JFK blown away – what else do I have to say? (Billy Joel)
Coming up on the 60th anniversary of his assassination, JFK will be back in the news next week as the 22nd approaches.
In recognition of that event, Pam and I watched Oliver Stone’s 1991 movie about it. Up to now I have never wanted to devote the 3 hours it would take to watch the movie. However, we took the plunge the other night and it was worth it as I managed to stay up way past my bedtime to do so.
Though it was a little long, the movie has such a great cast and Stone does such a great job moving things along at a good pace that it keeps your attention throughout while revealing several “I-never-knew-that” moments. Check out this 4 minute scene where Stone incorporates the Zapruder film as lawyer Jim Garrison (Costner) sums up what went down in Dallas that day:
(For a good review of the movie, check out Roger Ebert’s take on it (click here.))
For the last 59 years I was always of the opinion that all the Kennedy-conspiracy-grassy-knoll talk was just that and hence there was nothing to it. However, following Brady’s and my visit to Dallas last year and our tour of Dealey Plaza and the Texas Book Depository, I am now with the folks like Stone who say there had to be more than one shooter and that something more than what we’ve been told went on that day. Note that there is a new documentary just released this week about the doctors in the hospital that day who worked trying to save Kennedy’s life. All of them conclude that some of the bullet wounds in Kennedy entered him from the front.
I have a Buzzy memory from the day Kennedy was shot. We were living at the Store at the time and when I went out to talk to him about the assassination, he was rustling around in the safe. After I asked him what he thought of Kennedy being shot, he pulled out a letter and said “Look at this, I got a letter from the President.” Sure enough it was a letter from Lyndon Johnson whom Buzzy had written to previously expressing his support for him. LBJ had responded with a letter thanking Buzzy for his support. I think I still have that letter somewhere and may have to dig it out.
Guess that since I quoted them, I should play either Billy’s “Start the Fire” which I liked or the Monkees’ I’m a Believer, which I didn’t care for, but instead how about this instrumental from Dave Koz and company:
P.S. Something else to add more fuel to the conspiracy fire, the tour guide that Brady and I had when we toured Dealey Plaza pointed out the building overlooking the Plaza was a jail. He told us that on the day of Kennedy’s motorcade, all of the prisoners who resided on that side of the building were ordered to be relocated out of their cells with windows overlooking the Plaza to another area of the building. Our guide concluded “They did not want that many eye witnesses observing the events that were about to go on below them.”
