The appeal of this motion-picture for me--and, I surmise, the reason it was made--is not so much to be a profitable work of art, but rather, a courageous effort to search for the truth.
The obscurity of the film shows that, despite the efforts of courageous progressives who put their money where their hearts were- -Kirk Douglas, Robert Ryan, Burt Lancaster, to name just a few--the reactionary, established powers had the last laugh.
Because the established order of the financial-military mafia that rules this country can only be sustained through fiction and, consequently, any social commentary trending towards fact must be marginalized or lampooned as 'conspiracy theory.'
Now, down to a couple of brass tacks. I already had studied the JFK assassination quite a bit when first I saw this film, but I was surprised that a movie made in 1973 could capture so many of the key elements of the conspiracy, and do it so seamlessly, without getting lost in a morass of details.
Two of these key elements treated compellingly in this film are:
1) the set-up of Oswald, the 'patron', as he is termed in the movie. Step by step Farington (the character played by Lancaster) briefs Robert Ryan (one of the principal conspirators) about Oswald's very, very curious background and CV--his activities in the USMC, his Russian language training, his abrupt departure, the inconsistencies of his emergency leave, his circuitous route to Moscow, his melodramatic defection, then his return to the US, his fair-play for Cuba activities--and, all along, the almost magical manner in which these gyrations went off without a hitch, and were even expedited and facilitated by various US agencies. As Ryan concludes: obviously was an agent of the CIA or ONI, his bizarre activities were machinations to send to the USSR as a 'mole', or 'trojan horse', but the Soviets were past masters in espionnage, and didn't take the bait.
2) a point so obvious that it sometimes is forgotten, or simply defies belief: a scene in the movie where a table-ful of reporters incredulously ask a Dallas police official what records, what transcripts or tapes have been made of Oswald's hours-long interrogations, only to be told--with no hint of embarrassment--that there are none. This is just one compelling example of another basic proof of the JFK conspiracy: the incredibly incompetent manner in which the official investigation of the crime was conducted. And yes, I mean incredible in the literal sense: a bit of investigatory incompetence here and there would be understandable--but the consistency of these 'errors' shows conclusively a deliberate effort to mask what really happened.
Please remember that Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster also were part of Seven Days in May, which JFK asked Frankheimer to make, a movie about a right-wing military takeover of the USA.
So for all those who poo-poo the idea of a JFK conspiracy and commonly dismiss believers in such a conspiracy as lunatics, consider the fact that such outstanding individuals as Douglas, Lancaster, and Frankenheimer, intelligent, and with many contacts-- BUT with a lot of DISincentives, nevertheless repeatedly made pointed efforts suggesting the existence of an organized plot to subvert democracy in the USA, doesn't this give you pause?
This is a reasonable representation of how the JFK conspiracy assassination may have been planned and executed; it's muted and almost documentary in approach, but this undramatic approach only makes it more powerful.
The obscurity of the film shows that, despite the efforts of courageous progressives who put their money where their hearts were- -Kirk Douglas, Robert Ryan, Burt Lancaster, to name just a few--the reactionary, established powers had the last laugh.
Because the established order of the financial-military mafia that rules this country can only be sustained through fiction and, consequently, any social commentary trending towards fact must be marginalized or lampooned as 'conspiracy theory.'
Now, down to a couple of brass tacks. I already had studied the JFK assassination quite a bit when first I saw this film, but I was surprised that a movie made in 1973 could capture so many of the key elements of the conspiracy, and do it so seamlessly, without getting lost in a morass of details.
Two of these key elements treated compellingly in this film are:
1) the set-up of Oswald, the 'patron', as he is termed in the movie. Step by step Farington (the character played by Lancaster) briefs Robert Ryan (one of the principal conspirators) about Oswald's very, very curious background and CV--his activities in the USMC, his Russian language training, his abrupt departure, the inconsistencies of his emergency leave, his circuitous route to Moscow, his melodramatic defection, then his return to the US, his fair-play for Cuba activities--and, all along, the almost magical manner in which these gyrations went off without a hitch, and were even expedited and facilitated by various US agencies. As Ryan concludes: obviously was an agent of the CIA or ONI, his bizarre activities were machinations to send to the USSR as a 'mole', or 'trojan horse', but the Soviets were past masters in espionnage, and didn't take the bait.
2) a point so obvious that it sometimes is forgotten, or simply defies belief: a scene in the movie where a table-ful of reporters incredulously ask a Dallas police official what records, what transcripts or tapes have been made of Oswald's hours-long interrogations, only to be told--with no hint of embarrassment--that there are none. This is just one compelling example of another basic proof of the JFK conspiracy: the incredibly incompetent manner in which the official investigation of the crime was conducted. And yes, I mean incredible in the literal sense: a bit of investigatory incompetence here and there would be understandable--but the consistency of these 'errors' shows conclusively a deliberate effort to mask what really happened.
Please remember that Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster also were part of Seven Days in May, which JFK asked Frankheimer to make, a movie about a right-wing military takeover of the USA.
So for all those who poo-poo the idea of a JFK conspiracy and commonly dismiss believers in such a conspiracy as lunatics, consider the fact that such outstanding individuals as Douglas, Lancaster, and Frankenheimer, intelligent, and with many contacts-- BUT with a lot of DISincentives, nevertheless repeatedly made pointed efforts suggesting the existence of an organized plot to subvert democracy in the USA, doesn't this give you pause?
This is a reasonable representation of how the JFK conspiracy assassination may have been planned and executed; it's muted and almost documentary in approach, but this undramatic approach only makes it more powerful.