The End of a Dynasty (1998)

Director:

Mike A. Martinez

Writer:

Mike A. Martinez (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Plot:

Low budget docu-drama which attempts to present the "Kennedy Curse" with a series of recreations of several tragic events that befell the family. The low budget and ameteurish look actually make the film more comedic than informative. |

Plot Keywords:

Kennedy Family | Curse | Independent Film

Cast

Joe Adkins	...	Jack Ruby
Cortnie Campbell	...	Jacqueline Kennedy
Greg S. Campbell	...	Robert Kennedy, Michael Kennedy, John F. Kennedy
Brian Klapstein	...	Lee Harvey Oswald
Mike A. Martinez	...	3rd Gunman on Grassy Knoll
George N. Thompson	...	Sirhan Sirhan
David Wood	...	David Kennedy

Also Known As:

The Kennedy Story (USA) (cut version)

Country:

USA

Color:

Color

Company:

Scythe Productions

The 1 out of 10 user rating is well deserved

I approached this short with some hope of gaining fun insight into the Kennedy assassination. After eleven minutes I am more stupider than before and Scythe contract-player George Thompson has elevated from number 6 to 3 on my sh!t list. Opening with a killer title sequence that cruelly tricks its human viewers into thinking they're in for a Euro slice of heaven, we are quickly transported to hellhole-nowhere Fairbanks where a bunch of teens pose, masquerade and giggle like complacent Calvin Klein models…only with acne, frizzy hair, visible body odor and, in the case of one poor fat slob, the girth of a Volkswagen. Pretentiously divided like chapters from a book, this film (ahem) chronicles each Kennedy death with as much visual panache and audio creativity as a public access show run by heavy metal journalists. One particularly flinching scene has a teen injecting heroin into his veins. What is the point of this nonsense? Has director Mike A. Martinez lost his marbles? Why must serious issues such as drug use and public assassinations be treated with such indignity and carelessness? And scientists wonder why our society is so corrupted and ill-informed. Powerful cameo by the director shooting dry rounds of a cap gun into JFK and subsequently fleeing the scene like a robotic scarecrow with a stick in his ass.

Unfortunately, the outtakes have been edited into the movie. Yes folks, for the first time ever, a movie has included its outtakes as actual cuts in the final film, and while credit must be given to the editor for brazenly adopting such a controversial technique, it becomes tiresome and overstayed once we see it for 80 percent of the movie (it should also be pointed out they're not funny either). Also not funny is the condescending plot narration and convoy of mini-vans posing as automobiles in 1963 (apparently it snows in Texas, too). What is funny is the direction, writing, wardrobe, lighting and sex life for all the actors in the movie.