oswald's activities in New Orleans prior to the assassination. Since the Warren Commission in the 1960s, more information has come to light about who may have been involved and acceptance that there may have been more than one shooter. The movie is long, but I think it was worth it, if only to hear and see the way Garrison and his team put the pieces together, as well as to see many great actors, including Walter Matthau (in an all too brief appearance), Jack Lemmon, Ed Asner, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman. The movie won for Best Cinematography and Best Editing; Joe Hutshing and Pietro Scalia did a fabulous job of editing the film, including real, contemporary footage (including the Zapruder film) and other footage made to look like it was filmed in 1963. Stone used black and white and color film to move between different parts of the story. It could have been distracting, but I kind of liked it. There is a lot that will never be known about what happened in November 1963, the events preceding or the events immediately following Kennedy's assassination.Some of that information may be available as soon as 2017, and I'm sure there will be new books and movies shortly after that. It is one of the watershed moments in American history and we are coming up on its 50th anniversary, and perhaps that is a good reason to watch the movie, and perhaps read one of the many books on the subject.

I want to take a second and thank those of you who read the blog. It is nearing 2,000 hits, and there have been visitors from Australia, Indonesia, but especially lately, Germany, Russia and the UK (as well as the US). Hopefully you enjoy the commentary. The influential and respected movie critic, Roger Ebert died this month after a long struggle with cancer and other ailments. I will never be Roger Ebert, but I hope to share my love of movies the way he did. Well, enough of that, back to the movies.