I recently watched this mini series.
Here is a relatively short list of what I found to be amazing about this series:
1. The acting/voice acting
Martin Sheen (JFK), Blair Brown (Jackie), John Shea (Robert F. Kennedy) did an amazing job of capturing their character. Martin Sheen's accent was very well done, and John Shea's acting was fantastic. They both felt like they were JFK and RFK, at least to me. Blair Brown's accent was not as amazing, but still very well done. She too, really felt like Jackie to me. To be honest, I think she was one of the best portrayals of Jackie I have ever seen, maybe even better than Natalie Portman in "Jackie" and Katie Holmes in "The Kennedys" The rest of the cast was pretty alright as well.
2. The attention to detail
For example, there are scenes where you see things that other movies or series would not focus on. Like the president's back brace, and that he has a special pillow in his chair, to make it more comfortable. The historical accuracy is pretty high in my opinion, and this comes from a man who is a history fan and has studied the Kennedy presidency. The only issue I see is that the tensions between Lyndon B. Johnson (Nesbitt Blaisdell) and RFK are not focused on, although they are touched on for a few brief moments.
3. Interesting scenes
To me there were a lot of interesting scenes, such as when they have shown how RFK was fighting for the rights of African Americans. They have also shown what is happening, so basically they have shown what happened between the pro-segregation people and the African Americans. These scenes are quite brutal to be honest. There were a lot of very interesting scenes, but I'm going to talk about the assassination scene. All we can see is the cheering crowd, the waving presidential couple and the limo which they are riding in. The camera focuses on the first lady as she is waving and looking away from her husband. Then we can hear a gunshot, everything falls silent for a second. Jackie turns around to see her husband leaning forward and raising his hands to his throat. She leans over to him to check what is going on. A few moments later the second shot rings out, we can see the president's blood splashing all over the first lady. In this moment all hell breaks loose, The crowd and The first lady are screaming. Jackie crawls onto the trunk of the limo, then we can see SS agent Clint Hill (Harry Madsen) jumping on the car and pushing the first lady back into the passenger compartment from the trunk. The Limo driver speeds up and the motorcade races towards Parkland Hospital. When they arrive, they first have to take out the seriously injured Governor Connally. (J. R. Dusenberry) Then they want to bring the president into the hospital, but Jackie refuses while she sobs. Clint Hill offers to cover the president's head with his jacket, and the first lady finally lets him go.
This is not where the series end, but I won't tell what happens in the hospital.
What I did not like: 1. The series end with some loose ends:
-We do not get any information on what happened to J. Edgar Hoover (Vincent Gardenia) after RFK confronted him.
2. "Martin Sheen and John Shea do not look like JFK and RFK" -Well they don't exactly look alike, they acted perfectly in my opinion. I have seen actors who looked much more like the president and his brother, but not acted as great and did not speak with the proper accent. Martin Sheen and John Shea really did feel like their characters in this one. I don't think that they don't look alike is a problem, but I thought I should point it out.
3. Unconvincing scenery -The scenes in which they were in Dallas, were not filmed along the actual motorcade route.
Parkland hospital looked nothing like the real thing.
4. There was no third gunshot.
I hope you found this helpful.
This thing is definitely worth a watch!
Here is a relatively short list of what I found to be amazing about this series:
1. The acting/voice acting
Martin Sheen (JFK), Blair Brown (Jackie), John Shea (Robert F. Kennedy) did an amazing job of capturing their character. Martin Sheen's accent was very well done, and John Shea's acting was fantastic. They both felt like they were JFK and RFK, at least to me. Blair Brown's accent was not as amazing, but still very well done. She too, really felt like Jackie to me. To be honest, I think she was one of the best portrayals of Jackie I have ever seen, maybe even better than Natalie Portman in "Jackie" and Katie Holmes in "The Kennedys" The rest of the cast was pretty alright as well.
2. The attention to detail
For example, there are scenes where you see things that other movies or series would not focus on. Like the president's back brace, and that he has a special pillow in his chair, to make it more comfortable. The historical accuracy is pretty high in my opinion, and this comes from a man who is a history fan and has studied the Kennedy presidency. The only issue I see is that the tensions between Lyndon B. Johnson (Nesbitt Blaisdell) and RFK are not focused on, although they are touched on for a few brief moments.
3. Interesting scenes
To me there were a lot of interesting scenes, such as when they have shown how RFK was fighting for the rights of African Americans. They have also shown what is happening, so basically they have shown what happened between the pro-segregation people and the African Americans. These scenes are quite brutal to be honest. There were a lot of very interesting scenes, but I'm going to talk about the assassination scene. All we can see is the cheering crowd, the waving presidential couple and the limo which they are riding in. The camera focuses on the first lady as she is waving and looking away from her husband. Then we can hear a gunshot, everything falls silent for a second. Jackie turns around to see her husband leaning forward and raising his hands to his throat. She leans over to him to check what is going on. A few moments later the second shot rings out, we can see the president's blood splashing all over the first lady. In this moment all hell breaks loose, The crowd and The first lady are screaming. Jackie crawls onto the trunk of the limo, then we can see SS agent Clint Hill (Harry Madsen) jumping on the car and pushing the first lady back into the passenger compartment from the trunk. The Limo driver speeds up and the motorcade races towards Parkland Hospital. When they arrive, they first have to take out the seriously injured Governor Connally. (J. R. Dusenberry) Then they want to bring the president into the hospital, but Jackie refuses while she sobs. Clint Hill offers to cover the president's head with his jacket, and the first lady finally lets him go.
This is not where the series end, but I won't tell what happens in the hospital.
What I did not like: 1. The series end with some loose ends:
- We do not hear about what happened to MLK (Charles Brown) and to others after they are locked in a church and surrounded be pro-segregation people.
-We do not get any information on what happened to J. Edgar Hoover (Vincent Gardenia) after RFK confronted him.
2. "Martin Sheen and John Shea do not look like JFK and RFK" -Well they don't exactly look alike, they acted perfectly in my opinion. I have seen actors who looked much more like the president and his brother, but not acted as great and did not speak with the proper accent. Martin Sheen and John Shea really did feel like their characters in this one. I don't think that they don't look alike is a problem, but I thought I should point it out.
3. Unconvincing scenery -The scenes in which they were in Dallas, were not filmed along the actual motorcade route.
Parkland hospital looked nothing like the real thing.
4. There was no third gunshot.
I hope you found this helpful.
This thing is definitely worth a watch!