Executive Action (1973)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

David Miller

Writers:

Dalton Trumbo (screenplay)
Donald Freed (story) ...

Release Date:

7 November 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | History | Thriller

Tagline:

Their Goal...Assassination. November 22, 1963...Accomplished!

Plot:

Rogue intelligence agents, right-wing politicians, greedy capitalists, and free-lance assassins plot and carry out the JFK assassination in this speculative agitprop.

Plot Keywords:

Assassin | CIA | Lee Harvey Oswald | Assassination | Sniper

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	James Farrington
Robert Ryan	...	Foster
Will Geer	...	Harold Ferguson
Gilbert Green	...	Paulitz
John Anderson	...	Halliday
Paul Carr	...	Chris
Colby Chester	...	Tim
Ed Lauter	...	Operations Chief - Team A
Walter Brooke	...	Smythe
John Brascia	...	Rifleman - Team B
Richard Bull	...	Gunman - Team A
Sidney Clute	...	Depository Clerk
Deanna Darrin	...	Stripper
Lee Delano	...	Gunman - Team A
Lloyd Gough	...	McCadden

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

380 South San Rafael Avenue, Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

Executive Action Enterprises

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the first scene of the morning of 22 November 1963 a paperboy is throwing a newspaper from his bike. He is wearing a Texas Rangers baseball cap. The Washington Senators did not move to Arlington, Texas and become the Rangers until 1972.

Quotes:

Foster: [speaking to Farrington] Dallas has one of the highest murder rates in the country. In the last two years, the Secret Service has established 149 threats against Kennedy's life from Texas alone, yet they send him into hostile territory with no more protection than you and I would arrange for a favorite dog.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America (1992)

did it really happen this way?

This movie was made almost twenty years before Oliver Stone's JFK so of course people are going to say that it is trite, inferior and dated. I really enjoyed it though because it is a good thriller. Was the Kennedy assassination planned by a group of disgruntled rich guys who didn't want him to obtain cival rights and pull out of Vietnam? Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan are both superb as the big bosses. They honestly believe they are doing the country a favor by killing Kennedy. They believe they are being true patriots. Its really suspenseful watching the plot unfold and come together. The liberal use of newsreel footage adds to the realism and the scenes leading up to the assassination are particularly good and suspenseful. You can feel your pulse raising as the president rides to his doom. Sadly, Ryan died shortly after this film came out. Also, its fun seeing Will Geer, the lovable Grandfather Walton, in a slightly sinister role.