Jim Garrison (based on the book "On the Trail of the Assassins" by), Jim Marrs (based on the book "Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy" by) |2 more credits »
On November 22, 1963, president John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested for the crime and subsequently shot by Jack Ruby, supposedly avenging the president's death. An investigation concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby acted alone in their respective crimes, but Louisiana district attorney Jim Garrison is skeptical. Assembling a trusted group of people, Garrison conducts his own investigation, bringing about backlash from powerful government and political figures.Written by
Cole Matthews
He's a District Attorney. He will risk his life, the lives of his family, everything he holds dear for the one thing he holds sacred... the truth. See more »
During the party scene flashback, Clay chastises David Ferrie, "Always one hare-brained scheme or another." He is right, too. The real David Ferrie was famous for doing stupid things. He once tried to turn a water tank into a submarine, unsuccessfully. See more »
Goofs
When Jim Garrison is in front of JFK's tomb, he can be seen him with his arms folded, and he has the right hand over his chin and mouth, changing it to the left arm in a close-up. Afterwards the camera changes to a long shot where a black father and his little son appear, and in the next close-up his right hand is no longer on his left arm. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
title card:
"To sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards of men." - Ella Wheeler Wilcox
President Eisenhower:
...We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. And to do this three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishement. We annually spend on military security alone...
Narrator:
January, 1961. President Dwight D. Eisenhowers's Farewell Address to the Nation.
President Eisenhower:
...This conjunction of an immense military establishment and arms industry is ...
[...] See more »
Crazy Credits
Closing dedication: Dedicated to the young in whose spirit the search for truth marches on See more »
Alternate Versions
When the film is first released on videocassette (and subsequently on all TV broadcasts as well), an addendum to the epilogue is shown, telling how more JFK sealed records in 1992 were released to the public due to the controversy stirred by the film. It also warns more records have yet to be released. See more »
The assassination of JFK has been told in every possible way through every available medium. Oliver Stone managed the unimaginable transforming and almost folk tragedy, through a mix of drama and cinema veritè, into a riveting mystery thriller with the paranoiac style of a man who's in touch with paranoia in a quasi permanent basis. Unnerving, frustrating and spectacularly satisfying. Kevin Costner manages to be convincing as the center piece of the conspiracy theory. We believe the whole damn thing because we see it through his logic. Sissy Spacek, as his wife, represents most us and she does it brilliantly. Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Bacon are a pleasure to watch. Donald Sutherland, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and even John Candy, Sally Kirkland and Vincent D'Onofrio deliver little parts of the puzzle without ever becoming distracting. Gary Oldman is a chilling dead ringer for Lee Harvey Oswald. For film lovers, for history nuts, for pop culture fanatics and for conspiracy theorists, this is a must.
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The assassination of JFK has been told in every possible way through every available medium. Oliver Stone managed the unimaginable transforming and almost folk tragedy, through a mix of drama and cinema veritè, into a riveting mystery thriller with the paranoiac style of a man who's in touch with paranoia in a quasi permanent basis. Unnerving, frustrating and spectacularly satisfying. Kevin Costner manages to be convincing as the center piece of the conspiracy theory. We believe the whole damn thing because we see it through his logic. Sissy Spacek, as his wife, represents most us and she does it brilliantly. Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Bacon are a pleasure to watch. Donald Sutherland, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and even John Candy, Sally Kirkland and Vincent D'Onofrio deliver little parts of the puzzle without ever becoming distracting. Gary Oldman is a chilling dead ringer for Lee Harvey Oswald. For film lovers, for history nuts, for pop culture fanatics and for conspiracy theorists, this is a must.